The Laurel Health Cookery, by Evora Bucknum Perkins

Several years ago as I was leaving Washington after giving a course of demonstration lectures in hygienic cookery, I was impressed with the thought that a cook book (which my friends had been urging me to write) giving the results of my experience, would be the means of reaching the greatest number of people with knowledge on health subjects.

As a result of that thought, this book comes with earnest, heartfelt greeting to all other works of the same nature, not as a rival but as a co-worker in the great plan of glorifying our Creator. 1 Cor. 10:31.

In its preparation, I have purposed to make the book practical, avoiding technicalities and to some extent conventionalities, and have endeavored to “meet the people where they are” by not being extreme or radical; and at the same time to make principles of truth so clear that many will be won from “the indulgence of appetite, which places them in such a condition of health that there is a constant warring against the soul’s highest interests.”

While there are recipes especially for those who entertain, there is an abundant variety of directions for carefully prepared simple dishes.

The explicit general directions will not be needed by all, but from my twenty years of experience in teaching, I know that many will value them.

The foods richest in proteids are classed as “True Meats” and no flesh meat names are used in the book.

This collection contains the choicest of those of my recipes which have been published by others in various books and periodicals at different times.

I am indebted to an innumerable company of people of all classes for ideas, for which I would be glad to thank each one personally if it were possible.

Though there is hardly any choice, the recipes marked with a star are especially practical and desirable.

All unnamed quotations are from “The Ministry of Healing” or other works by the same author.

That “The Laurel Health Cookery” may bring rich blessings to many households is my earnest prayer.

GENERAL

COOKING UTENSILS, THEIR USES AND CARE

“A good housekeeper without perfected kitchen conveniences is as much of an anomaly as a carpenter without a plane, a dressmaker without a sewing machine.”—Anonym.

What would we think of the farmer who to-day was cutting his hay with a scythe and reaping his grain with a cradle because he could not “afford” a reaper and mower?

While we should be able to adapt ourselves to circumstances, to improvise double boilers, steamers and ovens when necessary, it is at the same time true economy to have an abundance of cooking utensils if possible. A half dozen saucepans will last six times as long as one used for everything and save much valuable time.

“To many people, anything out of the usual custom is deemed extravagant.” This I suppose accounts for the fact that many housewives who have beautifully furnished parlors and wear fine clothing cannot afford conveniences for the kitchen.

The room in which is prepared the “food to sustain life and nourish brain, bone and muscle,” should be the most attractive place in the house, and it will be when arranged and furnished for convenience. I can think of nothing more interesting than a kitchen with the frequently used utensils decorating the walls where they can be reached with few steps; and such little things as spoons, egg beaters, can openers, spatulas, cork screws, potato mashers, measuring cups, funnels, soup dippers, wire strainers, pinchers and skimmers, not forgetting a small cushion with pins, hanging just over the table; the table having drawers for knives, vegetable cutters and other unhangable articles.

The best quality of aluminum ware is the cheapest and best for fruits and for general cooking purposes, except for vegetables.

Copper and re-tinned vessels are unequaled in some respects (if they may not be used for acid foods); being flat bottomed, thick and heavy, milk, legumes, cereals and foods of that nature are not so apt to stick or scorch in them, and they are almost everlasting. They can be re-tinned when the lining wears off.

Iron kettles and frying pans are excellent for many things. Some of the uses of a nice smooth iron frying pan are to bake a round cake or a thick pie or a pudding in, to scallop corn or potatoes, or to scald milk.

Never dry them on the stove as that causes them to crack; and do not knock the edges of the kettles and saucepans with a spoon, nor strike any kind of a vessel with an agate spoon, as it causes the little particles of glazing to flake off. These flakes from agate utensils often work serious injury to the delicate membranes of the digestive tract.

One large double boiler holding from 8 to 16 qts. is very desirable as it furnishes two kettles for fruit canning and other purposes and can be used as a double boiler when required. Several smaller ones of different sizes economize time and food material.

To improvise a double boiler, set a close covered pan over a kettle of boiling water; or set a covered dish into a pail with water in it, cover and put into the oven; or put a pan or other covered vessel into a kettle of water on top of the stove with something under it to keep it from the bottom of the kettle; or set one milk crock into another, with water in the lower one; or a bowl into the top of the teakettle. The first double boiler I ever owned was a gluepot.

Use wire strainers or small and large colanders, well covered, over dishes of boiling water, for steamers; and when a deeper receptacle is required, turn a basin or pan that just fits, over the top.

Two sizes of flat colanders with pin head holes are to be found at the 5 and 10 cent stores, which are just as useful and durable as more expensive ones. They answer the purpose of both steamer and colander.

Be sure to have deep kettles or boilers into which the colanders fit perfectly. I have been in kitchens where, though there was a sufficient variety of utensils, they were of little use, for no two things fitted; the steamers and colanders were just a little too large or a little too small for all the kettles, requiring double the expenditure of time and strength in using.

Iron rings from small wooden kegs or little rings melted from the tops of tin cans are great treasures to use on the top of the stove, in kettles, or in the oven, to set vessels on to keep the contents from sticking and burning.

A book of asbestos sheets costing ten cents is invaluable. Each sheet can be used again and again for laying over bread, cake and other foods in the oven.

After using an aluminum frying or omelet pan for a time, one would always feel it to be a necessity.

The uses of timbale molds and custard cups are almost innumerable, and when you once get them you have them.

A pastry brush saves greasy fingers and much time, in oiling cold or warm pans. Never use it on a hot griddle.

For dispatch and thoroughness in oiling round bottomed gem pans, nothing equals a piece of cloth folded in several thicknesses 2½ to 3 in. square, saturated with oil.

A spatula (similar to a palette knife) of medium size will soon pay for itself in the material it saves from the sides of the pans, as well as in time.

A large French knife chops vegetables on a board more rapidly than they can be done in a chopping bowl; it also slices onions, shaves cabbage, cuts croutons and does many things as no other knife can, while smaller ones of different sizes all have their uses.

For stirring dry flour and meal into hot liquid, for gravies, and for beating all batters, nothing can take the place of a strong wire batter whip.

The “Surprise” beater with fine cross wires makes the whites of eggs for meringues and cakes lighter than any other. The smaller the wire around the edge, the lighter the eggs will be. These very delicate ones are for sale in some of the five and ten cent stores at 3 for 5c. Next to the “Surprise” beater for beating whites of eggs comes the silver fork.

The “Dover” revolving beater gives a fine close grain when that is desired, as in egg creams, the “Holt” coming next and being more rapid in its work, while the “Lyon” gives a fine, fluffy result. A large sized beater is more useful.

Eggs can be beaten in a deep bowl, narrow at the bottom (the regular cooking bowl shape) in half the time that it takes to beat them in a broad bottomed bowl. The nearer the sides of the bowl are to the beater, the quicker the work will be done. The same is true of whipping cream, and as cream spatters at first, a pitcher or a tin can, not so deep but the handle of the beater can be operated, is best for the purpose. It is better to set the dish in the sink while whipping cream.

If possible have a good scale, as much more accurate results are obtained in cooking by weight than by measure. It will be useful in weighing articles from the grocery and market, for weighing letters and papers for mailing and many other things.

When you have used a good bread mixer for a time, you would not go back to the old, laborious way of kneading bread for double its cost. The mixer also makes better bread than can be made by hand.

One of the greatest labor savers is a food cutter. A large sized one, even for a small family, is most satisfactory. Many now have a nut butter attachment which is desirable, though a regular nut butter mill is preferable for nut preparations.

Try to have something for a quick fire. If you are out of the reach of gas, a well-cared-for two burner oil stove will do good service.

Eternal vigilance is the price of preventing double boilers from going dry. Add more water before there is the least danger.

Rinse off the egg beater or batter whip and hang it in its place as soon as you finish using it, before going on with what you are doing, unless, as in some cakes, it needs to drain, then have ready a pitcher, tin can or quart measure containing cold water to drop it into after draining.

The cogs of an egg beater should never be wet; when they are wet once, its usefulness is impaired.

Wire strainers should always be rinsed as soon as used; colanders also, unless they require soaking, in which case put them immediately into water.

Rinse and put to draining everything that can be rinsed; then it will be ready for use instead of rusting in the sink.

Never put knives, spatulas, egg beaters or whips in the sink; always rinse them off at once.

Professional cooks never lay a knife down without wiping it off. Clean, dry cloths or towels should be at hand for such purposes.

It is just as necessary and as satisfactory to keep the inside of the oven blackened as the top of the stove, and it is very little more work.

Boil strong lye water in a scorched vessel (except aluminum), before trying to clean it.

I have noticed that if a little water is boiled for a few minutes in a close covered vessel in which some pasty food has been cooked, the particles are so loosened by the steam that the vessel washes easily.

I would suggest that instead of hanging the dish cloth on the inside of the sink door, you put it on a line near the stove or out of doors, where it will dry quickly.

Wet wooden spoons, chopping bowls and all wooden utensils in cold water before using, to prevent their absorbing the flavors and juices of foods.

Put new bread and cake tins into a hot oven and bake them until they look like old ones, if you wish your bread and cake to be well done on the bottom and sides.

Above all, pick up after yourself. It is often more work to pick up after people than to do the work.

THINGS TO DO BEFOREHAND

ECONOMY

True economy consists in using all of a good material, rather than in buying an inferior quality.

It is poor economy from a financial standpoint (saying nothing of health) to buy small or specked fruits or vegetables.

It takes longer to pare, quarter and core a specked apple than a sound one, because the decayed part has first to be cut out and one may have to cut again and again before it is all removed and when it is finished there may not remain a quarter of an apple.

I once saw two barrels of apples bought at a great “bargain.” Four or five people whose time was valuable spent an afternoon in preparing those apples to stew; when they had finished, there was just a bushel left and they were so flavorless that it was necessary to add lemon juice and a good deal of sugar to make them at all palatable.

C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D. in speaking of overripe and partially decayed fruit says: “In addition to a deterioration in flavor, there is always the possibility of digestive disturbance if such fruit is eaten raw.”—Farmers’ Bulletin 293. U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Inferior, immature fruit, dried, requires a larger proportion of sugar than well ripened fruit, and then it is neither palatable nor wholesome.

Small prunes with their large proportion of stone and skin are expensive besides being inferior in flavor.

It takes as long to pare, quarter and core a small apple as a large one, and a bushel of large apples will yield more pulp than a bushel of small ones, notwithstanding the spaces, there being a so much larger proportion of skins and cores in the small ones.

“Cheap” flour costs more than the best because it takes a larger quantity to make the same amount of bread.

Corn starch that costs two or three cents less per package than the best will sometimes require double the quantity for thickening, besides imparting a strong, disagreeable flavor.

Cotton seed oil that is not well refined, so that it is clear and nearly white is not fit for food, and requires more for shortening.

Economy in all things, food, clothing, houses, climate is that which keeps us in the best condition physically and spiritually.

MISCELLANEOUS

All foods that are suitable should be used uncooked. They are more nourishing and consequently more satisfying.

Next to wholesomeness, make taste and palatability first. There is nothing more disappointing than to taste of a daintily arranged and decorated dish and find it flat and insipid.

Seek to develop the natural flavors of foods, of which there are thousands, rather than to add foreign flavorings.

To stir fruits, legumes and many foods while cooking is just the way to make them stick and scorch. Shake the vessels instead of stirring.

To brush kettles and saucepans on the inside with oil, helps to keep milk and other foods from sticking.

Use double boilers as far as possible for reheating gravies, cereals and legumes, and for heating milk.

When, in spite of all precautions, something burns on, plunge the vessel without ceremony into a pail or pan of cold water for a moment, empty the contents immediately into another kettle, add boiling water and return to the fire to finish cooking. Badly scorched foods often lose all the scorched flavor by this treatment.

Remove the burnt portion from bread or cake with a grater, when first taken from the oven.

Two forks are better than a knife for separating steamed puddings, fresh cake and many things.

To blend flour and liquid for thickening, add only a little liquid at a time, stirring with a fork or batter whip until a perfectly smooth paste is formed, then add liquid to make of the consistency of rather thin cream.

Flour, for thickening, gives a more creamy consistency than corn starch. Use corn starch for fruit juices, as it leaves them clearer.

Never mix flour or corn starch with eggs to stir into boiling liquid, as they both require longer cooking than eggs will bear without separating. Stir the blended flour or corn starch into the liquid first, let it boil well, then pour the hot mixture gradually, stirring, into the beaten eggs, return to the fire and cook a moment if necessary, but do not boil.

In adding yolks of eggs to hot mixtures, put two or three spoonfuls of the mixture on to the yolks, stirring, then add them, all at once, to the whole.

Eggs must be added all at once to hot liquids so they will all be cooked alike and a part will not curdle before the rest is done.

To prevent a raw taste, blended flour should be added to boiling liquid so slowly as not to stop its boiling.

Cream judiciously used is no more expensive from a financial stand point than butter, and from a health standpoint it is cheaper.

Being in the form of an emulsion, cream does not hinder digestion as does the free fat of butter. It should be sterilized before using in uncooked dishes.

It is cheaper to buy heavy cream than light, when there are two qualities, and you can make it as thin as you wish.

When cream is scarce do not use it where oil and skimmed milk will do just as well, but save it for uses where nothing else will take its place.

Cream with water often gives a better flavor to foods than milk, and is just as cheap.

Nut creams and butters may always be substituted for dairy cream and butter, with judgment as to flavors.

Peanut butter should be used sparingly and judiciously. No one enjoys, as one man expressed it, “that everlasting peanut flavor in everything.”

Oil and melted butter may be combined in equal quantities when the butter flavor is desirable, as in pilau and drawn butter.

A quick and easy way to prepare stale bread crumbs is to cut very thin slices from the loaf, lay them together and cut as thin as possible across one way and then the other with a large sharp knife into tiny dice.

Save all pieces of bread not usable for croutons or other things, dry without browning, and roll or grind, for dry crumbs; sift, leaving two sizes of crumbs.

When bread crumbs are used for puddings or molds the quantity will vary with the kind of bread. Fewer will be required with home-made bread than with baker’s bread.

Bread, cracker or zwieback crumbs, corn meal, flour or browned flour No. 1, or a mixture of crumbs and brown or white flour may be used for rolling croquettes or cutlets, or for sprinkling the top of scallops or gratins.

Nut meal is suitable for the outside of rice croquettes and the top of many dishes.

To extract the juice from lemons without a drill, cut them in halves without rolling, the same as for a drill, then holding each half over a strainer in a bowl, work the point of a spoon from the cut surface in and around gradually to the rind. This method removes the juice cleaner than does the drill.

Another way is to roll the lemon and puncture it at one end with a silver fork, then squeeze the juice out. This leaves the seeds inside.

Remove the pulp from lemons for pies and other uses by cutting them lengthwise in the middle of the sections and scraping each side of the membrane, or by cutting the lemon in halves crosswise and taking the pulp out with a spoon.

To keep lemons and oranges from molding, spread them on a shelf in a dry place so that they will not touch each other. They may be covered with glass tumblers if in a cool as well as dry place.

To core apples, insert a steel fork at the blossom end and turn it round and round, then repeat from the stem end.

The half shell of an egg will remove bits of shell from broken eggs much better than a spoon.

My mother taught me to use too little rather than too much salt in foods, saying it was easier to add it than to take it out.

Salt varies so much in saltness that it is impossible to give definite rules for its use.

Have a shelf over the stove for zwieback, crackers and toasted cereals to keep them crisp.

Have a small tin of pastry flour on the table to use for thickening sauces; also a small bowl or tin of sugar, and one of corn starch if using it frequently, and a box of salt, of course.

If a thickened mixture is allowed to any more than boil up well, after lemon juice is added, it will become thin.

Finely-sliced, tender, raw celery is much to be preferred to cooked, in timbales, croquettes, batters and sauces.

The word “meat” as used in this book refers to true meats, not flesh meats, but is confined to such foods as are rich in proteids, not being taken in its broadest sense.

Use soft butter for oiling molds to be decorated, as that holds the decorations better than oil.

Dip molds in cold water, invert and turn quickly right side up without draining, for gelatine and other fillings to be served cold.

Many foods gain in richness of flavor by being reheated; and for that reason, left overs often make more appetizing dishes than fresh cooked foods.

Reheat foods, legumes, vegetables, cereals, or fruits, to preserve them, before they begin to show signs of spoiling.

Only a small quantity of sugar, proportionately, should be added to yolks of eggs, or they will gather in small, hard particles and become useless.

Ice water crisps and freshens such vegetables as lettuce, parsley, cabbage and cucumbers as that just a little warmer will not.

In multiplying a recipe to make a larger quantity of soup or other liquid food, use a smaller proportion of liquid; or in dishes containing thickening take a larger proportion of flour, as the evaporation is not so great in proportion to the quantity.

When eggs are used in cakes, breads, puddings or other dishes, fewer nuts, nut foods, legumes or other proteid foods will be required.

Bake soufflés and dishes made light with eggs, slowly, as when baked rapidly they puff up quickly and fall just as quickly; while if baked slowly, they retain their lightness.

Timbales, puddings and all molds to be served hot should stand 5 or 10 m. in a warm place after removing from the fire, before unmolding.

Do not chop nut meats fine for roasts, cakes or puddings. Sometimes leave them whole, or just break them a little.

Batter and plum puddings and brown bread may be steamed in the oven by setting the mold containing them into a vessel of water with a tight fitting cover.

To steam in glass, set dishes or jars first into cold water and bring to boiling, then set into steamer.

In discarding unwholesome foods be sure to put something wholesome in their place; in other words, employ a system of substitution rather than one of subtraction.

For instance, for this book we have taken pains to search out a variety of harmless flavorings to be used in place of the irritating condiments, such as mustard, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; and instead of the acetic acid of vinegar, we use lemon juice—citric acid.

“Vinegar—acetic acid, is about ten times as strong as alcohol and makes more trouble in the stomach than any of the other acids except oxalic.”—Dr. Rand.

“Very hot food ought not to be taken into the stomach. Soups, puddings and other articles of the kind are often eaten too hot, and as a consequence the stomach is debilitated.”

While using oil enough to keep the machinery of the body lubricated, take care not to use too much. People with dilated stomachs can take very little, and that little best in salad dressings or as shortening with flour.

Flesh is more often a sign of disease than of health. Good solid firm muscle is to be cultivated.

Taste is a matter of education. Let us educate ourselves to like the things that are good for us.

“Perseverance in a self-denying course of eating and drinking will soon make plain, wholesome food palatable, and it will be eaten with greater satisfaction than the epicure enjoys over his rich dainties.”

MEASUREMENTS

Flour is always sifted once before measuring and is laid into the measure lightly with a spoon to just level, without being shaken down; when measured otherwise, results will not be correct.

The measurements of tablespoons and teaspoons in this book are for slightly rounded spoons, as granulated sugar would be when the spoon is shaken sidewise. This seems the natural way of measuring. When level spoons are specified, the spoon is leveled off with a spatula or the straight edge of a knife.

FLAVORINGS

If we heed the injunction of the wise man to eat for strength and not for drunkenness, we will exclude the burning, irritating condiments from our dietary, since they by causing a feverish state of the system and creating “a thirst which water cannot quench,” are among the greatest causes of inebriety.

When our sense of taste is not benumbed or destroyed by harmful accompaniments we are in a condition to keenly enjoy the thousands of fine, delicate flavors that our loving Father has placed in wholesome foods.

Among the stronger flavors for those who do not at once enjoy the delicate ones, we have sage, savory, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, bay leaf, garlic, onion, chives and leeks.

Then come celery salt and seed, leaves and stalks; lemon thyme, shallots, spearmint, parsley, basil and tarragon.

Celery leaves dried with gentle heat make excellent flavorings. They may be powdered by rubbing through a wire strainer the same as leaf sage.

Crush stalks of celery and let them stand in the soup or sauce to be flavored for 15 m., then remove them.

For a fresh positive onion flavor, let slices of onion stand in the food for 5 or 10 m.

The flavor of garlic is usually obtained by rubbing the dish in which the food is to be served or the spoon with which it is stirred with the cut surface of one of the cloves or sections. Slice it and crush it with salt when using it in cooked foods. One clove will flavor a large quantity.

As far as possible raise your own herbs. If in no other way, plant them in pots and boxes in the house. Somewhere I have seen the suggestion of planting parsley in holes in the sides of a barrel which has been sawed in two, and such plants as sage, thyme, mint, basil and tarragon in the top.

Gather herbs before flowering, dry in the shade, tie in paper sacks and hang in a dry place. Powder only a small quantity at a time and keep in close covered small jars. Fresh herbs, especially mint and tarragon, when obtainable, are far superior to dry ones.

The fact that raising any oil to a temperature high enough to brown it, decomposes it and produces a poisonous acid—a powerful irritant—is one of the best known to science.

Flour is rendered more digestible by browning and when combined with cream, oil or butter, gives the browned oil flavor without the poison.

To prepare browned flour, sift bread flour into a broad flat pan, let it stand in a warm oven, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly dry, then gradually increase the heat of the oven, stirring often, until the desired degree of brownness is reached.

A delicate cream color, so light that you would hardly know there was any color except by comparing it with flour that had not been in the oven, gives a delightfully meaty flavor to some gravies and sauces. A light or medium brown is convenient to have at times, but the one most useful is the dark chestnut brown. The darker it is the longer it will last, as less of it will be required for flavoring.

To obtain this color a very high degree of heat will be required at the last, with almost constant stirring. As this dark flour lasts so long (I seldom make it more than once in a year for a large family), it pays to give it the necessary attention at every stage. Do not try to hurry it. If you begin browning it before it is thoroughly dry, it will burn. When done, sift and keep in close covered can or jar.

The lightest shade (which for convenience we call No. 1, and the others No. 2 and 3) should be prepared oftener as it becomes stale by standing. No. 3 will keep indefinitely. It is used for flavoring only as it will not thicken. Where consistency is desired, combine it with unbrowned flour. No. 1 will thicken nearly as much as though it had not been in the oven, and No. 2 a little.

When no number is given in recipes calling for browned flour, No. 3 is understood.

Browned flour, onion and a small quantity of tomato (not enough to give a tomato taste) combined, form the basis of meaty flavors in foods.

To these, add sometimes a bay leaf, a very little sage and a trifle of thyme. Again, add bay leaf, grated or chopped carrot and a very few celery tops, dried or fresh.

Garlic combines well with either of these combinations, and powdered or soaked dried mushrooms are a delightful addition.

Butter (oil or part oil) and a little onion with parsley seem something like chicken.

Juniper berries are thought to give the flavor of game. Not more than a teaspoonful of crushed berries should be used to the quart of stew.

Use herbs and all strong flavorings sparingly. One colored cook of experience expressed it when she said, “I put in just a trifle of sage, not enough to make it vulgar.”

Brown Onion Flavor

Cook together sliced onions, browned flour and oil with salt and water until onions are tender; strain, keep in cool place.

FOR SWEETS

Finely-ground coriander seed is a delightful and not unwholesome flavoring. It is cheaper to buy the seed by the pound. A half pound will go a long way. Do not grind too much at a time.

Ground anise seed in minute quantities is unequaled for some things, but is disagreeable when used too liberally.

For sweet dishes to be flavored with lemon or orange, score the rind of the fruit lightly with a sharp-tined fork. Drop the scored fruit into the measured sugar and rub it well with the sugar.

Another way of obtaining the flavor, also of grape fruit, is to pour boiling water over the thinly-pared yellow rind and when cold, strain. For salads, let that thin rind stand in the lemon or other fruit juices for a time and then remove.

When obliged to use lemon or orange extracts, use only a few drops instead of the teaspoonful of the average recipe.

To flavor with cocoanut, when the fibre is not desired, steep (do not boil) the cocoanut in milk for 15–20 m., then strain it out.

SALAD FLAVORINGS

To flavor lemon juice for cooked or uncooked dressings, take to each three tablespns. of lemon juice and one of water, a slice of onion, a bay leaf, and ¼ teaspn. of celery seed or 1 tablespn. of chopped celery leaves. Boil a moment, then cool and strain. Tarragon and chives may be used for the flavorings. Onion, bay leaf, thyme, a trifle of garlic if liked, and a few thin yellow-slices of orange peel make another combination.

The salad dish is sometimes rubbed with the cut surface of a clove of garlic or a slice of onion, or onion may be chopped or grated. Crushed celery seed is liked by some in salad dressings. Spearmint is very refreshing. Delicate tender sassafras leaves may be used in fruit and nut meat salads.

Shredded fresh mint combines well with orange or grape fruit or with currant juice; tarragon with red raspberries and currants, and basil with peaches.

In closing the subject of flavorings, I quote the words of a lady visitor after sampling some of the dishes prepared by a class in cookery:

“Any one can give a taste to foods by adding condiments and flavorings, but to develop the flavors of the foods themselves is an art.”

GARNISHING

The saying that “some people eat with their eyes” is true to a great extent of all of us. I believe that the veriest savage would better enjoy his dinner, however rude, if somewhere there were tucked into it a bit of green. The busy farmer’s wife as she goes to the wood pile for an armful of wood can quickly pick off a spray of May weed, dropping it into a tin of cold water as she passes the water pail, and her platter of beans for dinner is transformed, in the eyes of those children, into a thing of beauty, and what effect may it not have in the formation of their characters?

Of variety in garnishing there need be no lack with the garden, wayside and woods abounding in beautiful leaves, vines and flowers.

There are foliage plant, geranium, and autumn leaves, ferns in variety, with lettuce, endive, spinach, parsley, chervil and carrot tops. The variegated variety of beet leaves, as also the bright blossoms of nasturtiums make a brilliant garnish.

Put parsley, ferns, and all of the green leaves and vines into very cold water as soon as gathered and leave for some time, then keep in paper sacks in a cold place away from the wind. Repeat the cold water bath at intervals.

Barberries canned, or preserved in brine, candied cranberries or cherries, green grapes in brine, designs cut from orange, lemon grape fruit and tangerine rinds, tomatoes in slices or in lengthwise pieces, and slices of lemon or orange with the skin on are all suitable garnishes at times.

Lemon cups, having a slice cut off from the ends so that they will stand, may be used for mayonnaise or small servings of salad.

Orange and grape fruit halves with tops notched or scalloped or sometimes cut in deep points rolled down, and orange baskets make a change of service. All of these fruit cups should be kept in ice water or chopped ice until serving time, then thoroughly dried with a soft towel.

All cups or glasses containing salads or creams should be served on doilies on small plates.

To prepare fringed celery, cut the stalks into two- or three-in. lengths, then slice very fine from each end to within ¾–1 in. of the center and leave in ice water for a time. Do not lay in ice water before preparing. The short tender stalks may have the leaves left on and be shredded at the opposite end. Celery leaves make a desirable garnish.

Cut carrots, beets and yellow turnips into slices or sticks, or into round pieces with an open-top thimble or a round pastry tube, and into fancy shapes with vegetable cutters, selecting cutters which have not sharp points or slender stems.

Radish Lilies

Get either the turnip or olive shaped radishes, wash them well, trim off just the slender tips and all but one or two of the smallest leaves. With a thin, sharp knife cut them into halves from the tip end almost to the stem, and the same way into quarters and eighths. Then carefully loosen the rind of each section as far down as it is cut and throw the radishes into ice water, leaving them there for several hours or overnight, when they will have bloomed into beautiful lilies. Pure white or yellow lilies may be made from yellow or white radishes. Serve directly from the ice water, and the radishes will be crisp and sweet and easily digested.

Just one radish sometimes, in a spray or two of parsley or chervil is better than a more elaborate garnish; a red radish sliced or cut into quarters or sixths is pretty in a little green.

Roll up imperfect leaves of lettuce and slice in thin slices, then pick up lightly and use for borders or nests or beds.

Dry parsley thoroughly in a towel before chopping. For rolling, spread the particles out, a little distance apart, so as to just fleck whatever is rolled in it.

Use nuts chopped or in halves or broken pieces for borders or nests of fruit or vegetable salads; never put them into the dressing.

Potato Balls

Potatoes may be cut into balls with a vegetable scoop, boiled until just tender, not broken, drained, sprinkled with chopped parsley and used for garnishing a true meat dish.

Egg Daisies

Cut the hard boiled yolks of eggs into round pieces and the whites into petal shapes for daisies for decorating the tops of small spinach or other timbales or molds.

The whites and yolks are better poached separately for garnishing. Cut whites with vegetable cutters sometimes.

Oxeye Daisies

Use the end of a small black olive for the center of daisies, and carrots for the leaves.

Toast points or croutons of different shapes are suitable garnishes for timbales, eggs, broiled mushrooms and true meat or vegetable stews, or we may use pieces of bread of different shapes that have been dipped in egg yolks and milk and baked. Breaded triangles, squares or circles, of corn meal porridge may be used to garnish the edge of a platter for a stew.

Turk’s head and border molds may be decorated with truffles or other decorations, and used for meat dishes for variety.

Cut left overs of pie crust or cracker dough into fancy shapes, for scalloped dishes, salads and some desserts, and into squares, diamonds or strips for peas and other vegetables.

For legumes or other meat dishes, sometimes use carrots in dice or slices, sprinkled with chopped parsley or interspersed with sprigs of parsley.

Pastry Bag

The pastry bag gives variety in garnishing and decorating. The bag itself may be of rubber, paper or cloth. Cloth for all purposes is the most practical. To make, take “Indian Head” or other heavy cloth, cut it into any sized square desired; fold and sew together in cornucopia shape (the seam is better felled), trim the top evenly and hem; then cut off a very little from the point and hem that, leaving the opening just large enough to insert the tubes one-third to one-half their length.

Paper bags may be used in an emergency, and rubber for some purposes, but not for anything containing oil.

COLORINGS

Pokeberry—Carmine

Cover berries with water, boil till the skins break, strain, add 1 cup of sugar to each pint of juice; boil, bottle, seal.

For Red, cook strained tomato to a thick pulp; or slice a bright red raw beet into cold water and let it stand on the stove where it will heat slowly to a little below the boiling point and strain.

For Green, bruise parsley, spinach, chervil, onion tops, chives, tarragon or lettuce, with or without lemon, and press out the juice for coloring.

For Yellow, steep saffron in boiling water for ½–1 hour and strain when cold.

When these colorings are not suitable, the so-called “fruit colors” for sale at the groceries may be used. Use only enough for delicate shades.

ARRANGEMENT AND GARNISHING OF SALADS

The arrangement and garnishing of salads depends largely upon individual taste and skill in the use of things at hand, and is a matter of importance.

The garnish should be a suitable one and should harmonize with the ingredients of the salad. For example, a dainty flower or vine with a delicate fruit salad, and slices or fancy shapes of vegetables with true meat salads.

Red apple, or tomato cups may be used for light colored salads, and yellow tomato, or green and white apple cups for bright ones.

Juicy fruit salads should be served in dainty glasses or cups; and a correspondingly dainty doily on the plate underneath the glass with a delicate flower or leaf by its side, leaves nothing to be desired.

FRUITS

FRUITS—FRESH

“Man has always thrived as he has eaten freely of fruits.”—H. Irving Hancock.

“The best food on this planet is ripe fruit. The healthiest people on the globe are the fruit eaters of tropical countries. The great muscular Maoris of New Zealand are a frugiverous race. I have seen a boat crew of these great chocolate colored giants that would outrow the ‘crack’ university crews were they properly trained. The bread fruit of the Samoan Islands has made a race of giants. I have examined these men and women on their native soil and finer human specimens never lived.”—Dr. Paul Edwards.

“The more we depend upon the fresh fruit just as it is plucked from the tree, the greater will be the blessing.”

“It would be well for us to do less cooking and to eat more fruit in its natural state. Eat freely of fresh grapes, apples, peaches, pears, berries and all other kinds of fruit that can be obtained.”

Fruits supply sugar, acids, mineral matter and bulk. The mineral elements of fruits are more readily assimilated than those of flesh meat and vegetables. Acid fruits aid in the digestion of nuts and other nitrogenous foods. Acid, juicy fruits keep the system clean and free from germs. They render lime and soda salts soluble, enabling the system to throw them off. They allay instead of creating thirst. Alcohol and tobacco cannot stay long with the individual who uses no flesh foods and partakes freely of ripe juicy fruits. Use more fruit and fewer vegetables if you would not experience thirst.

Cane sugar is not digested in the stomach but causes fermentation by hindering the digestion of other foods. The sugar of fruits (grape and fruit sugar, so-called), and that of honey are all ready for assimilation, so require less labor on the part of the body and may be used more rapidly for the repair of muscular fatigue.

The laxative effect of fruit is very important. Very ripe bananas taken when the stomach is empty often produce immediate effect. Pineapples after nitrogenous foods, ripe olives, peaches, pears and nearly all fruits are helpful.

It is better to use the juice and pulp only, of seedy fruits like blackberries and black raspberries. With many people the seeds produce hives.

The matter of bulk in the diet is an important one. The whole digestive tract suffers if there is not a fairly good bulk of food to be handled by it, yet serious results follow when a large quantity of concentrated food is consumed; consequently, fruits and green vegetables being composed largely of water supply just what is needed.

Fruit must be thoroughly ripened, sound and well matured. Many unripe fruits contain raw starch which causes trouble when they are eaten.

The largest fruit of its kind is usually the cheapest. It is poor economy to spend money and (if the fruit requires paring) time, for seeds, skins, and cores. Besides, as a rule the larger fruit is more perfectly matured, so more wholesome as well as of a finer flavor.

Do not use the skins of fruits much. They are composed largely of woody fibre and are intended only for a covering to the fruit. In the days of stomach washes, the skins of fruits were noticeably abundant in the “unswallowed” food.

For the best effect, fruits should be used without sugar. When one has accustomed himself to the use of grape fruit and oranges without sugar, the addition of it will make them positively disagreeable to his taste, besides causing rebellion in the stomach.

Since acids hinder the digestion of starch, it is better to take acid fruits at the close of a meal including starchy foods, and we should especially avoid taking starches and acids into the mouth at the same time, before the starch has been acted upon by the saliva.

There is great opportunity for the display of artistic skill in serving fresh fruits, and nothing so well repays a little effort as the combination of leaves, ferns and vines with fruits. One beautiful dish that I remember was of plums, grapes and peaches with autumn leaves; another, with rich branches of foliage plants and a variety of fruits. Grape leaves combine beautifully with fruits.

One person with whom I am acquainted can use no starchy foods. The many attempts which she has made to use them invariably result in her becoming extremely weak, and helpless with rheumatism; but she thrives on a diet composed almost exclusively of acid fruits and nuts. She writes—“On my fruit and nut diet I seldom feel thirst, but after eating even starchless vegetables I suffer exceedingly from it. I find also that I do not require so much sleep as when living on another diet.” Her chief fruits are sour apples, grape fruit, oranges and mealy-ripe bananas with a few raisins, dates and figs occasionally for dessert. She is at her best when currants are ripe; and takes them every day as long as they can be obtained.

APPLES

The apple, of which there are said to be over 2000 varieties, has no equal as an “all-round” fruit; but it is at its best just pared and eaten raw. It requires thorough mastication both for digestion and enjoyment.

When you are not feeling quite at par, cut an apple in two from stem to blossom end and with a round pointed knife scrape it into a fine pulp from either side. It is most refreshing and easily digested so. Children and people whose teeth are defective can take it best that way.

BANANAS

The fact that the banana is a serious cause of indigestion when just turned yellow is quite generally understood, and fruit eaters now buy them and keep them until they become not just soft, but mellow ripe, which will be after the skins are dark or covered with dark spots. As long as they have a “pasty” feeling in the mouth they are unfit for food because the starch is not yet changed to sugar.

Do not try to hurry the ripening process as bananas are better when ripened slowly. Keep them in the dark, in a not too cold place and give them plenty of time. Large, plump bananas are far superior to small slender ones in wholesomeness and flavor, besides being cheaper.

There is no other way of using bananas to compare with eating them “out of hand” with the skin and fibres removed; but they may be served with sugar and lemon juice for luncheon or with whipped cream for dessert.

Almond cream is very harmonious with bananas. Peeled bananas with a little almond butter accompanying each mouthful make a complete and delightful luncheon. Brazil nut butter and cream are also excellent with bananas.

BLACKBERRIES

Wild blackberries are sweeter and finer flavored than cultivated ones and eaten in small quantities from the bush are very enjoyable, but they should not be taken in large quantities with their seeds. They may be served with nut, or whipped dairy cream. With a thin syrup of sugar and water they are delicious.

CANTALOUPE

Wash, drain, chill, cut in halves and remove the seeds with a round-pointed spoon (not a sharp pointed knife) or with the fingers. Do not put ice inside as it destroys the flavor. Serve on mat of grape leaves.

CURRANTS

Wash, drain, serve on the stems plain or around a mold of sugar (made by pressing not too dry powdered or granulated sugar into a small glass, and unmolding in the center of the plate), or a spoonful of sugar, on a dainty dish. Nice, very ripe currants are especially refreshing and reviving.

Frosted Currants

Pick fine even bunches of currants and dip them, one at a time, into a mixture of frothed white of egg and a very little cold water. Drain them until nearly dry and roll in powdered sugar. Repeat the dip in the sugar once or twice and lay them on white paper to dry. Use as a garnish.

DATES AND NUTS

Serve dates piled on a dessert plate with halves of nuts around, or on individual dishes with a spoonful of any desired nut butter or meal in the center of the dish.

DATES AND CREAM

Slice dates and cover with nut or dairy cream. Dairy cream may be whipped and piled in center of dish with fruit around.

DATES OR FIGS AND MILK

One writer on health subjects recommends dates and milk or figs and milk as an improvement upon bread and milk. They make an excellent combination and a satisfying meal.

FIGS

Serve figs with nuts and with cream, the same as dates. For Stuffed Dates and Figs, see Confections.

GOOSEBERRIES

GRAPES

There is perhaps no fruit more highly recommended than the grape. One says: “It is safe to say that the juice of no other fruit or vegetable so strikingly resembles blood in its composition as the unfermented juice of grapes.”

Another: “Grapes eaten exclusively for several days bring about wonderful results in the system. From one to two pounds should be consumed daily at first, gradually increasing to eight or ten pounds.”

The “grape cures” in France and Germany are too well known to require mention. There is said to be “a life giving principle in grapes which builds tissue and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system.”

These quotations apply particularly to fresh grapes. Cooked grapes and juice do not agree with every one.

TO PACK GRAPES

Take the late grapes, pick them carefully, spread them in a cool place in layers on shelves, let them remain two weeks, then pack in barrels with dry hard-wood sawdust. Bran will answer very well. Packed in this manner the fruit will keep good through the winter it is said. After packing, grapes should be kept in a cool, dry place.

GRAPE FRUIT

Cut in halves crosswise, remove seeds with sharp pointed knife, and separate the pulp from the bitter membrane between the sections. Serve one half to each person in peel or small glass, or serve halves after removing seeds without separating pulp. The fruit should not be cut long before serving as the juice and pulp absorb the bitter of the cut membrane. Taken at the close of the meal, grape fruit is an aid to digestion. The effect will be better without sugar. As a dessert, it is sometimes served with a tablespoonful of thick maple syrup in the center.

GRAPE FRUIT WITH MALAGA GRAPES

Prepare grape fruit as for salad, combine with halved, seeded Malaga grapes and sugar; refill cups which have been wiped dry after standing in ice water. Garnish with candied cherries or blanched almonds.

GRAPE FRUIT AMBROSIA

Mix grape fruit pulp with orange pulp, grated cocoanut and sugar. Serve, sprinkled with cocoanut, in its own cups or in glasses.

OLIVES

“When properly prepared, olives like nuts supply the place of butter and flesh meats. Oil as eaten in the olive is far preferable to animal oil or fat. It serves as a laxative. Its use will be found beneficial to consumptives and it is healing to an inflamed, irritated stomach.”

The olive contains more protein than any of the other common fruits, and with the exception of the alligator pear is the only one containing any appreciable amount of oil. Until within a few years we have been eating this valuable fruit in its unripe state, but now we get it, both imported and home grown, ripe. There is just as much difference between a ripe and green olive as between a ripe and green apple.

The ripe olive is black or dark brown in color (according to where it was grown) and has its full quota of oil. After one has eaten ripe olives for a time, the green ones will have a harsh, rank taste to him. It is also much easier to acquire a taste for the ripe olive. The large, luscious ones with meat as thick as that of a good sized plum are truly delightful.

Those hurried on to the eastern market from California before the holidays are not thoroughly ripened, but there are some growers who hold them until properly matured before gathering. Olives are better just soaked a little and eaten in that state than to be used in cooked dishes; but when used in soups or sauces, add without cooking just before serving.

Ripe olives are a valuable substitute for butter with bread, giving an emulsified oil instead of a free fat, with no germs of tuberculosis or other diseases.

The dried olives sold by Italian grocers require a long soaking and several changes of water. They, too, become stronger flavored by cooking. They are considerably cheaper than the bottled ones but much less delicate in flavor.

ORANGES

“The one thing that quickest revives a human being is orange juice.”—Dr. Paul Edwards.

“The orange is a fruit that is distinctly health-giving. Orange juice aids greatly in reducing the amount of putrefaction in the intestines of nearly all persons who are submitted to clinical laboratory tests.”—H. Irving Hancock, in “Good Housekeeping.”

The white separating membrane of the orange is rather indigestible, so in many cases it is better to use the juice or pulp only.

I am going to tell you how to “drink” oranges. First, cut the orange in halves from end to end, then cut each half in three or four pieces; place each one of these oblong cups to the lips and extract the juice, rejecting the seeds and leaving all the membrane. This method is most refreshing, if not elegant. Eaten with a spoon from the halves cut across is, next to this, most satisfying, but takes more time.

In Jamaica they peel off the outer yellow skin and cut the orange across into two unequal portions. They extract the juice and pulp from the larger stem section first, and reserve the smaller, sweeter section for the last.

Again, they peel the yellow part of the rind off about one-fourth of the way down, run the knife into the peeled end and cut away a conical portion of the pulp, thus opening all of the sections of the orange. They then suck out the juice, without any burned lips as the result.

One nice way to prepare the pulp is to peel the fruit as you would an apple, cutting deep enough to remove all the white portion of the covering; then to cut all around each section of pulp, just inside the separating membrane, when you can remove the pure pulp. Serve in glass sauce-dish, or in cups,—orange, glass or china.

Another dainty and satisfactory way of preparing an orange is to “cut two circles through the skin around the fruit about ½ in. apart and half way between the two ends. Remove all the rind except the half-inch band. Just over one of the natural separations between the sections of the orange, cut the band with a sharp knife. All the divisions may then be carefully separated one from another, while all remain attached to the girdle of yellow rind. Oranges may be laid in layers on a fruit plate, outstretched upon the narrow piece of peeling, or they may, after the several divisions have been carefully made, be closed together again. A ribbon tied around the orange over the rind girdle will preserve the spherical form and be very pretty and ornamental. It is but the act of a moment to untie this ribbon, when the sections will all lie before one in perfect readiness to be eaten.”—Clipping.

PEACHES

Ripe mellow peaches are incomparable both for health and palatability. They are equally good both for grown people and children, though one writer says “the ripe mellow peach is really the child’s fruit.”

A friend fold me that an old Indian came to the house when her little brother was lying at the point of death, and said, “peach juice will keep him alive.” The mother, anxious to leave nothing untried, began giving him the juice of stewed peaches, from which time he began to retain his food (the mother’s milk) and to improve in every way. When he came to be weaned, peach juice and gradually the soft halves of peaches were his sole diet for eight months; then other foods were introduced sparingly, but all his life peaches have formed a large part of his diet and he is an unusually well man.

Wash and carefully rub peaches in cold water, and rub them well with a soft cloth in wiping to remove the down, which is irritating.

Peaches should ripen on the trees; the shipped ones are often suitable for cooking only as they are gathered before they are ripe. Some varieties are sour and disagreeable, while others are sweet and luscious.

PEACHES AND CREAM

Pare peaches just as short a time before they are to be served as possible. Cut in halves, quarters or thick slices. Do not sweeten but pass sugar and unwhipped cream with them. Almond or cocoanut cream are especially suitable for peaches.

PEACH SNOW

Add sweetened cream to stiffly-beaten whites of eggs (⅓ cup to each white) and pour over peaches just before serving. All must be cold.

Peaches combine nicely with bananas and with red raspberries. The juice of the berries may be served over the peaches instead of cream.

PINEAPPLES

The pineapple is another of the universal favorites and deservedly. Its delightful flavor is unequaled and the fresh juice contains bromelin, a remarkably active principle which aids digestion both in the stomach and in the intestinal tract. A slice or two of pineapple taken at the close of a meal gives a marked laxative effect. The use of pineapple in diphtheria is well known. I knew a very successful physician in one of our large cities who always had quantities of pineapple canned each year for use in diphtheria cases. The digestive ferment is not quite so active in the cooked fruit as in the uncooked.

SHREDDED PINEAPPLE

Use only choice large well ripened sound pineapples. Wash and drain; give the crown a twist with the hand, when it will come out easily if the fruit is ripe. Set the pineapple on a board and with a large sharp knife pare it by cutting slices down from the top all around, cut thick enough to remove all the woody covering (the fruit in connection with that has very little flavor), leaving only the deepest eyes.

After removing the eyes, take the pineapple in the left hand with the base up and shred it by picking up small pieces all around with the tines of a silver fork. It will come off easily from that end, leaving the core, which should be wrung to obtain all the juice.

Let the fruit stand in layers with sugar, ¼ to ½ cup, (or ¼ to ⅓ cup sugar, ½ to 1 tablespn. lemon juice and ¾ cup water) to each pint, for some time before serving, or, serve plain and pass sugar with it. Pineapple and strawberries or raspberries or oranges with lemon juice and sugar are nice alone, or with cake, for dessert.

PINEAPPLE AND GRAPE FRUIT

Equal quantities of prepared pineapple and grape fruit with sugar and the juice of either poured over.

PINEAPPLE AND WHIPPED CREAM

Drain finely-shredded pineapple and beat with whipped cream, as much as can be used and keep the combination stiff. Serve cold in glasses.

PINEAPPLE AND STRAWBERRY AMBROSIA

Equal quantities ripe strawberries, shredded pineapple and cream. Whip cream, place layer of pineapple in dish, sprinkle with sugar, cover with cream, then make a layer of strawberries, sugar and cream. Continue. Have cream on top. Serve cold with sponge cake or cocoanut crisps.

PINEAPPLE AND ORANGE AMBROSIA

Drained shredded pineapple, orange pulp and juice, grated cocoanut and sugar, in layers.

RAISINS

Raisins are nutritious and valuable foods, containing sometimes as high as 61 per cent. of grape sugar and a considerable proportion of albuminoids. They are suitably combined with all kinds of bread and nuts. One thing that makes them so satisfying is that they require thorough mastication.

RASPBERRIES—RED

When necessary to wash, have cold water in a deep pan and turn the berries in, not more than a quart at a time. (Do not pour the water over the berries as that bruises them.) Rinse up and down in the water with the hands and remove quickly to a colander. Drain, pile in dish and serve at once. Lemon or currant juice poured over makes a harmonious combination. ⅓ or ½ very ripe currants may be mixed with the berries. Serve Brazil nuts or blanched almonds with these combinations.

RASPBERRIES—BLACK

Black raspberries have a peculiar spicy flavor not found in any other fruit and when plump and thoroughly ripened may be used in moderate quantities in their natural state.

STRAWBERRIES

The perfect way to serve strawberries is the French—with the hulls on, without washing. Pass sugar with them, or pile the berries around a mold of sugar on individual plates, or, set a dainty cup or glass containing sugar in the center of the plate and pile the berries around. But if the berries are very sandy, wash the same as red raspberries. Wash berries always before hulling unless obliged to let stand after hulling, then do not wash until just ready to serve. The little strawberry hullers snip the hulls out so quickly and so perfectly without staining the fingers that they seem among the indispensables of housekeeping.

ORANGE STRAWBERRIES

Put sliced berries into glasses and pour sweetened orange juice over to more than cover. Let stand in a cool place 3 or 4 hrs. to improve the color. They may be served with an uncooked meringue garnished with halves or quarters of berries or a slice of orange.

WATERMELON

The flavor of watermelon is better if cooled in water instead of on ice. To serve cut the melon in halves across and cut off pieces from the ends so that they will stand. Serve the pulp by spoonfuls, scooped out with a tablespoon. If convenient take the pieces out before sending to the table, remove the seeds and return the pieces to the shell, then keep in a cool place until serving time.

The watermelon furnishes an abundance of pure distilled water. Watermelons that are not very sweet maybe served with almond cream and sugar.

WHORTLEBERRIES

The most desirable of this family is the large purple soft pulpy sweet juicy berry growing in the swamps, and called in some parts of the country “blueberry.” It is delightful with nut or dairy cream or with sugar or in bread and milk. Its juice being so sweet it is one of the most suitable berries for sauce with cereals. In cakes puddings or pies it is equally enjoyable.

The so-called “huckleberry,” though more seedy, has a nice flavor when cooked.

FRUITS—COOKED

APPLE SAUCE

Select nice tart apples; wash, drain, cut out the blossom end of each so that the little black particles will not get on to the fruit. Pare as thin as possible. When all are pared, cut into quarters, and core by cutting from both stem and blossom end downward to the center, just below the core. After coring, throw enough quarters into the kettle (granite, porcelain or aluminum) to about cover the bottom, and turn the quarters core side down. Then arrange another layer in the same way and continue until all are in. Pour boiling water over to half cover the apples (more or less according to the juiciness of the apples), cover kettle and set over hot fire. Cook without removing cover until apples are perfectly tender; remove from fire at once, stir in a little sugar if desired and a trifle of salt. This method gives a nice white well cooked sauce with a fresh apple taste. Placing the apples as directed causes them to cook tender quickly and evenly. The salt improves the flavor unless too much is used.

STRAINED APPLE SAUCE

When apples are small or knotty, cook without paring, rub through colander and add a little sugar.

BAKED APPLE SAUCE

Place quartered apples in pudding dish as for apple sauce. Sprinkle delicately with sugar between the layers and over the top. Pour water in at the side of the dish so as to leave the sugar on the top. Cover and bake for several hours until the apples assume a rich red color.

BAKED QUARTERS OF APPLES

Wash, quarter and core but do not pare apples; lay cut side down in pudding dish, pour very little if any water over, cover close, bake until tender. Remove cover and dry out well. Eat from the fingers, rejecting the skins, or scrape the pulp from the skin with a teaspoon. The skin imparts such richness and flavor to the pulp that it seems to have been sweetened with sugar.

BAKED APPLES

To the natural taste, the apple is best just washed, put into a baking pan with little if any water (depending upon the juiciness of the apple), covered at first and baked until tender and dry. Some prefer to have the apples cored with ½–1 teaspn. of sugar (brown sugar sometimes) placed in the core space.

LEMON APPLES, ORANGE APPLES, AND OTHERS

Core and pare nice large perfect apples. Place in the core space sugar with a little grated lemon or orange rind. Sprinkle outside of apples with sugar and turn a little lemon juice over for “Lemon Apples” or “Orange Apples.” Bake until just tender, with or without a little water.

Use citron, cocoanut, raisins or nuts with sugar for other varieties. Fill core space with jelly for “Jelly Apples.” Serve plain or with nut cream or whipped dairy cream, or with cocoanut or custard sauce or with wafers or nuts for dessert, at a meal without vegetables, especially starchy vegetables.

BAKED SWEET APPLES

Bake whole with plenty of water at first (covered part of the time) until perfectly tender and all the water is evaporated. Serve for dessert, or for breakfast or supper with nuts, or with nut or dairy cream, or in bread and milk, than which nothing is more delicious.

“MOTHER” CRANSON’S STEWED SWEET APPLES

Put whole apples into preserving kettle, cover with thin syrup of sugar and water and cook until tender (carefully changing the apples from top to bottom once or twice) and the syrup just a little thick. Place the apples on plates and turn the syrup over.

STEWED BANANAS

Slice bananas, stew with a little sugar water and a trifle of ground or crushed anise seed tied in a piece of cheese cloth.

BANANAS IN BUTTER

Simmer bananas in butter in an aluminum or agate frying pan covered, on the top of the stove where it is not too hot. They will not be browned but simply stewed.

BANANAS AND RAISINS

Cook raisins in a broad flat pan in water for an hour. Slice bananas over, cover and cook 10 m.

BAKED BANANAS

The simplest way to bake bananas is in the skins. It takes just 20 m. in a moderate oven. To eat, strip a piece of skin about an inch wide from the top side and partake of the baked fruit from the remaining skin in teaspoonfuls.

Bananas may be baked whole with a little water after peeling, and served with orange or cream sauce.

A little melted butter may be poured over bananas before baking or they may be rolled in lemon juice and sugar and baked. For a richer dish, turn mixed melted butter, sugar and lemon juice over bananas in lengthwise halves in agate pan. Bake 15–20 m. in slow oven. Serve with meat dishes sometimes.

BAKED CRUMBED BANANAS

Roll peeled bananas in fine granella, cracker or zwieback crumbs mixed with sugar. Bake in moderate oven till just tender. Serve at once.

BANANAS BAKED WITH TOMATOES

Put a thin layer of stewed or sliced tomatoes in the bottom of a baking pan. Cover with bananas sliced crosswise. Bake.

CRANBERRIES

Cranberries are said to “promote digestion and purify the blood.” There is no question but they are a desirable fruit and should be used freely in their season.

Stewed Cranberries

Pour boiling water over cranberries, let stand 2 m., or until cold; drain, add sugar and water, cook covered, until boiling all through. Rub through colander if the skins are objectionable. 2–3 tablespns. of lemon juice and more sugar may be added.

Baked Cranberries.

Make syrup of 1 pt. of water and 1½ cup of sugar; boil, cool. Pour over 1 qt. of cranberries in baking dish. Bake until clear.

Cranberries With Raisins

Stew raisins in water until nearly tender; pour boiling water over cranberries and drain; cook all together until berries are done.

BAKED PEACHES

Whole, pared, cling-stone peaches; sugar, butter and lemon juice. Bake 40 m. May be served with meat dishes, or as dessert.

BAKED QUINCES—Delicious

Wash, pare, halve, core. (Save skins and cores for jelly). Cover with a large quantity of thin sugar and water syrup. Bake covered, basting often and turning occasionally until tender and the syrup rich. Uncover at the last for a short time.

PLAIN BAKED QUINCES

Pare and core quinces, bake with water only, basting. Serve with hard or creamy sauce or with nut cream and sugar.

RHUBARB

Rhubarb is not a fruit but the stalk of the plant and as its acid is oxalic, it is a somewhat questionable article of diet. At all events it should not be used freely.

Stewed Rhubarb

Wash rhubarb, do not peel, cut into ¾ in. pieces; cook with sugar, on the back of the stove until juicy; then stew till tender.

Stewed Rhubarb, No. 2

Baked Rhubarb

Put rhubarb in baking dish with sugar and lemon juice as for stewing, with or without a little water. Cover and bake until tender.

It is said that if young cherry leaves are scalded and the juice added to cooked rhubarb, it will impart the flavor of cherries to the rhubarb.

STEWED DRIED FRUITS

The flavors of dried fruits are more natural and delicate with prolonged soaking and short (if any) cooking. Choice dried apples and apricots are especially enjoyable soaked over night or longer without any cooking. The juice from them makes an exceedingly refreshing drink.

Pour boiling water over fruit that requires washing to more perfectly loosen the dirt, then quickly add cold water. Wash thoroughly, cover with warm water and let stand for from 12 to 48 hrs. When perfectly swollen and soft, add sugar, if it is to be used, bring to the boiling point quickly and remove from the fire. These directions if followed will cause apples, apricots and peaches to seem almost like fresh stewed fruit.

The most delightful combination with dried apples is ⅓ prunelles. Raisins are also nice with apples.

Stewed Dried Apricots

PRUNES—SWEET CALIFORNIA

These require no sugar but will bear a little longer cooking than peaches and apricots.

¾ prunes and ¼ apricots make a nice combination, also raisins or figs and prunes.

Prune Marmalade

Cook prunes with a small amount of water and rub through colander. This removes the skins or breaks them up so that many can take them who otherwise could not. Served with almonds, beaten white of egg or almond or whipped cream, the marmalade makes a nice dessert.

Steamed Prunes—par excellence

Soak large prunes in a very little water, stirring occasionally so that all will be moistened. Steam ¾ of an hour. Cover as soon as removed from the steamer. Serve warm for breakfast. They may be steamed an hour without soaking.

Stewed Figs

Wash, soak, cook until tender, reduce liquor to syrup and pour over fruit. Serve with wafers or nuts or with whipped cream flavored with vanilla or almond.

Steamed Figs—best of all

Wash figs and steam 25–35 m. according to dryness. Long steaming gives them a strong flavor. Cover, and serve warm. The figs may be soaked the same as prunes before steaming.

Fruit Butter

Stew together 1½ lb. prunes and 1 lb. of dried apricots, no sugar. Rub through colander and cook to the consistency of butter.

TO CAN FRUITS

Suggestions

The best quality of aluminum is the ideal material for the preserving kettle; but granite, porcelain or earthenware may be used.

Thorough sterilization of the jars or cans is one of the most important parts of fruit canning. I always wash and sterilize mine when I empty them.

After washing the covers of Mason jars, bake them in a moderate oven for 2 or 3 hours; scrape them on the inside if necessary but do not wet them, and screw them on to the jars, which should have been well washed, scalded, wiped with a clean towel and thoroughly dried by standing right side up in a warm place.

The rubbers should be put on when the covers are, so that the jars will be all ready for use.

When old rubbers are in good condition they are just as good as new ones. Sometimes two thin ones may be used together.

There is a certain black rubber that should not be used with delicate flavored fruits as it injures their flavor. It does not improve the flavor of any fruit.

New rubbers should be washed and rubbed well in soapsuds and rinsed before using.

Keep the jars in a dry place and when you come to use them turn them over once in a pan of boiling water, scalding the covers the same.

Do not waste time, strength, jars or sugar on imperfect, decayed or unripe fruit. The probabilities are that it will not keep; and if it does the appearance and flavor will be inferior.

Put the fruit into the jars boiling hot and seal immediately. Do not try to remove the froth or air bubbles (pure air will do no harm in cans, and it will be pure when the fruit is at boiling heat all around it and will remain so if the can is well sealed), because while you are trying to let the air out the fruit is cooling on top and the germs from the outside air are settling upon it.

If the fruit gets below the boiling point while filling the jars, return it to the fire and reheat it. Fill the jars to overflowing. Fasten the covers on perfectly tight, press the edges down all around into the rubber of Mason jars, if inclined to leak. Do not tighten the covers after the fruit is cold.

With Lightning jars it is sometimes necessary to slip little splinters of wood (bits of berry boxes) under the wires to make the covers tight enough.

When the covers are perfectly adjusted, invert the jars and leave them until cool. This not only shows whether any are leaking or not but fills any spaces there may be.

Keep canned fruit in a dark place. The light will cause it to lose its flavor as well as color. Wrap jars in paper if necessary.

The simplest way to fill jars is to set them in a row on a towel wrung out of cold water and folded so that it is thick. The jars must be cold also. Or, the towel may be wrung out of hot water and the jars rinsed in hot water before filling. In either case have the covers warm.

Some fruits, rich fine-flavored pears and peaches, whortleberries and others are excellent canned without sugar. They taste more like fresh fruit.

I always can whortleberries without water, so as to have them for pies. For sauce, water may be added after they are opened.

Gooseberries canned without water or sugar make delightful, fresh tasting pies in winter.

Always label fruit before putting it away, giving the year in which it was put up.

Canned fruits and vegetables should be opened two hours or more before serving, to give the fresh taste which comes with the restoration of oxygen.

There is much work at the best connected with fruit canning, so I have tried to simplify it as much as possible. The methods given here are those which I have used for years with good results.

TO CAN SOLID BERRIES

Cherries, whortleberries, red and black currants and all berries that do not crush easily may be put into the kettle in layers with sugar (never more than ½ pt. of sugar to 2 qts. of fresh fruit and usually less), brought to the boiling point slowly and put into jars with very little trouble. The following is an average proportion of sugar and water to use with this class of berries:

TO CAN PEACHES AND FRUITS OF THAT CLASS

Peaches

Wash peaches, rubbing well, drain, pare as thin as possible and drop into cold water to keep them from turning dark. If the peaches are very ripe, put a few at a time into a wire basket and plunge into boiling water. Hold them there a moment, then quickly turn them into cold water; after which the skins will slip off easily.

This is a quicker method and does not waste the peaches, but I have thought they were more apt to turn dark.

For each rounded quart of peaches, make a syrup of ⅓–½ cup of sugar and 1–1½ cup of water, the water in which the peaches were standing. Bring the syrup to the boiling point, drop the peaches in (if in halves the cut side down), boil until thoroughly heated through, or until tender; drop the peaches into the jars, pour boiling syrup over, seal, following “Suggestions” carefully.

Pears

I once had some pears that were so flavorless it seemed hardly worth while to can them, but I tied ground anise seed in small pieces of cheese cloth and cooked with them, besides adding lemon juice, and they were excellent. Small pears and those with thin skins may be canned without paring. They are richer but the skins sometimes cause flatulence.

Plums

Quinces and Sweet Apples

Cook quinces in water until tender, remove with skimmer; cook apples in same water, remove apples, measure water, adding more if necessary; dissolve sugar in water, heat to boiling, add fruit, simmer a few minutes and put into jars.

Quinces are much improved by combining with sweet apples. When the apples are cooked with them, the quinces become more tender.

Cranberries and Sweet Apples

Cook sugar, water and cranberries together, until the cranberries begin to crack; add the apples and cook all slowly until the apples are soft. Put into jars and seal.

To Can Strawberries

For each 2 qts. of hulled berries (just enough to fill one quart jar), use 1 cup of granulated sugar. Put a layer of berries into an earthen or granite ware dish, sprinkle with sugar, cover with another layer of berries and so on. (Strawberries are so juicy they will not bear any water). Let berries and sugar stand together in the ice box or cellar for several hours. They may be prepared late in the afternoon and put into the jars the first thing the next morning.

When ready to can the fruit, drain off the juice, heat it to boiling, turn the berries carefully into it and shake and turn the dish once in a while to keep the fruit heating evenly. When just boiling all through, dip carefully into cans with a handled cup. Put the covers on quickly, no matter how many bubbles of air there are nor how much froth there is in the jars, and screw down tight with a can opener. After pressing the edge of the covers down if necessary, lay the jars on the side (instead of inverting, for strawberries) and turn over occasionally while cooling.

When perfectly cold, set jars upright and you will find the berries evenly distributed through the jars and they will never rise to the top.

Allowing the berries to stand in sugar and afterwards putting them into boiling syrup hardens them so that they keep their shape. It is better to heat just enough at once to fill each jar. You can have several dishes (milk crocks, granite, porcelain and aluminum kettles) on the stove at once at different stages of heating so that you can fill one jar after another.

Pineapple

Prepare pineapple as for fresh pineapple, put into stone jars or earthen vessels with layers of sugar; stand in ice box a few hours (not long enough to ferment), drain off the juice, add lemon juice and water, heat to boiling, add fruit. Let all just boil up, fill jars, seal as other fruits. The delicate flavor of pineapple is lost by long cooking.

Grated pineapple canned with ½ cup of sugar to the quart is suitable for ices and other uses.

Rhubarb—cooked

Rhubarb Without Cooking—for pies

Wash rhubarb and cut into inch pieces without peeling, pour boiling water over, drain at once, cool, pack in cans and fill with boiled, strained, ice-cold water. Seal cans, invert in cold place and cover from the light. Set upright after a few hours. To use, drain, let stand in fresh cold water ½ hour and drain again.

Watermelon Rind or Citron

Pare off the thin green rind, cut into pieces 1 in. square, or into strips, stand in cold water for two or three hours, changing the water occasionally; drain thoroughly, make syrup of 1 pt. water to 1 or 1½ pt. sugar, according to the richness desired. (3 or 4 tablespns. of lemon juice may be used with the larger quantity of sugar). When syrup is boiling, add rind, simmer until pieces can be pierced easily with a broom straw, or until they are clear, put into jars and seal.

One part raisins to five or six of the rind gives a nice flavor. Or, orange flowers, rose leaves or rose water may be used, but the fruit is nice without any flavoring.

Green melons which did not have time to ripen before the frost, are excellent prepared in this way.

The rind may be steamed before putting it into the syrup, and less water used for the syrup.

Concord Grapes

Pulp the grapes, run skins through the food cutter and cook for 20 m. in the water. Boil pulp until tender and rub through colander to remove the seeds. Add pulp and sugar to skins, heat to boiling and put into jars. The juice may be strained from the pulp and used to cook the skins in.

Barberries

Tomatoes

Select only perfectly fresh, well ripened tomatoes, wash and drop into kettle of boiling water, remove with skimmer, drop into cold water, peel, leave whole or slice. Boil well and put into jars the same as other fruit. Long boiling frees the acid and takes away the fresh, delicate flavor. When tomatoes are very watery, drain off some of the liquid and can it separately for use in soups and broths.

Tomatoes for Soups and Sauces

Wash and slice tomatoes without peeling. Heat to boiling, rub through fine colander or sieve to remove skins and seeds. Reheat and put into jars.

Whole Tomatoes

Pack peeled or unpeeled tomatoes in wide-mouthed jars. Cook a few nice ripe tomatoes, strain and pour the liquid, cold, over tomatoes in jars, seal, set jars in cold water as in canning vegetables, bring slowly to boiling point and boil ½ hour. Remove from water, tighten covers and invert jars as usual.

FRUIT JUICES

Begin with the earliest fruits and can some of the juice of each kind through the summer until you come to grapes and apples in the autumn. When diluted with water, these juices are delightful beverages for sick or well. A little lemon juice gives character to the drink. Without diluting, they make nice flavorings for fruit salads, egg creams and pudding sauces. Blueberry, black raspberry and other sweet juices make excellent dressings for grains instead of milk or cream.

Grape Juice

Concords or some of the dark purple grapes are the richest and most satisfactory for juice. Pick the grapes from the stems, wash and drain, put into a preserving kettle without water, cover and put on back of stove on an asbestos pad or a ring so they will heat slowly. When the skins are broken and the juice is free, bring just to the boiling point, put into jelly bags and drain without squeezing. To each quart of juice add from ½ to 1 cup of sugar. Very ripe grapes will require no sugar. Heat to boiling and can the same as fruit.

Add more water to the pulp that is left in the jelly bag, reheat, strain, boil and put into large jars for a drink, or, rub the pulp through a colander, sweeten, heat and can for marmalade.

To Bottle Juices—Nearly fill bottles, standing on cloth wrung out of cold water, with boiling juice, through hot funnel. Press clean cork into bottle, cut off even with the top of the bottle and cover immediately with sealing wax made by melting together resin and oil. Use only enough oil to make the resin soft enough to spread over the cork and around the edges of the bottle. If too soft, the wax will run off.

Condensed Fruit Juices

Cook apple and other fruit juices rapidly until thick, then simmer slowly over the fire or in the oven until as thick as desired. Seal in jars or put into glasses or cups as jelly. Convenient for travelling, diluted.

APPLES

When apples are plentiful or likely to spoil, make into any of the apple sauces, put hot into jars and seal.

Baked Apples

Bake unpared apples, sweet or sour, in halves or quarters, leaving them rather juicy, put into jars and seal. On opening, put apples into oven in baking dish and dry out a little more.

Combinations of Fruits for Canning

Orange, strawberry and pineapple juices with sugar, for strawberries and pineapple canned together, or for pineapple alone.

Pears and barberries. Cook barberries in water, rub through colander, add sugar, 1–1½ cup to the pint of pulp. Return to the fire and when hot, lay in halves or quarters of nice ripe pears. Cook until pears are tender. If the pears are not quite soft, steam, or cook in pulp without sugar first. Sweet apples may be used instead of pears.

JELLIES

Because of the large proportion of sugar required in jellies it is not best to use them freely.

Fruit for jelly should always be a little underripe and should not be picked just after a rain. Combine the juices of such fruits as do not jelly easily, or of the more expensive fruits, with apple juice which jellies the easiest of all. With strong flavored fruits, apple makes the jelly more agreeable. Jellies may be made in the winter of canned fruit juices and the juice from apple skins and cores. The addition of lemon juice to sweet fruits will convert them into jelly-making products. A few pieces of rose geranium leaves dropped into apple jelly just before putting it into glasses and removed in a minute, give the jelly a nice flavor.

Always boil the juice the required length of time before adding the sugar. It requires longer boiling on damp days.

Thorough straining is necessary to make clear jelly. For the finest jelly, use first a double thickness of mosquito netting; then the same of cheese cloth, and lastly, one thickness of flannel.

Wet the cloth before putting the fruit in, to save the waste of juice. Hang in a warm place to drain.

It is said that if a little jelly dropped into cold water falls immediately to the bottom, the jelly is done; or, if it jellies on the spoon it is done.

Glasses for jelly may be set cold on a cold cloth, or warm on a warm cloth. Fill to the brim, as the jelly shrinks.

When the jelly is soft, set in the sun for a day or two, covered with panes of glass. When ready to set away, turn hot melted paraffine over the jelly. The heat destroys any germs which may have settled on the top. Cover with paper or with tin covers and set in a dark place. When using the jelly, wash and save the paraffine.

If jelly is to be moved or shipped, use a covering of ¼ inch of powdered sugar instead of the paraffine.

Or, cut rounds of toilet paper, two for each glass, large enough to overlap an inch; dip one at a time into a saucer of cold boiled milk, cover glass and press down, then put on the second piece quickly.

One thickness of Manila paper may be used instead of the toilet paper. When dry, a thick parchment-like cover will be formed and the jelly will keep well. Some housewives cover jelly while hot, thinking it keeps better.

To Make Jelly Tumblers

Soak a cord in turpentine, tie it tight around bottles and set fire to the cord.

Currant Jelly

Wash and drain currants. They are usually left on the stems but strain more easily if stemmed. Crush the berries, a few at a time and throw into the preserving kettle. Do not add any water. Set on back of range and heat slowly to nearly, not quite, boiling. Strain, measure juice, return to kettle and set over fire. At the same time put into a moderate oven in broad bottomed pans, sugar in the proportion of ¾–1 pt. to each pint of juice (¾ is sufficient). After juice begins to boil, boil 20 m., skimming as the scum rises. Add hot sugar, stir until sugar is dissolved, remove from fire and put at once into glasses.

A thinner jelly to be used with meats and over puddings underneath the meringue, may be made with ½ pt. of sugar to the pint of juice.

Currant and Raspberry Jelly

⅔ currant juice and ⅓ raspberry or ⅓ currant and ⅔ raspberry makes a delightful combination.

Black Currant Jelly

Prepare stemmed currants as for red currant jelly. Use ¼ to ½ cup of water to each quart of currants and ¾ pt. of sugar to a pint of juice. 10 m. boiling is sufficient.

Jelly of Apple Parings and Cores

Measure skins and cores by pressing firmly into the measure. Add ⅓ (no more) as much water as of fruit—you will think it is not enough. Boil 20 m., stirring often. Strain. Measure juice, boil 20–30 m., according to juiciness of apples, skimming. Add ½ as much sugar, hot, as of juice, boil 5–10 m., or until foamy. Put at once into glasses.

If apple jelly is as thick as desired when it first cools, it will be too thick after standing a few days. If apples are very juicy, use only one-half as much water.

Apple Jelly

Wash apples and cut into quarters or eighths. Do not pare or core. Add ¼ as much water as of apples in the kettle. Cook, stirring occasionally until apples are tender, not too soft. Finish as in jelly of parings. It is difficult to give the exact time for cooking, as apples vary in jellying properties. Use less water if apples are very juicy. One quince to every 10 or 12 apples gives a nice flavor. A few green grapes combined with apples or crab apples make a nice jelly.

Apple and Cranberry Jelly

Stew 1 qt. of apple parings with 1 cup of cranberries and a pint of water until tender. Strain. There should be about ¾ of a pint of juice. Boil 5 m.; add ¾ pt. sugar, boil 2–4 m. Or, use 1 doz. large tart apples to 1 qt. of berries, or equal parts apple and cranberry juice. Proceed as in other jellies.

Elder-berry and Apple Jelly

Cook elder-berries with ½ cup of water to each quart of berries. Strain and combine with apple juice in the proportion of ⅓ elder-berry juice to ⅔ apple juice. Use ¾–1 pt. of sugar to each pint of juice. Finish as for currant jelly. Elder-berries alone make a strong flavored jelly, but this combination is delightful.

Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, wild cherries, pineapple, barberries, peaches, plums and some other fruits, all make better jelly by combining with apple juice in proportions according to flavor. Use no water with any of the fruits but the apple.

Green Gooseberry Jelly

2 qts. berries, ¾ qt. water; stew, mash, strain; boil 20 m. for each quart of juice, add 1 qt. of hot sugar, boil 2–3 minutes.

Quince Jelly

Wash quinces, cut into quarters or eighths, remove part or all of the seeds, use ⅓–½ as much water as of fruit and ½ as much sugar as of juice. Cook and finish as apple jelly.

Cranberry Jelly

Use one cup of water to each 4 qts. of cranberries; cook until the berries are tender, strain and use equal quantities of sugar and juice. Boil the juice 10–12 m., add the sugar hot, stir till it is dissolved and turn the jelly into glasses or a mold. The jelly may be molded in a shallow pan and when perfectly cold cut into cubes.

Jellied Cranberry Pulp

Rub stewed cranberries in the preceding recipe through the colander, boil 8 m., add sugar, stir carefully until dissolved, mold.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce

1 qt. berries, 1 pt. sugar, ½–1 cup water. Pour water over berries with sugar, in kettle, cover, cook 10 m. without stirring. Put into large or individual molds. Unmold at serving time.

Blueberry Jelly

If berries are very dry, add a little water, heat, strain; use ½–¾ as much sugar as of juice.

Blueberry Jelly No. 2

4 qts. berries, 1 cup water; cook and strain, add 2 tablespns. of lemon juice to each pint of juice. Cook 20 m., add ¾ as much sugar, hot, as of juice, boil up well, pour into glasses.

Grape Jelly

Wild grapes are preferable, but underripe Concords, Catawbas, and other varieties may be used.

Proceed as for currant jelly, using only ⅔ as much sugar as of juice. If necessary, boil 5 m. after sugar is added. Use no water with cultivated grapes, but with underripe wild grapes, ½ cup of water may be added to each quart of stemmed grapes.

Raspberry and Currant Jam

Take ¾ their weight of sugar to berries. Mash berries in kettle over fire, add 1 pt. currant juice to each 2 qts. of berries, cook until thickened, 40–45 m., stirring and skimming, add sugar hot, boil, put into glasses or seal in jars.

Strawberry Jam

Allow ¾ their weight of sugar to berries; cook in a little of the sugar, stirring, 20–30 m. Add remainder of sugar hot, cook 10–20 m., if necessary. Small berries may be used for jam.

Gooseberry Jam

Press the juice from 3 oranges and shave off the rind, being careful not to get any of the white part. Remove blossoms and stems from 5 lbs. gooseberries, seed 2 lbs. of raisins, and chop all together very fine. Add 3–4 lbs. sugar and the orange juice and cook slowly for an hour. Turn into jars or tumblers and when cold spread a layer of powdered sugar on top of glass and seal.

Mrs. Chandler’s Rhubarb Jam

Let rhubarb and sugar stand together over night, add other ingredients and cook slowly for about 3 hours.

Rhubarb and Pineapple Jam

Cook rhubarb and sugar ½–¾ of an hour, add pineapple, boil up, put into jars, seal.

Melrose Apple Butter

7 lbs. pared, quartered and cored apples, 3 lbs. molasses sugar if obtainable, if not, dark brown sugar. Put apples and sugar in layers in a kettle, cover tight, let stand 12 hours or over night. Then let come just to boiling and simmer without stirring, or uncovering for 5–12 hours.

Apple juice made by boiling the skins of apples in ⅓ their bulk of water, as for jelly, with lemon juice to taste, is a valuable addition. Finely-ground coriander seed may be added. A little date or prune marmalade may also be used.

Elder-berry and Apple Butter

To each 2 qts. of elder-berry juice prepared as for jelly take 2 lbs. brown sugar and ½ peck sour apples. Put juice and sugar on to boil and add the apples pared, quartered and cored; simmer slowly until thick. May be put into jelly glasses.

Grape Marmalade

Pulp the grapes and put the skins through the food cutter. Cook the pulp and rub through the colander to remove the seeds. Take ½–¾ as much sugar as there is of fruit, cook 20 m. The skins improve the flavor.

Lemon Peaches

Wash and rub the peaches well, drop into boiling syrup of lemon juice, sugar and water, cook until tender, put into jars and seal.

Ripe Cucumber Pickles

Pare and seed cucumbers and cut into eighths if large. Soak over night in lemon juice and water; in the morning drain, add to hot syrup and boil until soft; skim out of syrup and put into jars standing in hot water. Keep hot. Boil syrup 10–15 m., pour over fruit and seal; let stand three or four weeks before using.

Flavor with celery salt or seed, ground coriander or anise seed, and raisins to taste. (Use anise seed sparingly). The cucumbers may be steamed tender, put into jars and the reduced syrup poured over.

To Dry Blueberries

Mix, heat in preserving kettle until juice begins to exude. Spread on buttered plates, dry carefully, stirring often.

I prize this recipe highly, as all will, I am sure, after trying it. Cherries, peaches and pears are better with sugar sprinkled over them before drying.

Dried fruits make a pleasant change from canned ones, besides not requiring jars. Home-dried fruit far excels factory products.

TO CAN VEGETABLES

While vegetables require a little more care than fruit in canning, if they receive that care one will be rewarded with nice fresh canned vegetables, free from harmful preservatives, all through the winter.

In the first place, vegetables must be fresh, especially corn and peas. Corn gathered early in the morning ought to be in the cans and on the fire before noon, and peas the same day.

If one is alone with all the housework to do, it is better to put up a few jars at a time.

“Blanching”, in this connection, means a short boiling in a weak brine (¼ cup of salt to 3 qts. of water) and is used with vegetables to eliminate the acids which they contain.

Place the vegetables in a wire basket or a cloth bag and dip into the boiling brine, then into cold water.

Prepare nearly all vegetables as for the table, before blanching, (okra and corn are exceptions).

After blanching, pack as close as possible in jars. Fill jars to overflowing with water with or without salt, according to special directions; fasten covers on tight (do not be afraid the jars will burst), and set into a kettle or boiler with a board containing holes or with several thicknesses of cloth or with thin tin rings underneath. Surround jars ¾ their depth with water, cover the vessel close so that the steam will be retained, bring to the boiling point and boil rapidly and continuously the required length of time.

Use wrench for tightening covers of Mason jars during the cooking. If Lightning jars do not seem to be air-tight, thin bits of wood may be placed under the wires. With corn and peas, it is better to have the water deep enough to cover the jars, for boiling after tops are tightened.

Use cold water to surround jars at first if contents are cold and warm water if contents are warm.

The length of time given is for cooking quart jars. ½–1 hour less will be required for pints and 1 hour more for 2 quarts.

Asparagus—Prepare asparagus as for the table; blanch tips 3 m., other parts 5 m., dip in cold water, pack in jars—the tips in one, the middle of the stalks in a second, and the inferior ends for soups, in a third.

Fill jars with cold water to which salt has been added in the proportion of 1 teaspn. to the quart.

Fasten covers and cook according to general directions for two hours, tighten covers and cook for one hour longer.

Asparagus in Full Lengths—Place stalks in jars, heads up, and pack as close as possible.

To Use—Open jar, add ½ teaspn. salt, set jar in cold or lukewarm water, heat to boiling, pour water off (save for soups), and draw stalks out carefully on to slices of prepared toast.

String Beans—Prepare as for the table or leave whole, blanch for 2 m., and follow directions for canning asparagus, using water without salt to fill the jars.

Greens—Narrow dock, milkweed, pigweed, purslane or spinach. Wash the greens thoroughly, drop into boiling salted water and leave just long enough to wilt. Remove from water with skimmer, pack into jars, cover with cold salted water and proceed as with other vegetables.

Okra—Wash young tender okra, cut off stems and tops, blanch 10 m., dip in cold water, cut in transverse slices or leave whole, and finish the same as asparagus.

Peas—Blanch fresh-gathered, mature, but not old peas, for 5 m. (old for 8 m.), dip in cold water, proceed as for canning asparagus, using sugar, 1 teaspn. to quart of water if peas are not sweet. Boil 3–4 hrs. in all; 1 hr. after tightening covers, with water covering jars if possible.

Corn—Prepare fresh-gathered corn as for drying. Pack at once (filling all spaces) in clean jars to within an inch of the top, cover to the depth of a half inch with slightly salted water, fasten covers on as tight as possible, cook 3 or 4 hours, screw covers down again, cover jars with boiling water and boil for 1 hour longer. Remove boiler from fire and let jars cool in the water.

Ears of corn may be boiled in clear water 5 m. and dropped in cold water before removing kernels.

Corn No. 2—Prepare as in preceding recipe and cook for 1 hr. after the water is boiling; tighten covers, invert and leave until the next day. Cook for 1 hr. the second day and again the third day, that is, 1 hr. each for three consecutive days.

Beets—Boil small dark red beets for 30 m., drop into cold water and rub the skins off. Place in jars, cover with cold water, fasten covers, boil 1 hr., tighten covers and boil for 1 hr. longer.

Mushrooms—Pour boiling salted water over mushrooms and allow them to stand in a warm place until withered; cool, drain, pack close in jars and cover with the water in which they were standing; seal and cook 1½ hr. Tighten covers and cook ½ hr. longer. Invert jars until cool.

TO DRY VEGETABLES

Corn—Boil corn 2–5 m., score down the center of each row of grains with a sharp knife. With a large sharp knife cut off the thinnest possible layer from each two rows, then with a dull case-knife scrape out the pulp from the hulls on the cob. Mix pulp with that which was cut off, spread on plates or granite pans and dry in a warm oven, stirring often. If the oven is too warm, the corn will turn dark. Corn may be dried in the sun if it is hot, but must be brought in before the dew begins to fall and spread out in the house. It is better to dry a little at a time in the oven and have it out of the way in a few hours. With proper care it can be done in an afternoon.

When dry, put at once into dry clean jars and seal, or into paper sacks tied tight so that no insects can get at it.

Any dried corn has a richer flavor than canned corn, but words are inadequate to express how rich and fine flavored the yellow sweet corn is when dried.

Corn for drying should be nice and tender; a little younger, if anything, than for cooking green.

Shelled Beans—Lima and all green beans may be dried after shelling by being spread out in a dry, airy place and stirred occasionally, and are quite different in flavor from dry, ripened beans.

String Beans—Cook beans until half done; drain, dry in sun, pack in paper bags, keep in cool place. To cook—soak over night, cook shorter time than usual.

Mushrooms—String mushroom caps, also stems, on a cord the same as apples, for drying, hang in sun and wind until just before the dew begins to fall and finish drying over the stove, or, dry entirely over the stove.

Put into dry, close covered jars or thick paper sacks. (May wrap in waxed paper before putting into sacks). Keep in dry place.

When first dried, mushrooms may be pulverized in a mortar and the powder put into clean, dry jars. It is delightful for flavoring soups and sauces.

String Beans in Brine

Put layer of salt 1 in. deep in bottom of stone jar or cask; then a layer of nice, tender string beans 3 in. deep; continue layers until cask is full. Cover beans with a board a little smaller around than the inside of the cask or jar and put a heavy stone on it so that the beans will be well covered with the brine. The beans may be put in at different times, but must be covered with the board from the first.

To Cook—Soak over night in cold water, changing the water several times in the early part of the evening. Cook the same as fresh beans, changing the water once or twice while cooking.

Corn in Brine

Put layers of fresh picked corn, cut from the cob, in crock the same as string beans except that the layers of corn should be 1 to 2 in. deep only, and salt ½ in. deep. Have the top layer of salt, and thicker than the others and keep the corn well under the brine with a board and stone.

Soak over night for cooking, changing the water 2 or 3 times. Cook in unsalted water.

SOUPS

“The more liquid there is taken into the stomach with the meals, the more difficult it is for the food to digest, for the liquid must first be absorbed.”

Consequently, the most perfect hygiene in the use of soups, would call for a few sips only, at the beginning of the meal, which in some cases stimulates the flow of the digestive juices.

With a hearty dinner of other foods, a small portion of some light soup or broth should be served, while a legume soup a chowder or a purée may make the principal dish of the meal.

We seldom make a soup after a recipe. When we serve soups every day, we purposely cook more than is required for other dishes of such things as will make good ingredients for soups; or, if used occasionally only, we make soup at a time when there are left-overs that are suitable. We get better results from these combinations, both from the variety of flavors, and because, with few exceptions, reheating develops richer flavors in foods.

“Our Famous Soups” are some that we have made, at different times, after this plan.

Under the head of soups are classed, bouillons or consommés, bisques, purées and chowders; though some of them are not soups in the strictest sense. For instance, a chowder is often made of the consistency of a stew, with a small proportion of liquid, and, as Francatelli says, “a purée is a kind of pulpy maceration of legumes, vegetables, etc., which have been passed through a fine colander,” but both of these are sometimes made with a larger proportion of liquid and served as thick soups.

The word “bisque” means rich soup, so in using it we do not say “tomato bisque soup” because the word soup is comprehended in bisque.

Suggestions

Do not put everything through the colander, (celery and oyster plant, never). Mastication in connection with soups is an aid to their digestion as well as being more satisfying.

Use potatoes seldom in any but potato soups; potato water, not at all. The addition of potatoes to an otherwise wholesome soup might convert it into a fermentable combination: as well as to remove it from the dietary of those who cannot use starchy foods.

Cook turnips and carrots by themselves and drain before adding to soups. The flavor of turnip in soup is often disagreeable.

As a rule, use oyster plant in slices, ¼ in. thick in the largest part and a little thicker toward the end; but if desired fine, grind it before cooking. In this way it retains its characteristic flavor.

Often the best way to thicken a soup is to heat the flour in oil or butter (without browning) and add some of the hot soup to it as for gravy, so avoiding a scorched taste.

Dried mushrooms washed well, soaked 2 to 4 hours, simmered 5 m., cut fine and added, with their juice, give a fine flavor to many soups. Three or four small pieces are sufficient for 1½ to 2 qts. of soup.

Always keep a quantity of consommé or bouillon on hand, for soups or sauces, or to pour over hash, or chopped potatoes, or to moisten roasts.

Serve bouillon or consommé in cups with or without the beaten white of egg in teaspoonfuls on each.

Whipped cream may be added to bouillon just before serving or dropped by teaspoonfuls on the cups, with a leaf of parsley laid on each.

When soups are lacking in character, the addition of water and salt will develop a meaty flavor, relieving the “porridgy” taste.

Raw nut butter may be added to any of the combinations of vegetables in the proportion of 1 or 1½ tablespns. to each quart of soup.

The water drained from boiled peanuts may be used in place of raw nut butter, taking care not to use too much.

If you should have the thick nut stock, use not more than 2 tablespns. to each quart of soup.

In putting corn through a colander, first crush the kernels in a pan or grind them through a food cutter, and put a very little into the colander at a time.

Okra is a valuable addition to some soups, tomato soups especially. When using it, take about ¼ less water for the soup, and add from ¼–½ of a pint can to each pint of soup. Heat carefully and serve at once.

The water from spinach is an invaluable addition to vegetable soups, and with the addition of a little cream it alone makes a delightful broth. The water from nearly all greens is desirable in soups.

WATER SOUPS

★ Nut Bouillon

Rub the nut butter smooth with part of the water, simmer all ingredients together 1½–2 hrs., strain vegetables out, add water to make 1¼ qt., heat, serve.

To Clear—Add water for one quart only, cool, beat with the white and shell of one egg, set over a slow fire and stir often until the broth boils rapidly, then boil without stirring until it looks dark and clear below the scum. Let stand off the fire about 10 m., strain through 2 or 3 thicknesses of cheese cloth laid over a colander; pour through wire strainer on to the cheese cloth. Add more water if necessary after straining, to develop a meaty flavor. Reheat, serve.

★ Vegetable Consommé

Cook together 1–2 hours, strain, add water to make 2 quarts, more salt if necessary, heat, serve.

★ Vegetable Consommé, No. 2

Omit browned flour and garlic in preceding recipe, substitute celery salt for celery tops, and add a trifle of sage.

White Stock

Mix dry ingredients, add nut butter which has been stirred with water, simmer all together 1½–2 hours, strain, and add water to make 2½ pints, heat, serve.

Dark Stock

Vegetable Stock

Simmer all together 3–4 hours; strain, serve. Parsley may be added after straining soup. Savory, marjoram and other herbs may be used, or the herbs may be omitted altogether.

Other legumes may be substituted for the ones given. Tomato or browned flour or both may be added. This stock is excellent for gravies and sauces. A thick soup may be made by rubbing the vegetables through the colander instead of straining them out.

★ Cereal Bouillon

2½ pts. nice fresh bran pressed down. 2½ qts. boiling water. Simmer together 2 hours or more; strain, add

Simmer together ½–1 hour, strain, salt to taste, heat, serve. This should make 2½ qts. of soup. Other flavorings maybe used.

Tomato Broth

Simmer all together about 20 m., strain and add water for 1½ qt. of broth. Use plenty of salt. This broth may be cleared the same as bouillon, leaving 1 qt. only. 3 or 4 teaspoons of browned flour may be used.

Legume Broths

Cook beans, lentils or whole green peas, until the water looks rich, but not until the skins begin to break. Strain, making 1 pt. of broth from each pint of legumes. (The legumes remaining may be used for stews and soups). Add salt, heat and serve. These broths are very satisfying. They may be varied by adding different flavorings to legumes while cooking or to broths after straining. Tomato, celery, onion with or without browned flour, or thyme are suitable. Brown beans with onion have quite a different flavor from white beans with onion.

★ Nut French Soup

Simmer ½–1 hour, strain, reheat, serve. An English woman in sampling this soup after I had made it up, remarked that it tasted like some of the French soups, hence its name.

Egg Soup

Add salt and butter to water, break eggs into a cup, one for each cup of water, leave whole and turn slowly into the rapidly boiling water, beating briskly with fork or wire whip until the egg is in white and yellow shreds. Boil up well and serve with crackers and celery. This is an emergency soup. Cream may be added to the water instead of butter, or part milk may be used.

★ Nut and Barley Soup

Cook barley and nut butter in part of the water for 3–5 hours. Add water to make 2 qts., with celery and bay leaf. Simmer from 15–20 m., no longer. Remove celery and bay leaf, serve. Bay leaf may be omitted.

★ Cabbage and Tomato Soup

Cook chopped or finely-shredded cabbage in boiling salted water until tender; add stewed tomatoes, simmer 15–20 m., add necessary salt and water, serve. Excellent.

★ Celery and Tomato Soup

Use stewed celery instead of cabbage in cabbage and tomato soup. A delightful combination.

★ Savory Rice Soup

Blend nut butter and water. Heat to boiling, add rice, onion, sage and salt. Boil rapidly until rice is tender.

Onion Soup

Simmer sliced onions in butter without browning; add water, boiling, cook until onions are tender, thicken slightly with flour, rub through colander, add salt and a little browned flour, more water if necessary, and chopped parsley.

Split Peas and Onion Soup

Split peas, water, salt, raw nut butter and onion, a little tomato sometimes. Cook all ingredients together until peas and onion are tender. Strain or not as preferred.

Potato Soup with Onion or Celery

Simmer chopped onion in oil or butter, add boiling water, potatoes cut in small pieces, and salt. Cook until potatoes are tender, add water to make of the right consistency, salt, and chopped parsley.

Vegetable Soup No. 1

Cook all except rice for ½ hour, add rice and cook until it is tender; add 1 tablespn. parsley, more salt and water if necessary.

Vegetable Soup No. 2

Equal quantities carrot and turnip in small pieces, twice as much onion and celery, with raw nut butter and water. Cook until vegetables are tender; add salt and necessary water. In their season, asparagus, peas, and string beans may be added.

Vegetable Soup No. 3

Simmer sliced onions, celery or carrots and cabbage in water, with raw nut butter, until tender. Add browned flour, salt and necessary water; heat.

Mashed legumes may be used in place of nut butter in these vegetable soups. Or they may be made into cream soups by using milk instead of nut butter and water, with or without thickening. Chopped parsley may be used in any of them.

Tomato Soup

Add flour to melted butter in saucepan, pour boiling water over, stirring, add tomatoes and salt. Boil up well.

Nut Gumbo

Cook raw nut butter in part of the water, add other ingredients, heat well. Cooked noodles may be used instead of rice.

★ Tampa Bay Soup

Cook tomato, raw nut butter, the 1¼ qt. of water, okra and onion all together, rub through colander and add to sauce made with oil, browned and white flour and the 1 cup of water. Add salt and more water if necessary, and when boiling, the trumese and nutmese, with chopped parsley. Throw egg balls into the soup just before serving, or serve separately in each dish. Or, pass a dish of boiled rice with the soup.

★ Mother’s Soup

Cook all except turnip and thyme together 1½–2 hours. About 20 m. before removing from the fire add the turnip, and in 10 m. the thyme; after another 10 m., strain, add salt and more water if necessary, heat.

When soup is boiling rapidly, turn in slowly, in a slender stream, batter for cream noodles, stirring constantly. Boil up well, remove from fire, serve at once.

3–4 tablespns. raw nut butter may be used for stock instead of bran, and 1½ teaspn. lemon juice added when soup is done.

★ Bean Soup

Put the beans into boiling water and cook rapidly until the skins begin to break, then simmer until tender and well dried out. The longer and more slowly the beans are cooked the richer the soup will be. Rub beans through colander, keeping them where they will remain hot during the process. Return to the fire, add boiling water and salt, and simmer for an hour. Stir well and serve.

There are three things essential to the perfection of bean soup: 1st., cook the beans without soaking or parboiling, 2nd., dry out well after they become tender, 3rd., do not let the beans or soup get cold at any time before serving. Warmed-over bean soup is very good, but there is a certain meaty flavor lost by cooling and reheating. Left-overs of bean soup, we usually combine with other ingredients. Brown beans and red make very rich soups, much better than black. One pint of beans will make about 3 qts. of soup.

★ Chick Peas Soup

Make the same as bean soup (except that peas require longer cooking), or cook in consommé. Very rich in flavor.

★ Unstrained Bean Soup

Cook nice tender white beans until partially cooked to pieces. Add salt, and water to make of the right consistency, and simmer slowly ½ hour or longer.

★ Swiss Lentil Soup

Cook lentils and sliced onion together until lentils are tender and well dried out, rub through colander, add the browned flour and salt, with water to make of the right consistency. (There should be from 2½–3 qts. of soup). Heat ½–1 hour. This makes an unusually meaty-flavored soup.

The idea of combining onion and browned flour with lentils was given me by one who had spent some years among the French in Switzerland.

★ Canadian Peas Soup

Cook whole ripe peas with onion and a little garlic, rub through colander, add salt, a little browned flour and powdered sage, with water to make like a broth. Unusually good.

★ Green Peas Soup

Cook green peas until tender, put ¾ of them through the colander, add water and salt, boil up, thicken with a little flour and butter rubbed together, add the whole peas, heat to boiling and serve.

CREAM AND MILK SOUPS

Cream soups do not necessarily contain cream, though the addition of a little improves their flavor.

The simplest ones consist of milk thickened to the consistency of very thin cream, salt, and a vegetable or some other ingredient. If the vegetable is mashed, or is one that does not break to pieces easily, the milk may be added to it, and the whole brought to the boiling point and thickened. In a few exceptional cases the ingredient may be cooked in the milk; nice tender green corn, for instance.

A richer sauce is made by making a roux of 2 level tablespns. of butter, and 1–1½ level tablespn. flour, with a pint of milk, put together in the regular way for sauces; but you will be surprised to see how much better soups (with few exceptions) are without thickening, being free from the porridgy taste of those thickened a trifle too much.

A little cream with the water in which the vegetable was cooked often gives a finer flavored soup than milk and is no more expensive.

Sour cream makes a delightful as well as wholesome substitute for sweet cream in corn, cabbage, tomato, in fact, nearly all vegetable soups.

The following is a list of soups in which the general directions are understood when no exceptions are noted. Salt is understood in all.

★ Cream of Asparagus—Cook tougher parts and rub through colander. Throw cooked tips in last unless desired for some other dish. The very toughest parts only make a nice, delicate flavored soup. This is one which favors cream and water instead of milk.

Cream of Bean—Lima, common white, or colored. Cook as for water bean soup, rub through colander or leave in broken pieces. Milk, or cream and water, no flour. 1 cup beans to 1½–2 qts. soup.

Cream of Bouillon—¼–½ cup cream salted and whipped, to each quart bouillon just before serving, either stirred in, or laid on top of each cup in spoonfuls with a leaf of parsley.

★ Cream of Cabbage, or Celery and Tomato—Cabbage or celery, and tomato soup, with a little heavy cream added.

Cream of Carrot—1 cup of ground or grated carrot, cooked, 3 pts. milk and water, 1½–2 tablespns. butter, 1¼ tablespn. flour; or, 1 cup strained tomato, ½–¾ cup cream, with water to make 3 pts., and no butter.

Without the tomato, soup may be flavored with onion or celery, and bay leaf, with chopped parsley.

Cream of Celery—1 pt. finely-sliced celery, stewed, milk and cream added to make 3 pts., 1–1½ tablespn. flour with or without 1 or 2 tablespns. of butter. Do not strain. When soup is thickened, crushed stalks of celery may be steeped in it for 15 m., then removed.

★ Cream of Celery No. 2—Steep leaves or poor stalks of celery in milk for 15 m., add cream and flour, or flour and butter, to make of the consistency of thin cream. Strain. May add a little celery salt.

Cream of Chestnut—Mashed boiled chestnuts, milk to thin, cream, plain or whipped, or, milk and butter. May be flavored with celery or onion or both.

★ Cream of Corn—1 pt. canned or grated corn to 3 pts. rich milk, 1 level tablespn. only, of flour, a very little salt. Do not let soup stand long before serving. A little onion improves the flavor. If fresh corn is used, the milk may be heated in a double boiler, the corn added and cooked 20–30 m., or it may be boiled in a small quantity of water 6–10 m. The cobs may be boiled in the water for 10 m. before and removed; or they may stand in the milk while it is heating and be removed before corn is added.

Fine fresh cracker meal gives a nice flavor to cream of corn soup when used instead of flour for thickening.

A very little strained tomato imparts a delightful flavor and makes a different soup.

Cream of Dried Corn—Soak corn, grind, add to hot milk, or cream and water. Heat in double boiler 1 hour, add salt, serve. If necessary, thicken a trifle.

Cream of Dried Corn and Carrot—Add cooked grated carrots to corn and milk in above recipe and heat. Delicious.

Cream of Lentil—1 cup lentils cooked and rubbed through colander. 1½–2 qts. soup. No flour. May flavor with celery and onion.

Cream of Onion—Cook sliced onions in salted water. Do not strain. Nice thickened with tapioca instead of flour.

Cream of Oyster Plant—Cook sliced oyster plant in water until just tender, not soft; add salt, simmer 5 m. Add cream and more water if necessary. Or, grind oyster plant before cooking. May thicken a trifle.

Cream of Peas, dry—Canadian, dried green, split or chick; 1 cup to 1½–2 qts. of soup. Cook, rub through colander; milk, or cream and water. No flour. Celery or onion flavor or not.

Cream of Potato, or Sweet Potato—1½–2 qts. of milk, or cream and water, for each pint of mashed potato. Flavor with onion, celery salt or bay leaf.

Cream of Spinach—Use a very small proportion of cooked spinach rubbed through a colander, with rich milk, or with cream and the water in which the spinach was boiled. Whipped cream may be added just before serving. Thicken with tapioca sometimes.

Cream of String Beans—Cook beans in small pieces, add rich milk, thicken with flour or tapioca.

Cream of Succotash Soup

Use 1 part of beans to 2 parts of corn; put either, neither or both through a colander; add rich milk and salt.

For variety, flavor the soup with celery or onion or both, and add a sprinkling of chopped parsley just before serving.

Cream of Corn and Celery Soup

Equal quantities cooked celery and corn, rich milk thickened a trifle if desired, salt.

Cream of Corn and Peas Soup

Cook peas, rub through colander, corn also if preferred. Add milk to make of the right consistency. Put over fire in double boiler with salt and the stalks of celery crushed. Heat for 15 m., remove the celery and serve. 1 pint of canned green peas may be used instead of dried ones.

Okra Soup with Cream

1 pt. canned okra, vegetable consommé to make of the right consistency, ½–1 cup cream, salt. If the okra is in large pieces, cut smaller.

Cream of Rice Soup

Cook rice with salt and water in a double boiler or in a pan in the oven until the water is absorbed, add the milk hot, and cook stirring often, on top of stove or in double boiler till rice is soft and creamy. Add cream and more salt and water if necessary. Soup may be flavored with 2 teaspns. finely-chopped onion, a crushed half clove of garlic, or ⅛–¼ teaspn. sage, or with a bay leaf, or crushed stalks of celery. All milk may be used.

★ Paris Onion Soup

Cook sliced onion with browned flour in salted water until tender. Rub through colander, add cream or butter, milk and salt. Thicken a trifle, heat and add chopped parsley.

Soup of Peas Pods

Wash peas pods, stew 3 hours with a small sprig of mint. Rub through a coarse wire sieve (a few at a time) until nothing is left but the membrane. Add milk and butter, or cream and water, with a little flour to thicken if desired, then a few whole peas; season with salt.

Split Peas Soup

1 pt. split peas, 1 onion sliced; cook in water till soft. Add milk to make of the right consistency and salt to season. Good without onion.

★ Peas and Tomato Soup

Cook peas and rub through colander, add water, tomato, cream and salt. Heat. Serve.

Cream of Green (or canned) Peas Soup

1 pt. stewed or canned, well matured green peas, 1–1½ qt. rich milk, salt. Heat peas, rub through colander, add hot milk gradually, stirring, then salt. Heat well, serve. If peas are not sweet, 2 teaspoons of sugar may be added. The soup may be thickened with 1 level tablespn. of flour. It also may be flavored with stalks of celery or slices of onion, for variety; but nice-flavored peas do not require any additional flavoring.

★ Tomato Cream Soup

Cream of Tomato Soup

Same as Tomato Cream Soup, with 2½ cups of tomato instead of 1 cup, and 1½–2 teaspns. salt.

★ Another

Cream Broths

Cauliflower, cabbage or spinach water, with a little cream, make delightful broths; also barley or rice water or juice of tomato.

Brazil Nut Soup

Cook ground nuts in the water for 2 hrs., add onion and celery, and cook 15 m., to ½ hr., add the milk, heat, strain, add salt and more milk or water if necessary, reheat. Other flavorings may be used.

Sister Cooley’s Brown Potato Soup

1 pt. of potato, in small pieces, cooked, mashed and well beaten, 3 tablespns. butter and oil mixed, 4–6 tablespns. chopped onion, 2 or 3 teaspns. browned flour, 1½ teaspn. white flour, 3 cups milk, salt. Heat onion in oil, add flour and mashed potato, then milk and salt with a little chopped parsley. If too thick, add a little more milk or water.

Sliced Potato Soup

1 pt. of potato in thick slices, 1 medium sized onion chopped, salt. Cook until potatoes are tender but not soft; add 1 tablespn. butter, or 2–3 tablespns. cream with milk to make 1¼–1½ qt. of soup, salt, and chopped parsley. Finely-sliced celery may be used in place of onion.

Vegetable Soup—Milk

Simmer, but do not brown, vegetables in oil 10–20 m., add boiling water and bread crumbs and cook till vegetables are very tender. Rub through colander or not as preferred. Add milk, salt and parsley. Reheat. If too thick add more milk or water. Soup may be thickened slightly with pastry or rice flour instead of crumbs.

Mayflower Soup

Cook nut butter, onion and garlic in salted water; when tender add tomato and corn; heat. Rub butter and flour together, pour hot milk over gradually, stirring. Boil up well, combine with vegetables, add salt and celery salt, and if necessary, water to thin.

A little cream may be used in place of butter, but the soup is excellent without either.

★ Oyster Bay Soup

Cook oyster plant in 1½ pt. water; when nearly tender, add salt. Cook cabbage till tender (20–25 m.), in so little water that it will be nearly dry when done. Add milk, heat, strain; add liquid from oyster plant. There should be 3 pts. of liquid in all. Boil, stir in flour rubbed smooth with the oil and part of the cold milk. Boil up well. Add cooked oyster plant. Heat. Do not make too thick. The flour may be omitted entirely. The oil may be cooked with the oyster plant.

Milk Stew of Cabbage—White or Red

Cook cabbage and onion in the water 20–25 m. leaving ½ pt. of liquid. Blend butter and flour and pour hot milk over; boil, add cooked cabbage and chopped parsley. Heat. Serve.

Milk Stew of Oyster Plant

Cook 1 qt. of sliced oyster plant in a small quantity of water. Add salt when nearly tender; drain, add rich milk to liquor to make 1 qt. Pour over oyster plant, heat, add salt. Turn into tureen containing ¼ cup heavy cream, or 1 tablespn. butter.

Cream Stew of Oyster Plant

Oyster Plant and Celery Soup

Equal quantities sliced oyster plant and celery cooked; water, cream, with or without a little flour to thicken, salt.

Oyster Plant and Corn Soup

Cook oyster plant, drain, add water to liquor to make 3½ cups. When boiling, thicken and add corn, oyster plant and cream, with salt. Heat, serve.

BISQUES

Bisque of Corn

Heat butter, add flour, then hot water; stir into corn with salt; heat, turn over whipped cream in soup tureen and send to table at once.

Bisque of Cucumber

Cook onion in nut milk (made by blending raw nut butter and water) until tender, add the cucumbers and cook 5 m., add celery salt and milk, thicken with flour; rub through colander, add salt, milk or water to thin if necessary, and cream, whipped or plain. Serve immediately.

★ Milk and Tomato Bisque

Cook cabbage 20–25 m., in just enough water to cook it tender. Add milk, heat, strain. Heat butter and the 2 teaspns. of flour and add cabbage flavored milk.

Thicken tomato with 1 tablespn. of flour and add thickened milk just before serving. Add salt the last thing. Turn over whipped cream in soup tureen or serve the cream by teaspoonfuls on each plate of soup. Cream may be omitted.

Milk may be flavored with onion instead of cabbage, or not flavored at all, but the cabbage gives an exceptionally fine flavor to the combination. Equal quantities of milk and tomato may be used, or twice as much milk as tomato, remembering to thicken both milk and tomato (if all the flour is put into the milk it makes it too thick to blend well with the tomato), to combine just before serving, and to add the salt last.

Milk and Tomato Bisque, with Eggs—Starchless

Cook milk, water, oil and eggs the same as a boiled custard. Remove from fire, add the hot tomato gradually, stirring, then salt. Serve at once.

★ Nut and Tomato Bisque

Stir butter smooth with tomato, add boiling water, heat and add plenty of salt. This soup requires no flavoring, but onion, garlic, mint, caraway, or a delicate flavoring of thyme, are all nice with it.

★ Nut and Tomato Bisque No. 2

2 tablespns. raw nut butter cooked in water ½ to 1 hr., instead of the roasted nut butter. Flavor with onion, garlic, or delicately with thyme, if desired.

Bisque of Spinach

Heat milk, onion and celery in double boiler for 20 m., strain, pour liquid over oil and flour heated (without browning) in saucepan; add salt and celery salt and turn on to spinach (which has been cooked and chopped fine or rubbed through a colander) gradually, stirring. Serve hot.

CHOWDERS

Many of the chowders are almost a “full meal” in themselves. I can think of no luncheon more delightful than a nut chowder with finger croutons, beaten biscuit or whole wheat wafers, with fruit or other not too rich, dessert.

Raw nut butter may be used in all these chowders in place of butter or oil, giving a meaty flavor.

A smaller proportion of liquid may be used when desired. The vegetable strainings left from a consommé, rubbed through the colander, make an excellent foundation for chowders.

★ Seashore Chowder—Corn

Heat oil (without browning) in kettle, add onions, simmer 10 m., then add the water, boiling, with salt and potatoes. Cook until potatoes are just tender, not soft; add the milk, hot, and then the corn. Heat to boiling and serve with crackers. When fresh grated corn is used, of course it should be cooked in a double boiler for 10–15 m. before adding to chowder.

The chowder may be thickened a trifle if the larger quantity of milk is used, but the smaller is the usual quantity. Sometimes only one-half as much potato as of corn is used.

Corn and Carrot Chowder—Unusually Fine

Heat onion and carrot in oil, add water, cook tender, add hot milk, and corn with salt. Heat.

★ Nut Chowder

Rub nut butter smooth with water, add the tomato and more water; cook ½ hour. Cook together carrots and onion and add without draining to nut butter stock. Cook celery till perfectly tender and add with the water in which it was cooked; add salt, nutmese and trumese, eggs, parsley and cream, with more water if required. Let stand a few minutes and serve.

One cup of oyster plant with the water in which it was cooked is a great improvement. ½ cup of turnip in dice, cooked by itself and drained, and a few pieces of cooked red beet, in fancy shapes, may be added just as the chowder goes to the table.

Potato and Onion or Celery Chowder

Rub nut butter smooth with water, heat to boiling, add salt and onions, cook 10 m., add potatoes and cook until tender. Finish with water and cream, or water alone. 1 cup finely-sliced celery may be cooked with the potato instead of the onion, and chopped parsley added at the last.

★ Tomato Cream Chowder

Simmer onion, carefully, in oil until tender, add tomato, heat and add cream sauce with necessary salt. Onion may be cooked in a small quantity of salted water and oil omitted.

★ Oyster Plant Chowder

Simmer onion in oil, add water, potato and oyster plant, with salt; cook; add hot milk and more salt if necessary. Pour over split or whole crackers in tureen.

★ Another

String Bean and Celery Chowder

1 part cooked celery and 2 parts string beans with rich milk, thickened a trifle. Salt.

Celery, Onion and Corn Chowder

Equal parts celery and corn. Cook onion and celery in butter (or salted water only), add water, then milk and cream, corn and parsley. Heat. Serve.

Rice and Vegetable Chowder (of things on hand)

★ Royal Vegetable Chowder

PURÉES

The term “purée,” as used in this connection, means a thick soup of ingredients rubbed through a fine colander. Thicker purées of cooked nuts, fruits, legumes or vegetables are served as true meat dishes, entrées, side dishes or relishes, according to their nature.

Almond Purée—small quantity

Rub 2 tablespns. of almond butter smooth with 1–1⅓ cup of water. Just boil up over the fire (or cook in double boiler till thick), add salt, serve. The proportion of water may be varied.

Split Peas Purée

Cook peas, raw nut butter, bay leaf, celery tops and onion all together in salted water, rub through colander, turn on to butter and flour which have been heated together (or the butter and flour may be rubbed together and stirred into the purée), add necessary water, salt, sage and the teaspoon of fresh grated onion; simmer for 5 m. Serve with strips of bread, or finger croutons. The teaspoon of onion at the last is very important.

Purée of Potatoes

Boil potatoes cut in small pieces, sliced onion, stalks of celery and a sprig of parsley in plenty of salted water till potatoes are tender. Rub through colander, reheat, thicken just enough to hold the ingredients together, turn over whipped cream in the tureen and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Raw nut butter gives a fine flavor to this purée, cook it with the potatoes and use less or no cream.

Purée of Sago

Wash sago and cook with bay leaf, celery, parsley and onion in the water until clear; add hot milk, rub through colander, add salt and keep hot. Just before serving, beat together the yolk of the egg and the cream, stir several spoonfuls of hot soup into the mixture, turn all into the soup, stir well, but do not boil, add chopped parsley, serve at once.

OUR FAMOUS SOUPS

This is the list of soups, made from left-overs, for which people most often ask our recipes.

They are from a small institution, with a family of from twenty-five to thirty members.

The cream is usually a little from the top of the can, but it gives the finishing touch.

No. 1—Seashore chowder with fine trumese and nutmese, and onion and tomato stew.

No. 3—Asparagus on toast put through colander; milk, consommé, a trifle of tomato,—oyster flavor.

No. 4—Consommé, strainings from consommé, chick peas, trumese and gravy from trumese pie.

No. 5—Cream of asparagus soup, dry Lima beans and dried corn succotash, consommé, baked beans, green peas, milk and cream.

No. 11—Consommé, spinach water, carrots, onions, garlic, tomato, chopped parsley.

No. 13—Carrot water, onions, garlic, tomato, browned flour, beans, bay leaf. This tasted like beans with tomato sauce.

FRUIT SOUPS

Served with nuts, nut wafers or popped corn, are very refreshing often, for luncheon or supper.

And when something must be served in the evening, those not too tart, may be served with cocoanut crisps, pastry in fancy shapes, cookies or sponge cakes and nuts.

Sea moss, sago or tapioca (⅓ to ½ cup sago and ¼ to ⅓ cup tapioca to each 3 pts. of soup) make the most suitable foundations for them.

The white of egg beaten, sweetened a trifle and flavored delicately with rose, lemon or orange may be put on to each cup in roses with a pastry tube or dropped on by teaspoonfuls.

Odds and ends of sauces can be utilized, and in the summer, all sorts of fresh fruits.

Thin slices of Brazil nuts, crisp toasted almonds, English walnuts, pecans or hickory nuts are suitable accompaniments.

Strawberry and Pineapple Soup

Put sago or tapioca into the inner cup of a double boiler with 1 cup of warm water. Soak sago 1 hr., tapioca 10 m. to 2 hrs., according to the kind. When soaked, pour 1 cup of boiling water over, add a little salt and cook until transparent. Add strawberry, pineapple and lemon juice, and sugar to make delicately sweet. Heat to just below the boiling point and serve at once, or cool.

Other suitable fruit juices may be substituted for the ones given: with those of strong and positive flavor a larger proportion of water may be used. Of course, with some tart juices, no lemon juice would be required.

Cherry Soup

¼ cup tapioca, 3 cups water, 1 pt. juice from dark red canned or stewed cherries. Flavor with oil of lemon or orange rind if desired.

Sea Moss Fruit Soup

Stir moss into cold fruit juice, heat in double boiler 25–30 m., stirring often; add lemon and orange juice and sugar, stir till sugar is dissolved. Serve warm or cold.

Scandinavian Fruit Soup

Soak sago in 1 cup warm water, add the quart of water boiling. with salt, and cook until sago is transparent. Add other ingredients, heat, serve.

Dried peaches, apricots or apples may be used sometimes. Grape, currant or cranberry are suitable juices.

Grape Juice Cream Soup

Raisin and Almond Broth—small quantity

Stew 1 tablespn. raisins cut fine, in 1 cup of water ½ to 1 hour. Add 2 teaspns. almond butter stirred smooth with 2 tablespns. of water, a trifle of salt and a little sugar if desired or allowed.

Blueberry and Cocoanut Soup

Steep grated cocoanut in rich blueberry juice in a not too hot place for 20 m. Strain. Add sugar as required and a little lemon juice if necessary, with or without dairy cream. Serve cold with sponge cake or cookies. Rich cocoanut milk may be used instead of grated cocoanut.

Tomato and Raisin Soup

1 cup seeded raisins; stew till tender. Drain and add to the liquid, water to make 1½ cup, 1½ cup strained tomato, salt, 4 tablespns. cream with 2 teaspns. sugar.

SOUP GARNISHES AND ACCOMPANIMENTS

Croutons

Of all the accompaniments to soups, croutons (crusts of bread) are perhaps the most desirable as well as most practical. To make them, cut slices of bread, not too fresh, into any desired shapes, dry, slowly at first, in a warm oven, then gradually increase the heat until they are of a delicate cream color, for such soups as bean, Swiss lentil or bouillon; but for cream soups, dry to crispness without browning.

A favorite shape is made by cutting rather thin loaves of bread into half inch slices, laying 3 or 4 together and cutting them diagonally across the narrow way of the slice. This gives dainty strips, convenient and attractive. The most common way is to cut slices straight across each way, leaving the bread in dice.

Miscellaneous

Croutons, however, are not suitable for very delicate flavored soups, such as cream of corn or cream of rice. For these, there is nothing equal to dainty cream or nut-shortened sticks, or little soup crackers.

Cook some of the small Italian pastes (you can be sure that they are Italian only by buying them of the Italian dealer himself), vermicelli, soprafini, ditalini, acini di pepe, or others, in boiling salted water until tender (from 10 to 15 m.), drain and add to suitable soups in the proportion of one ounce to ¾–1 qt. of soup.

Roll lettuce leaves in tight rolls and cut off in slender rings; pick up with the fingers and drop into hot soup; or cut lettuce with vegetable cutter, round or in any not too fine shapes and scatter into plates of soup as served.

Cut left-overs of pie crust into fancy shapes. Bake and drop into each plate of soup in serving. They must not stand in the soup long or they will dissolve.

Dice Royale

Coat ¾ in. dice of bread with beaten egg. Bake just before serving. Serve a few in each dish of soup, or throw into tureen just before sending to table. May roll cubes in finely-chopped onion or parsley.

Cream Soup Balls

Heat oil in frying pan until hot, not brown. Add half the flour and rub to a paste, then add boiling water gradually, stirring until smooth. Stir in remainder of flour dry.

When the sauce is smooth and creamy and well cooked, remove from the fire, cool a little, and stir in celery, parsley and salt. The mixture will be very stiff.

Stand in cool place until perfectly cold, then shape into balls 1¼ to 1½ in. in diameter, or cones 1½ in. at the base, or cubes of 1¼ in., or sticks 3½ to 4 in. in length by ¾ of an inch in diameter. Roll in fine zwieback or cracker crumbs, then in beaten egg (add salt and a tablespoon of water to each egg), then in crumbs again.

Place on oiled tins a short distance apart, and set in cool place till 15 m. before serving, then put into a quick oven and bake until a delicate brown and cracked a little. Serve immediately.

This makes 12 to 14 balls. ½ a beaten egg may be added when the celery is, but the balls are more creamy without it.

The balls may be made the day before required, kept in the ice box and baked at serving time.

Variation No. 1. Use 2 tablespns. of small pieces of hickory or other nut meats instead of the celery.

Variation No. 2. Use 2 tablespns. of black walnut meal (made by rubbing meats through a fine colander with a potato masher), and a little onion.

Variation No. 3. Use ¼ to ⅜ teaspn. grated lemon rind, instead of other flavorings.

Variation No. 4. Use chopped trumese, with sage and onion in place of the celery.

The savory balls are used with the plainer soups, and vice versa; or if both soups and balls are highly seasoned, use contrasting flavors; for instance, the balls with lemon rind in Nut French soup.

The egg balls should be used with care as they destroy the flavor of many soups. They, poached eggs, and hard-boiled yolks of eggs are especially suitable for some cream soups.

★ Soup Balls—Choux batter

Heat water and oil to boiling, stir flour in dry, stirring and beating well with batter whip. When nearly cold, add eggs, one at a time, mixing well, until all are in. Beat for 5 m., stand in ice box for from 1 to 12 or more hours. Drop small quantities from point of spoon into boiling soup, or bake or boil in tiny balls, flattened.

Excellent baked, but unusually fine boiled, so delightfully free from stickiness or doughiness.

Egg Balls

Rub 4 poached yolks of eggs to a paste. Beat with salt and the white of 1 raw egg. Form into balls ¾ to 1 in. in diameter. Roll in browned flour No. 1, bake just before serving. May beat white of egg first.

The raw yolk is sometimes used in place of the white. The balls may be boiled for 5 m. in the soup, instead of being baked.

★ Royal Paste

Beat together 4 eggs, ½ cup thin cream, ½ teaspn. salt. Pour into oiled tin, place in pan of water; bake slowly until firm. Turn from molds at once.

When paste is to be cut into fancy shapes with vegetable cutters it should not be over ¼ in. deep in the pans; but if for dice, it may be any depth.

I often tint parts of paste with vegetable or fruit colors, spinach green, parsley, carrots or cranberries.

Royal may be flavored with onion juice. A little very fine chopped parsley may be added to it before baking.

4 yolks of eggs and 1 white may be used instead of 4 whole eggs with the same quantity of liquid, and rich milk will do instead of cream, but the paste will not be as tender.

Spun Eggs

Break eggs into cup (2 for each quart of soup). Leave whole and turn slowly into rapidly boiling soup, beating briskly with fork or wire batter whip, until egg is in white and yellow shreds. Boil up well and serve soup at once. Or, beat eggs and let them stand until the froth subsides, then add to the soup in the same way.

Thickening for Potato Soup

Turn some of the hot soup slowly on to the beaten yolks, stirring, add them to the soup, do not boil, serve at once.

Rice Timbales

Soak rice in water for half an hour, add salt and oil, stir well and steam without stirring, ¾ to 1 hour. Press into small oiled molds. Set in a pan of hot water covered, for 10 m. Put one in the center of each plate of soup, with or without a small leaf of parsley on top. Rice may be boiled.

Dumplings

Cut bread or universal dough into small rounds or make into very small balls; let rise and steam 20 m. or boil 10 to 15 m. in rich soup just before serving, or boil in water and add to soup.

Noodles

I have had equally good success with all three of the following combinations:—

Beat eggs a little with salt, add water if used, and flour for stiff dough. Knead on floured board until dry but not flakey.

Then cut into three or four pieces and knead each piece, without more flour, until very smooth. Roll each piece as thin and as large as possible, some say to the thickness of a fifty cent piece, hang on clothes bars, away from the fire, turning often until dry but not brittle.

Roll up without flour and cut into fine slices from the end; or fold in 1½ in. accordion pleats and cut fine, or cut into strips of any desired width and cut these into narrow match-like pieces; or cut into rounds or fancy shapes with vegetable cutters. If cut in the first two ways, shake out upon a cloth or board and dry ½ to 1 hour.

Add noodles to boiling consommé and boil rapidly, stirring occasionally with a fork, for 10 to 20 m., or until tender.

Noodles may be cooked in boiling salted water, drained and added to soup, or cooked for 5 m. in water and finished in soup, giving a clearer consommé.

Noodles may be cooked in Mother’s and Nut French soup, as well as in bouillon or consommé.

Noodles may be dried thoroughly and stored in jars or close-covered box, almost indefinitely; but will require a much longer cooking.

★ Cream Noodles

Beat 1 egg light, add 1 tablespn. milk and a pinch of salt; then beat in 3–4½ tablespns. flour.

Turn slowly in a slender stream into rapidly boiling soup, stirring constantly; boil up well and serve at once.

When the mixture is poured slowly from the point of a spoon, it will be in shreds, and when cooked will be firm enough to hold its shape, but not hard.

ENTRÉES AND BREAKFAST, LUNCHEON AND SUPPER DISHES

“Entrées are the dishes served between any of the regular courses,” one writer says. Another, “Entrées—a conventional term for side dishes.” Entrées proper may or may not have a large proportion of strength giving elements; but in this book we are placing the foods richest in proteids under the head of “true meats.”

As many entrées make good breakfast, luncheon and supper dishes and vice versa, it seemed best to group these all together.

CROQUETTES

Egg for dipping croquettes should be slightly beaten with a pinch of salt and 1 teaspn. to 1 tablespn. of water to each egg.

The whites of eggs alone (beaten just enough to mix with the water), also yolks alone or crumbs without egg may be used.

Crumbs may be cracker, zwieback, dry bread or granella. Corn meal, flour, or a mixture of crumbs and flour are used for dipping. For vegetable and cereal croquettes, the nut meals are excellent.

Suitable croquettes or patties may be served on beds of pilau, or on plain boiled rice with gravy, or with macaroni in cream sauce, and some are used as garnishes or accompaniments for true meat dishes.

Croquette Sauce

1 teaspn. grated onion may be used when suitable and also 1 egg, but croquettes are more creamy without the egg.

Rub the butter and flour together, add boiling milk, stirring; boil, remove from fire, add whatever is to be used for croquettes, cool thoroughly, shape into cones or rolls, set in cold place until ready to use.

Corn Croquettes

Mix, shape, bake. These croquettes may be breaded only. They may be used as garnish for a timbale if shaped in cones or balls, or served with cream sauce as a separate course.

Celery Croquettes

Do not cook celery. Mix all ingredients while potato is hot. Cool, shape, egg and crumb. Stand in cold place until ready to bake.

Rice Croquettes—cold boiled rice

Add 2 or 3 tablespns. milk to 2 cups cold boiled rice. Heat in double boiler until softened; then add 1 tablespn. butter, 1 beaten egg and salt. Cream may be used instead of milk and butter. Cool, shape, roll in nut meal, bake. Serve as garnish for a ragout, or with stewed green peas, cream or lentil gravy, or maple syrup or jelly.

Rice Croquettes No. 2

Cook 1 cup of rice in a quart of milk with a level teaspn. of salt, in a double boiler until rice is tender and milk absorbed. Add yolks of 4 eggs or 2 whole eggs, and 2–4 tablespns. sugar. Cool, shape, egg, crumb, bake. Serve with strawberry or fig sauce, or with quince, elderberry, or some not too tart jelly. May cook rice in half milk and half water, and if desired add a little butter. Sugar may be omitted.

Rice and Fig Croquettes

Add 1 cup of fine cut or ground fresh figs to the preceding recipe, with less or no sugar: 1 teaspn. of vanilla also if desired, and serve with orange or cream sauce as dessert at luncheon.

Bread Croquettes

Heat, do not brown, butter, add flour and stir smooth; pour milk in hot, when smooth, remove from fire, add salt and egg and enough bread crumbs to shape. Cool, shape into balls or rolls, bake. Serve as a garnish or as a separate dish with or without sauce. The mixture may be flavored with some of the sweet herbs or minced onion.

Oyster Plant Patties

Mix all ingredients; sprinkle buttered shells or scallop dishes with crumbs, put a spoonful of the mixture in each and sprinkle tops of patties with crumbs. Bake in moderate oven on top grate 5–10 m., serve at once.

For pulp, grind about three bunches of oyster plant through the medium cutter of a food chopper. Cook in a small amount of water until just tender, adding salt about 5 m. before removing from the fire.

Asparagus en Croustade

Cut the top crust from gems baked in flat oblong, or round gem pans, and remove the soft inside part. Warm in oven. Have ready one cup hot cooked asparagus tips.

Prepare the sauce as usual, adding beaten egg last, heat without boiling, carefully stir in the asparagus tips, fill the crusts and serve. A few tips may be reserved and pressed into the sauce after crusts are filled, leaving the heads sticking up. Green peas or stringless beans may be substituted for asparagus. Patty pan pastry crusts may be used.

Oyster Plant en Croustade

Remove soft inside crumbs (they will go into a roast) from gems. Fill with oyster plant in cream sauce, sprinkle with crumbs and chopped parsley. Heat in oven, serve with celery plain or fringed.

Vegetable Cutlets

Grate or grind carrots; cook, salt, drain. Cut young tender string beans into small pieces and cook in salted water. Mix with nicely seasoned mashed potato, add grated onion, a trifle of crushed garlic if liked, chopped parsley, and salt if necessary; shape into oblong cakes, egg, crumb or dip into corn meal or flour. Pour a little melted butter over them in the pan and brown in a quick oven. Serve with cream sauce, at once.

★ Squash Cutlets

Cook young, tender Fordhook or crook-neck squash in ½ in. slices. Dip in egg and flour or crumbs. Bake, covered at first. on well oiled griddle or in covered pan in rather hot oven 25–35 m. or until squash is tender. Serve as soon as done as an entrée or as a garnish.

Cucumber Cutlets

Slice cucumbers in thick slices across, or if small cut into halves lengthwise. Wipe dry with a towel if soaked in ice water. Dip in egg and crumbs or cracker dust. Bake covered in hot oven until tender, 20–30 m. Serve as luncheon dish or as garnish for a meat dish.

★ Cutlets of Corn Meal Porridge, or Hasty Pudding

Make corn meal porridge just thick enough to mold, not stiff. Cook thoroughly and turn into bread tins or other molds which have been wet in cold water. When cold, slice, egg and crumb, or dip in flour (No. 1, browned, best). Brown in hot oven. Serve plain or with mushroom sauce or maple syrup for supper, breakfast or luncheon. In small round or square slices it may be used as a garnish for creamed vegetables or true meat dishes.

For variety, coarse chopped nuts may be stirred into the porridge before molding.

Rice Cutlets

Put hot boiled rice (cooked in water or part milk) into square mold or brick shaped bread tin which has been wet in cold water, cover close and stand in cold place. Slice, dip in oil or melted butter and crumbs and bake in quick oven. Serve with green peas, mushroom or any desired sauce, or with jelly, honey or maple syrup.

Corn Cakes

Corn Cakes No. 2

Bake on griddle on top of stove or set in oven on grate after being dropped on to hot griddle, or bake in shallow gem pans.

★ Corn Oysters

Drop batter in small spoonfuls on hot buttered griddle. Brown delicately on both sides and serve at once. Fine cut celery may be added to the batter before baking. Add a few cracker crumbs (not bread crumbs or flour) if corn is very milky. Canned corn does not make good oysters.

★ Oyster Plant Griddle Cakes

★ Corn Custards

Beat eggs and mix with other ingredients, turn into oiled custard cups, set in pan of water in oven and bake until firm in the center. May be served in the cups, or turned out carefully after standing a few minutes. Serve with wafers or as accompaniment to meat dishes.

★ Celery Custards

Simmer onion and celery in butter without browning. Beat eggs and mix all ingredients. Turn into custard cups; bake in pan of water, covered, until egg is set; after standing a few minutes, turn out of cups on to individual dishes. Serve with ripe olives and wafers or as a garnish to meat dish. May turn on to broiled rounds of trumese.

★ Onion Custards

Cook onions in very little water until tender; drain slightly, add celery and other ingredients. Bake in custard cups or individual soufflé dishes until firm in center. Unmold on to platter or chop tray and surround with green peas in cream sauce. Onions may be rubbed through colander after cooking.

Celery and Mushrooms à la Crême

Simmer onion in oil and add flour, then boiling water to leave stiff (perhaps about 1 pt.); when smooth remove from fire, add salt, parsley and beaten egg. Use liquid drained from celery and mushrooms with water in the sauce. Put layers of sauce, cooked celery and mushrooms in baking dish with sauce on top. Sprinkle with crumbs or corn meal, heat and brown in oven. A little garlic may be used and sometimes a small quantity of cream with a very little strained tomato in the sauce.

Young Lima Beans à la Crême

Asparagus Tips à la Crême

Use cooked asparagus tips with the heads sticking up out of the cream a little, instead of celery and mushrooms, in Celery and Mushrooms à la Crême.

Oyster Plant and Mushrooms à la Crême

Cook sliced oyster plant (large slices cut in quarters) not too soft in a small quantity of water. Drain and use in place of trumese in Trumese and Mushrooms à la Crême, of Trumese Dishes, using oyster plant liquor instead of water in the sauce.

Macaroni and Mushrooms à la Crême

Use one of the smaller varieties of macaroni, one that will make the desired size when cooked, in place of trumese in Trumese and Mushrooms à la Crême, of Trumese Dishes.

Green Corn Pudding

Accompaniment to roasts, timbales or other meat dishes, or a luncheon or supper dish.

Rub butter and sugar together, add yolks of eggs, beat a little, add corn and salt, mix; add milk, and when smooth chop in the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs. Bake in slow oven about 1 hour. Cover until near the last.

Corn Pudding—no milk

If corn is very old a little liquid may be required, or if very milky a few cracker crumbs. Bake in pie plates or pudding dish to a nice brown.

Corn Pudding—no eggs

Canned corn may be used in winter. Add ½ cup of sugar and serve as a dessert sometimes.

Oyster Plant Pudding—no eggs

Grind scraped oyster plant through medium cutter of food chopper, cook in as small an amount of water as possible until tender, not soft; add salt, drain and add the other ingredients. Put into a baking dish, sprinkle with cracker crumbs or granella and chopped parsley. Turn a little melted butter over and brown in oven.

Sweet Potato Pudding

Peel and grate raw potato. Pour hot milk over and let it boil up. Remove from fire, add salt, butter and beaten eggs; bake in buttered pudding dish in moderate oven 20 m. or until firm in center.

Squash Pudding

To each pint of mashed winter squash add 1–1½ tablespn. almond or dairy cream (and if squash is very dry, a little milk), ¾–1 teaspn. salt, 1 teaspn. sugar and 1 beaten egg. Bake in pudding dish in moderate oven about 20 m. May sprinkle with bread crumbs. A little minced onion may be used in the pudding.

★ Carrot Pudding

Mix all ingredients, beating eggs slightly, turn into baking dish, sprinkle with crumbs and parsley. Bake until firm in the center.

Scalloped Asparagus

Make a thin cream sauce of cream and the water in which the asparagus was cooked, cover the bottom of a serving dish with sauce, put in a layer of asparagus cooked in short pieces (the tips may have been used for croustades) and sprinkle with cracker crumbs; continue layers, cover top with thin or split crackers, pour sauce over, sprinkle with chopped parsley, bake 15–20 m.

Sister Ford’s Scalloped Cabbage—Delicious

Chop a nice head of cabbage or shave it fine and put it into a baking dish with alternate layers of bread or zwieback crumbs. Turn over it enough rich milk, to which a little salt has been added, to half cover it. Let it boil up once and then set where it will stew slowly until the cabbage is tender, but no longer.

Scalloped Egg Plant

Cut egg plant into slices ½–¾ in. thick. Peel and put into a large quantity of cold water over the fire and bring to the boiling point, boil 5 m. and drain. Repeat the process, add salt to the third water, boil 10 m. and drain. Put into scallop dish in layers with bread or cracker crumbs—just a few, cover with rich milk or thin cream and bake covered until the slices are tender, ½ hr. or longer. Uncover, brown and serve. The egg plant may be cut into large cubes.

Armenian Scallop of Egg Plant

Prepare egg plant as in preceding recipe; mix onion, garlic, salt and a part of the crumbs. Sprinkle mixture in bottom of baking dish, and between and on top of layers of egg plant. Turn the tomato over all, cover with crumbs, sprinkle with parsley, dot with butter or pour oil over. Cover and bake 1½–2 hours. Brown on top grate of oven.

Scalloped Onions

Stew sliced onions until tender, drain and put in baking dish with layers of bread crumbs; add salt and a little melted butter to each layer, nearly cover with milk, sprinkle with crumbs and bake until well browned. The butter may be omitted and a little cream added to the milk.

Scalloped Raw Potatoes

Slice potatoes very thin, put in layers into scallop dish, sprinkling each layer lightly with flour or cracker crumbs and salt until dish is ⅔ full. Nearly cover with milk, sprinkle with crumbs, bake 1 hour or until potatoes are tender. Cover at first and watch that milk does not boil over. A very little chopped onion in the potatoes improves them. When flour is used it is better to mix the milk and flour and pour over the potatoes.

A quicker way is to cook the sliced potatoes in boiling salted water for 10 m., before putting them into the scallop dish.

Potatoes Scalloped—raw nut butter and onions

Cooked sliced potatoes for 10 m. in boiling, salted water, drain, put into baking dish in layers with fine chopped onion, and pour a liberal amount of nut milk (made in the proportion of 4 tablespns. of raw nut butter, with salt, to each qt. of water) over them. When the potatoes are tender and the milk just creamy, sprinkle the top with browned flour No. 1, pour a little oil over, and brown on top grate of oven. Serve at once.

Scalloped Cooked Potatoes

Potatoes cooked in their jackets until nearly done are best for this purpose and it is a good way to use up small and irregular shaped ones. Slice or dice the potatoes, put into dish in layers with thin cream sauce, chopped parsley and onion, have sauce on top, sprinkle with crumbs, bake 20 m. Without the onion they are called Cottage Potatoes.

Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Scalloped Squash

A squash that is not as good cooked in other ways may be used for this dish. Pare and cut into small pieces, boil or steam until just tender, not soft. Arrange in layers in oiled baking dish with salt, a little sugar and if used, a little butter. Pour over a very little milk or (if no butter is used) thin cream, not more than ½–⅔ of a cup for a good sized dish. Bake covered at first, then brown. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving. A trifle of ground coriander or anise seed may be used, but the natural flavor of the squash is best.

Scalloped Oyster Plant

Mix oyster plant liquor, milk, butter and salt. Put oyster plant into a baking dish with a sprinkling of cracker crumbs between layers, pour part of mixed liquid over. Sprinkle crumbs on top and turn the last cup of liquid over, after beating the egg with it. Bake covered until just bubbling, then remove cover and brown by setting on top grate of oven.

Scallop of Oyster Plant

Cook 1⅓ qt. sliced oyster plant in 1⅓ qt. water, adding salt before draining. To the water drained off add ½–1 cup heavy cream. Boil and thicken with flour to the consistency of thin cream; add salt and pour over oyster plant which has been arranged in baking dish with a slight sprinkling of stale bread crumbs between the layers and on top. Be careful not to use too many crumbs. Bake a half hour or until well heated through and nicely browned. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before or after baking.

Oyster Plant Scallop

Rub butter and flour together; add cream hot. Boil, remove from fire, add beaten eggs, salt and oyster pulp. Put into patty cases, other individual dishes or baking dish, buttered. Sprinkle with crumbs and chopped parsley, heat to bubbling and brown, in oven.

Scalloped Tomatoes

Place equal quantities of salted stewed tomatoes and delicately browned croutons in dice as for soup, in layers in baking dish with a little melted butter poured over each layer. Cover with the croutons and sprinkle with melted butter. Bake, covered part of the time, 15–20 m. Crumbs or thin slices of zwieback, or granella may be substituted for dice.

Scalloped Tomatoes—onion flavor

Thin layers of bread or zwieback, or of cracker or bread crumbs, with thick slices (or double layers) of peeled tomatoes, salt and onion juice. Cover with crumbs, turn a little melted butter over, sprinkle with chopped parsley. Bake, covered most of the time.

Scalloped Celery and Tomato

Put half the celery, onion, tomato, and salt into a baking dish in the order given, and repeat with the remaining half. Cover with small dice or coarse crumbs of bread. Turn a little cream or melted butter over the top, cover and bake 1¼–1½ hr. in moderate oven. The onion may be omitted.

Tomatoes Scalloped with Rice and Onion

Put layers of boiled rice and tomato with thin sliced onion, salt and a little butter or oil in baking dish, sprinkle with crumbs and parsley. Bake, covered, in moderate oven, brown on top grate just before serving.

Creamed Sweet Potatoes

Cover sliced, cooked sweet potatoes in serving dish with cream or thin cream sauce. Sprinkle with crumbs and parsley if desired. Heat gently in oven until a delicate brown.

★ Baked Creamed Tomatoes

Let crumbs stand in tomato until well softened, rub through a colander, add cream and salt. Bake in serving dish until delicately browned on top and well heated through. Let stand in warm place 10–20 m. before serving.

Spinach Soufflé

½ peck spinach (2 cups cooked). Cook; drain very dry and rub through a fine colander. Add 1 teaspn. oil or melted butter, beat in the yolks of 2 eggs and fold in the whites beaten moderately stiff. Fill well oiled mold about ¾ full. Set in pan of hot water and bake (covered until nearly done) in moderate or slow oven until firm in the center, 45–60 m. Do not bake too rapidly or too long. When done, set the mold out of the water, let it stand a moment to settle, and invert carefully on to a platter or chop tray. Serve at once with quarters or sixths of lemon or with one of the cream sauces, or with Sauce Amèricaine.

Individual Daisy Soufflés make pretty garnishes for timbales and molds. Small custard cups, or the imported tin molds, being suitable for them. Oil molds well with cold oil or softened (not melted) butter and leave in a cool place.

Prepare daisies by cutting a small round piece from a slice of hard-boiled yolk of egg and six diamond shaped pieces from the poached white, for each, and arrange like daisies in the bottom of the mold, the oil holding them in place.

Press the spinach mixture into the molds, taking care not to displace the daisies, and bake the same as the large mold, only a shorter time, 30–35 m., or until puffed in the center and firm to the touch. Invert on to rounds of toast and place as desired.

Mashed Potato Loaf

Add grated onion to nicely seasoned mashed potato; put into a long, well buttered tin; brown in hot oven, turn out on to a platter and serve cut in slices for luncheon or supper.

Timbale of Carrot—unusually desirable

Add stiffly-beaten whites of eggs to other ingredients which have been mixed. Bake in buttered mold in pan of water, until firm in center, about ½ hour. Let stand a moment after removing from oven, unmold on to platter or chop tray, surround with spinach leaves or garnish with other green and serve with sour sauce.

Corn and Egg Timbale

Blend flour with 1 pt. of the milk, heat remainder of milk in oiled frying pan, stir in flour, remove from fire, add other ingredients, bake in well oiled mold. Serve with sauce 16, 23, 28, or 31.

Timbales of Corn—individual

Vegetable Pie

Prepare vegetables (half or whole quantity) as for Trumese en Casserole, of Trumese Dishes, use a little more liquid, thickened a trifle. Cover and bake until vegetables are nearly or quite tender, 1–1¼ hours. Remove from fire, cool to just warm (if universal crust is to be used), cover with crust, let rise, and bake; or, the crust may be baked or steamed in a pie plate separately and laid over the baked filling. If steamed, it will be dumplings.

A combination of equal quantities potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots and onions covered with consommé, or very fresh milk, and baked, may be used for a pie. Sometimes, when no potatoes are used, lay sliced tomatoes on top of the vegetables.

Chopped parsley is suitable for all combinations. Garlic, if liked, is nearly always an improvement.

When liquid is not thickened, sprinkle a little fine tapioca between layers of vegetables.

Oyster Plant Pie

Heat oil, add flour, then liquid, and when smooth and well cooked, the cream and salt, and a little chopped parsley if convenient.

Crust—Universal crust of ¾–1 cup of liquid, or one cup of rice as for rice and trumese pie, or dish lined and covered or covered only, with pastry crust. Pour part of the sauce into the baking dish, sprinkle the cooked oyster plant in and pour the remainder of the sauce over. Cover with the crust. Let rise until very light (if universal crust). Bake ½–¾ hour.

Sauce without Cream—½ cup of raw nut butter maybe rubbed smooth and boiled up with the oyster broth and the cream omitted. With this, 1 teaspn. of celery salt may be used, or 3 level tablespns. chopped onion and 1 level teaspn. sage. Chopped parsley with either. 7 or 8 tablespns. of cracker dust may be used for thickening the sauce instead of flour.

Oyster Plant Pastry Pie

Cook oyster plant in small quantity of water, add salt when nearly tender, boil up well and drain; thicken liquor slightly, add a little butter and the cooked oyster plant. When cool, put into custard pie pan lined with pastry, cover, bake. Serve hot with celery stewed in tomato if desired.

Mushroom and Celery Pie—Rice or pastry crust

Cook and drain celery. Cook mushrooms 10–15 m. in salted water and drain. Arrange cooked celery and mushrooms in baking dish with parsley sprinkled between layers. Pour over the following sauce, cover with rice (as for rice and trumese pie) or pastry crust, bake.

Sauce—5 tablespns. melted butter, 5½–6 tablespns. flour, the liquid drained from the mushrooms and celery with water to make 1 qt., salt. Rub the butter and flour together, pour boiling liquid over, boil up well, add salt.

Carrot Pie. Excellent

Simmer, not brown, onion in oil, add flour and water, pour into baking dish with carrots and parsley and cover with any desired crust—universal, pastry, rice, mashed potato, dressing, or mashed dried green peas. With the last, one would have a hearty meat dish.

Potato Pie

Use potatoes instead of carrots and more onion in preceding recipe. Celery may be used (without simmering in oil) instead of the onion. ⅓–½ cup of raw nut butter, instead of the oil, rubbed smooth with water and boiled with it would give a meaty flavor with the potatoes and onions. A mashed lentil crust, when desired, adds to the nutritive value of the pie.

Stuffed Winter Squash

Heat oil, add flour, then consommé, and salt if necessary. Saw squash in two in the middle, or a little above the middle as required. Scrape out the seeds and stringy pulp and rub with salt. Let stand while preparing other ingredients; drain before stuffing. Mix crumbs and flavorings, leaving out a little parsley: pour part or all of the sauce over the crumb mixture. (The quantity of the sauce will depend on the quality of the squash. If it is a dry one it will probably take it all, and if it is quite a large one, more of all the stuffing will be required). Fill the squash, sprinkle with crumbs or corn meal, and chopped parsley. Set into covered baker or cover with waxed paper and bake until squash is tender which will be in 2–3 hrs. according to the squash. Give it plenty of time. Serve on chop tray and send plain onion sauce to be served with it.

Coarse chopped nuts may be put into the dressing and the top of the squash garnished after baking with halves of nuts. This makes a beautiful as well as palatable dish.

Baked Squash with Celery Stuffing

Make a thick sauce of rich milk and browned flour No. 1. Add to it chopped onion, minced garlic if liked, a few coarse bread crumbs and a large quantity of fine sliced celery. Fill the squash which has been prepared as in the preceding recipe, sprinkle with crumbs, cover with slices of tomato from which the seeds have been removed, or with pieces of canned tomato. Finish with chopped parsley; bake covered until time to brown over the top.

A simple dressing of bread or cracker crumbs and milk with a little cream or butter and chopped onion is nice in squash.

With such summer squashes as are of the right shape to bake, the greater part of the inside may be scraped out, chopped and put in with the dressing.

Claudia’s Stuffed Egg Plant

1 dozen chopped ripe olives may be used instead of truffles, or 3 or 4 soaked dried mushrooms chopped, or all may be omitted.

Boil whole egg plant in unsalted water 20 m. Cut in halves lengthwise, or if only one piece is to be baked cut a little one side of the middle, using the larger piece for stuffing. The quantity of stuffing given is for one piece only. Scrape out the pulp with a spoon, leaving a wall ½–¾ in. thick. Chop pulp and mix with the other ingredients, using only half the oil or butter. Rub a little salt over the inside of the egg plant, press the stuffing in firmly, sprinkle with crumbs and chopped parsley and pour oil over. Bake in quick oven about ½ hour, covered when sufficiently browned.

Stuffed Potatoes

Cut slices off the sides of nicely baked potatoes (if large they may be cut into halves, or they may be cut in two in the middle crosswise, or a piece may be cut off from one end), scrape out the inside, leaving a thin coating of the potato so that the skin will not be broken. Prepare the same as mashed potato and beat very light, refill the skins, brush with cream or sprinkle with crumbs and chopped parsley, set in shallow tin and brown on top grate in oven. To serve, arrange on a napkin on a platter, with sprays of parsley.

Meringued Stuffed Potatoes

Add 1 or more yolks of eggs to the mashed potato, fill skins and heat as in preceding recipe, then pile the salted, stiffly-beaten whites of eggs on the tops and brown delicately.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Select large firm tomatoes, cut out the stem end, remove the inside with a teaspoon and turn upside down on a drainer for the liquid to drain out.

Stuffed tomatoes may be served as a garnish for meat dishes or on rounds of toast as a separate course, often the second course. When suitable, they may be served on rounds or squares of broiled trumese. Sometimes they are set into a rich cream sauce on a platter, or in ramekins, and sprinkled with chopped truffles. Chopped nuts and parsley may be substituted for truffles. When desired, a half nut meat may be laid on top of each tomato before sending to the table.

Fillings for Stuffed Tomatoes

Buttered crumbs, the tomato pulp and salt: to this may be added grated onion or onion and sage. Cracker crumbs instead of bread are sometimes used.

Crumbs, chopped nuts or trumese or nutmese, garlic, onion and salt. Or, ripe olives and celery salt with chopped parsley in place of onion and garlic.

Boiled rice, onion, browned flour, melted butter, tomato pulp. Salt tomatoes well inside and sprinkle with chopped parsley after stuffing.

Left-overs of macaroni may be chopped slightly for filling, with small rings as top finish.

Bake 10–30 m. (according to the filling, and the ripeness of the tomatoes) on oiled pans without water.

Fruit and Nut Tomatoes

Mix equal parts chopped nuts, currants and fine cut citron with two parts raisins cut fine and a little sugar. Fill hollowed and drained tomatoes. Bake, serve plain or with cream or whipped cream. Raisins and cocoanut with sugar, may be used, or either one alone.

Stuffed Green Tomatoes

Mixture of onion, garlic, salt, sage, a trifle of thyme and the chopped pulp of tomato in bottom of hollowed out tomatoes; then each tomato partly filled with dice of nutmese, covered with some of the mixture, and the top finished with a slice of ripe tomato or pieces of canned tomato. Bake covered 1½ hour or until tomatoes are tender. Serve on crisped large crackers with Tomato Cream sauce or Chili sauce sprinkled with chopped parsley. Use large tomatoes turned a little white.

Peeled Tomatoes Baked

Set whole peeled tomatoes in pudding dish, sprinkle generously with salt, cover with buttered crumbs and bake: or, omit crumbs and when tender, pour over them a thin cream sauce; sprinkle with parsley and leave in oven 10–15 m.

Rich Baked Sliced Tomatoes

Cut tomatoes that are not too ripe into thick slices (halves if thin), sprinkle with salt, chopped onion and garlic if liked, and pour a little melted butter over. Bake. After laying slices of tomato on to rounds of toast, add butter and flour to liquid in pan, then a little cream; boil up and pour around tomatoes on toast.

Broiled or Baked Tomatoes

Dip thick slices of not too ripe tomatoes in Mayonnaise or Improved Mayonnaise dressing, then in fine sifted bread or cracker crumbs. Brown in wire broiler or lay in agate pan and bake in hot oven.

Tomato Short Cake

Cover layers of split hot short cake crust of universal dough with Cream of Tomato sauce and serve. Or, prepare unstrained tomatoes the same as for sauce and serve over the crust.

Pilau—stewed rice

Simmer sliced onion in oil (without browning), add salt, boiling water and rice. Cook until rice is about half done, then add tomato hot, and finish cooking slowly without stirring. If convenient, set into the oven after the tomato is added. When the larger quantity of tomato is used, the smaller quantity only of water will be required.

Spanish rice calls for 2–3 cloves of garlic in addition to Pilau with six cups of water and one only of tomato.

Macaroni with Onion or Celery, and Tomato

Substitute 1¼–1½ cup of macaroni for the rice in pilau. Hominy also may be used in place of rice.

Parsnip and Potato Stew

Cut potatoes in quarters lengthwise, then across the center, and cut parsnips into about the same size; cook separately or together and drain; add both to cream sauce, heat, and serve on toast, or put small slices of toast (zwieback) in the stew. This is a delightful dish though simple.

Succotash—Corn and Beans

In the summer cook shelled Lima or other beans until tender. Add corn which has been cut from the cob, boil 10–15 m., pour in a little heavy cream, heat but do not boil; add more salt if necessary. Succotash is one of the dishes which calls for cream. Just a few spoonfuls is all that is required for a large quantity of succotash, but that little perfects it.

Corn and beans may be cooked separately, combined and seasoned. All sorts of corn and all sorts of beans may be combined with great satisfaction, but the richest and most delightful of all is nice dried corn (the yellow sweet corn is best) and dry common white beans. Raw nut butter cooked to a cream is good with the dry bean succotash.

Dried and Hulled Corn

A very near relative (which some prefer) to succotash is the combination of dried and hulled corn; 2 parts dried and 1 part hulled corn, finished with cream the same as succotash.

Vegetable Hashes

My first experience with a vegetable hash was at a hotel in one of the new towns in North Dakota where the landlady herself did the cooking. The hash was made from the different vegetables left from a boiled dinner chopped and heated, and was one of the happy gastronomic surprises.

Just such a surprise is in store for the vegetarian who utilizes the remains of the trumese boiled dinner.

One rule with few exceptions to be followed in hashes, is not to chop the ingredients too fine; they should be distinguishable one from another.

Always finish hashes in the oven when possible, either in frying pan or baking dish.

Cold baked potatoes or those boiled in jackets are preferable for hash, but steamed or plain boiled ones will do if not too soft. Rice may be substituted for potato. Do not be skeptical in regard to these dishes; try them.

Acushnet Hash

Heat chopped onion in oil or butter, add 2 parts chopped potatoes and ½–1 part coarse zwieback crumbs or granella, with salt. Pour a little nut milk or dairy cream, and water over. Cover and heat well, then brown in oven uncovered. A little sage may be used sometimes, or both onion and sage may be omitted.

Cabbage and Potato Hash

1 or 2 parts cold boiled or steamed cabbage and 2 parts potato, with cream, or butter and water makes a very meaty flavored combination. Do not brown this hash. Heat slowly, covered.

Use parsnips or carrots in place of cabbage for other varieties. Cream is used to advantage in these dishes. The recipes given are merely suggestive of the many combinations possible.

Hash with Poached Egg

Nicely poached eggs, one for each serving, may be laid on to any of the hashes spread on a platter.

Savory Hash

Equal quantities mashed or whole stewed lentils and rice or chopped potato, with sage and onion, cream, or butter and water, salt.

Toasts

We learn from Dr. Vaughn of the Michigan University, and other eminent authorities, that yeast bread browned on the two cut surfaces only, is as unwholesome as when fresh baked, the slice being soggy and indigestible on the inside. So, for all dishes where the ordinary toast is usually used, we recommend the following:

Zwieback

Cut slices of light yeast bread into any desired shape or size. (Square slices cut diagonally across are convenient and attractive). Lay in a flat pan or wire dish drainer and put into a warm oven. Dry well, then increase the heat of the oven gradually and bake to a cream color all through. This process partially digests the starch and renders the bread crisp, tender, and nutty in flavor. Keep zwieback in a paper sack hanging near the fire and it will not loose its crispness. Eaten dry with porridge and other soft foods it furnishes material for mastication. It is also a suitable and delightful accompaniment to fruits and nuts, and may be used when toast points are called for as a garnish. A recipe for special zwieback bread will be found among the yeast recipes. Salt rising bread makes especially tender zwieback.

When moist toast is desired, dip the crust part of the slice into the liquid first, then drop the whole slice in, taking it out quickly with a skimmer so that it will not be mushy, and lay it in a covered dish to steam for a few minutes.

When cream or milk are the liquids for dipping, do not have them quite boiling as boiling milk toughens the toast. Do not moisten toast when the dressing is thin enough to soften it.

Prepared toast and dressing may be sent to the table separate and served on individual dishes.

With many, acid or sub-acid fruit dressings served over moistened toast cause acidity in the stomach.

When delicate fruits are to be used, strain off the juice, bring it to the boiling point and thicken it a very little with cornstarch. When perfectly boiling add the fruit, heat carefully and dip over toast.

Many little left-overs of foods may be made into dainty and satisfying dishes by being served on toast.

Blueberry Toast

The blueberry is one of the most suitable fruits for toasts. The slightly sweetened stewed fruit may be thickened without straining, as the berries do not break easily. Serve with Brazil nuts or dried blanched almonds, or with chopped or ground nuts.

Prune Toast

Use sweet California prunes stewed without sugar, whole stoned with juice, or in marmalade. Serve with halves of English walnuts on or around slices when required.

★ Sister Betty Saxby’s Toast

Moisten white or graham zwieback according to directions and put in layers in a tureen with the following dressing. Cover and let stand in a warm place 10–15 m. before serving.

Dressing—To a pint of milk take about 1⅓ tablespn. graham (not white) flour, or for skimmed milk, 1½ tablespn. flour, add salt and cook in a double boiler 15 m. to ½ hour.

Old-Fashioned Milk Toast

Lay slices of zwieback in a deep dish with salt and bits of butter. (Butter is not a necessity if the milk is rich). Pour hot milk over and send to the table at once.

Cream Toast

Creamed Toast

Heat butter, stir in flour, add milk hot, and when smooth a trifle of salt. Dip slices of zwieback in sauce, lay in deep dish and pour remaining sauce over. Set in a warm place for a few minutes before serving.

Cream of Corn Toast

Thicken cream of corn soup a little more if necessary, or, add corn to thin cream sauce, and serve on toast. Left-overs of all sorts of cream soups may be utilized for toast: celery, asparagus, string bean, oyster plant and spinach, also succotash and other stewed or creamed vegetables.

Lentil and Other Legume Toasts

Use any lentil gravy or thickened lentil soup, cream of peas or peas and tomato soup thickened, red kidney beans purée or thickened soup, on moistened slices of zwieback.

Toast Royal

Add meat to hot sauce and pour all over beaten salted eggs; cook as scrambled eggs. Serve immediately on moistened slices of zwieback, with baked tomatoes when convenient.

The following toasts are of a different nature (though slices of zwieback may be used instead of bread), but they are good emergency dishes.

French Toast

Add ½ cup of milk with salt to 2 or 3 beaten eggs. Dip slices of stale bread or moistened zwieback in the mixture and brown delicately on both sides on moderately hot buttered griddle or in quick oven, or in frying pan covered. Serve plain or with any suitable sauce.

Drain slices after dipping in egg mixture; crumb, bake, and serve with honey, maple syrup or jelly for Breaded French Toast.

German Toast

Add grated or fine chopped onion to egg mixture and finish the same as French toast.

Spanish Cakes

Batter—2 eggs, 2 tablespns. flour, 1 teaspn. of oil, milk for smooth thin batter. Nut milk may be used and oil omitted.

Cut thin slices of bread into any desired shape (round with biscuit cutter), spread each one of half the pieces with jelly, jam or marmalade and press another on to it; dip in the batter, lay on oiled baking pan, stand 15 m. or longer in a cold place. Bake in a quick oven, serve with a bit of the preserve on top and half of a nut pressed into each, or, dusted with powdered sugar.

Mamie’s Surprise Biscuit

Inclose small cakes of nicely seasoned mashed potato in pastry crust; bake, serve with milk gravy, drawn butter or cream sauce, or with celery only. This is the original recipe which leads to the following variations:

Use the mixture of black walnut and potato stuffing, or mashed lentils or mashed peas for filling.

Lentil biscuit with fresh mushroom or Boundary Castle sauce, with or without celery, might constitute one course at a dinner.

Make a filling of minced trumese, salt, oil, chopped parsley, onion and mushrooms into small cakes or balls, inclose them in universal crust, and when light, steam 25–30 m. Serve with drawn butter, flavored with onion and parsley, or as garnish for a meat dish. Make balls quite small for garnish.

Yorkshire Pudding

Beat eggs, add milk and pour gradually into flour mixed with salt; add oil, beat well, turn into well oiled, or oiled and crumbed gem pans; bake in moderate (slow at first) oven.

Serve as garnish or accompaniment to ragout, or if baked in flat cakes, with slices of broiled or à la mode meats laid on them, and gravy poured around. The pudding may be baked in a flat pan and cut into any desired shape for serving. Whites and yolks of eggs may be beaten separately. A large onion chopped may be used in the pudding.

Rice Border

Pack hot boiled rice into well oiled border mold and let stand in a warm place (over kettle of hot water) for 10 m. Turn on to serving dish carefully.

Or, parboil 1 cup of rice in salted water 5 m.; drain and cook in a double boiler with 2½–3 cups of milk and salt, until the rice is tender and the milk absorbed, then pack into the mold.

1 tablespn. of butter and the yolks of 2 eggs may be added to the rice about 2 m. before it is taken from the double boiler.

Oyster Plant and Potato Omelet—without eggs

With nicely seasoned, not too moist, mashed potato, mix slices of cooked oyster plant which have been simmered in cream or butter. Spread in well oiled frying or omelet pan. When delicately browned on the bottom, fold, omelet fashion, turn on to a hot platter, garnish. Serve plain or with cream sauce or with thin drawn butter. Or, grind oyster plant, cook in a small quantity of water, add cream or butter and mix with plain potato. Finely-sliced raw celery or chopped raw onion and parsley may be used in the potato sometimes.

Baked Potatoes and Milk

Wash potatoes well, scrubbing with vegetable brush. Cut out any imperfect spots. Bake until just done. Break up, skins and all, into nice rich milk and eat like bread and milk for supper. A favorite dish of some of the early settlers in Michigan.

Bread and Milk with Sweet Fruits

Add nice ripe blueberries to bread and milk for supper, also ripe black raspberries or baked sweet apples. They are all delicious.

★ Apples in Oil

Simmer finely-sliced onion in oil 5–10 m. without browning; add salt and a little water, then apples which have been washed, quartered, cored and sliced without paring. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Cover and cook until apples are just tender, not broken. Serve for breakfast or supper, or with a meat dish instead of a vegetable, for luncheon or dinner.

Onion Apples

Simmer sliced onions in oil, with salt, in baking pan. Place apples, pared and cored, on top of the onions; sprinkle with sugar and put ¼ teaspn. in each cavity. Cover, bake; uncover and brown. Serve for luncheon, or as garnish for meat dish.

TRUE MEATS

“And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” Gen. 1:29.

“The food which God gave Adam in his sinless state is the best for man’s use as he seeks to regain that sinless state.

“The intelligence displayed by many dumb animals approaches so closely to human intelligence that it is a mystery.

“They form attachments for man which are not broken without great suffering to them.

“Think of the cruelty to animals that meat eating involves and its effect on those who inflict and those who behold it. How it destroys the tenderness with which we should regard these creatures of God!”

The high price of flesh foods, the knowledge of the waste matter in the blood of even healthy animals which remains in their flesh after death, and the well authenticated reports of the increasing prevalence of most loathsome diseases among them, causes a growing desire among thinking people to take their food at first hand, before it has become a part of the body of some lower animal.

So, the great food question of the day is—“What shall we use in the place of meat?”

Nuts, legumes (peas, beans, lentils and peanuts) and eggs contain as do flesh meats, an excess of the proteid or muscle-building elements (nuts and legumes a much larger proportion than flesh), so we may combine these with fruits, vegetables and some of the cereals (rice, for instance) and have a perfect proportion of food elements.

It must be borne in mind, however, that proteid foods must be used sparingly, since an excess of these foods causes some of the most serious diseases.

The bulk of our foods should be made up of fruits and vegetables and some of the less hearty cereals and breads.

NUTS

As nuts occupy the highest round of the true meat ladder, we give a variety of recipes for their use, following with legumes and eggs in their order.

With nuts, as with other foods, the simplest way to use them is the best. There are greater objections to foods than that they are difficult of digestion, and in the case of nuts, that objection is overcome by thorough mastication; in fact, they are an aid to the cultivation of that important function in eating.

Another aid to the digestion of nuts is the use with them of an abundance of acid fruits. Fruits and nuts seem to be each the complement of the other, the nuts as well, preventing the unpleasant effects felt by some in the free use of fruits.

“No investigations have been found on record which demonstrate any actual improvement in the digestibility of nuts due to salt.”—M. E. Jaffa, M. S., Professor of Nutrition, University of California.

Be sure that nuts are fresh. Rancid nuts are no better than rancid butter. Shelled nuts do not keep as well as those in the shell.

Almonds stand at the head of the nut family. It is better to buy them in the shell as shelled almonds are apt to have bitter ones among them. Almonds should not be partaken of largely with the brown covering on, but are better to be blanched.

To Blanch Almonds—Throw them into perfectly boiling water, let them come to the boiling point again, drain, pour cold water over them and slip the skins off with the thumb and finger. Drop the meats on to a dry towel, and when they are all done, roll them in the towel for a moment, then spread them on plates or trays to dry. They must be dried slowly as they color easily, and the sweet almond flavor is gone when a delicate color only, is developed. For butter they must be very dry, really brittle.

Brazil Nuts—castanas—cream nuts, do not require blanching, as their covering does not seem to be objectionable. They are rich in oil and are most valuable nuts. Slice and dry them for grinding.

Filberts—hazelnuts—cobnuts—Barcelonas, also may be eaten without blanching, though they may be heated in the oven (without browning) or put into boiling water and much of the brown covering removed. They are at their best unground, as they do not give an especially agreeable flavor to cooked foods. They may be made into butter.

Brazil nuts and filberts often agree with those who cannot use English walnuts and peanuts.

English Walnuts—The covering of the English walnut is irritating and would better be removed when practicable. This is done by the hot water method, using a knife instead of the thumb and finger. The unblanched nuts may however, be used in moderation by nearly every one.

When whole halves of such nuts as hickory nuts, pecans or English walnuts are required, throw the nuts into boiling water for two or three minutes, or steam them for three or four minutes, or wrap them in woolen cloths wrung out of boiling water. Crack, and remove meats at once. Do not leave nuts in water long enough to soak the meats.

Pinenuts come all ready blanched. When they require washing, pour boiling water over them first, then cold water. Drain, dry in towels, then on plates in warm oven.

Peanuts—ground nuts, because of their large proportion of oil, and similarity in other respects to nuts are classed with them, though they are truly legumes.

The Spanish peanut contains more oil than the Virginia, but the flavor of the Virginia is finer and its large size makes it easier to prepare. The “Jumbos” are the cheapest.

To blanch Spanish peanuts the usual way, heat for some time, without browning, in a slow oven, stirring often. When cool rub between the hands or in a bag to remove the skins. The best way to blow the hulls away after they are removed is to turn the nuts from one pan to another in the wind.

The Virginias, not being so rich in oil must always be blanched the same as almonds. Be sure to let them boil well before draining. I prefer to blanch the Spanish ones that way, too, the results are so much more satisfactory.

When peanuts are partly dried, break them apart and remove the germ, which is disagreeable and unwholesome: then finish drying.

A FEW SUGGESTIVE COMBINATIONS

Nut Butter

A good nut butter mill is an excellent thing to have, but butter can be made with the food cutters found nowadays in almost every home. If the machine has a nut butter attachment, so much the better; otherwise the nuts will need to be ground repeatedly until the desired fineness is reached.

For almond butter, blanch and dry the almonds according to directions, adjust the nut butter cutter, not too tight, put two or three nuts into the mill at a time, and grind. When the almonds are thoroughly dried they will work nicely if the mill is not fed too fast.

Raw peanut butter is a valuable adjunct to cookery. To make, grind blanched dried nuts; pack in tins or jars and keep in a dry place.

For steamed butter, put raw butter without water into a double boiler or close covered tins and steam 3–5 hours. Use without further cooking in recipes calling for raw nut butter.

Or, grind dried boiled nuts the same as raw nuts. For immediate use, boiled nuts may be ground without drying.

When roasted nut butter is used, it should be in small quantities only, for flavoring soups, sauces or desserts.

My experience is that the best way to roast nuts for butter is to heat them, after they are blanched and dried, in a slow oven, stirring often, until of a cream or delicate straw color. By this method they are more evenly colored all through. Do not salt the butter, as salt spoils it for use with sweet dried fruits as a confection, and many prefer it without salt on their bread.

The objection to roasted nuts is the same as for browning any oil. Raising the oil of the nuts to a temperature high enough to brown it, decomposes it and develops a poisonous acid.

Hardly too much can be said of the evil effects of the free use of roasted nut butter.

“There are many persons who find that roasted peanuts eaten in any quantity are indigestible in the sense of bringing on pain and distress.... Sometimes this distress seems to be due to eating peanuts which are roasted until they are very brown.”

Nut Meal

Nut meal is made the same as nut butter except that the nuts are ground fewer times through the finest cutter of the mill, or once only through the nut butter cutter loosely adjusted. Either cooked or raw peanuts may be used, but a cooked peanut meal is very desirable. The nuts may be cooked, dried and ground, or cooked without water, after grinding, the same as steamed nut butter.

When one has no mill, meal of many kinds of nuts may be made in the following manner:

Pound a few at a time in a small strong muslin bag; sift them through a wire strainer and return the coarse pieces to the bag again with the next portion. Be sure that not the smallest particle of shell is left with the meats.

A dear friend of mine used to keep jars of different nut meals prepared in this way on hand long before any manufactured ones were on the market.

One writer says: “The children enjoy cracking the nuts and picking out the meats, and it is a short task to prepare a cupful.”

Nut meals are used for shortening pie crust, crackers and sticks; and all except peanut, are delightful sprinkled over stewed fruits or breakfast foods.

Nut Butter for Bread

Nut butters (except raw peanut) may be used on bread as they are ground; but are usually stirred up with water to an agreeable butter-like consistency, and salt added.

Strained tomato may be used instead of water for a change. This is especially nice for sandwiches. With peanut butter made from boiled or steamed nuts it has a flavor similar to cheese.

Nut butter is more attractive for the table when pressed through a pastry tube in roses on to individual dishes. Use a cloth (not rubber) pastry bag.

While pure nut butter, if kept in a dry place, will keep almost indefinitely, it will sour as quickly as milk after water is added to it.

Nut Cream and Milk

Add water to nut butter until of the desired consistency, for cream; then still more, for milk.

Almond milk makes a delightful drink and can be used by many who cannot take dairy milk. It may be heated and a trifle of salt added.

Cocoanut Milk

If you have not a cocoanut scraper, grate fresh cocoanut, one with milk in it, or grind it four or five times through the finest cutter of a mill. Pour over it an equal bulk or twice its bulk, of boiling water, according to the richness of the milk desired or the quality of the cocoanut. Stir and mix well and strain through cheese cloth or a wire strainer. Add a second quantity of hot water and strain again, wringing or pressing very dry. Throw the fibre away.

Use cocoanut milk or cream for vegetable or pudding sauces or in almost any way that dairy milk and cream are used. Stir before using. To break the nut in halves, take it in the left hand and strike it with a hammer in a straight line around the center. It may be sawed in two if the cups are desired for use.

Cocoanut Butter

Place milk on ice for a few hours when the butter will rise to the top and can be skimmed off.

Ground or Grated Cocoanut

Is delightful on breakfast cereals, or eaten with bread in place of butter. The brown covering of the meat should first be taken off.

Shredded Cocoanut

Put any left-overs of prepared cocoanut on a plate and set in the sun or near the stove to dry. Keep in glass jars in a dry place. This unsweetened cocoanut can be used for shortening and in many places where sweet is not desirable.

Milk and Rich Cream of Raw Peanuts

May be prepared the same as cocoanut milk, except that cold or lukewarm water is used instead of hot.

To raw nut meal (not butter) add one half more of water than you have of meal. Mix and beat well, strain through a thin cloth, squeeze as dry as possible. Let milk stand in a cool place and a very rich cream will rise which may be used for shortening pie crust, crackers and sticks, or in place of dairy cream in other ways. The skimmed milk will be suitable for soups, stews or gravies. It may be cooked before using if more convenient. The pulp also may be used in soups. It should be thoroughly cooked.

Nut Relish

Different nut butters and meals may be combined in varying proportions. For instance, 2 parts Brazil nuts, 1 part each pine nuts and almonds; or 1 part each Brazil nuts, almonds, pecans, and pine nuts. Dry nuts well and grind all together or combine after grinding. Press into tumblers or small tins and stand in cool place. Unmold to serve. The relish may be used in combinations suggested for whole nuts, and it is a great improvement over cheese, with apple pie.

Toasted Almonds

When blanched almonds are thoroughly dried, put them into a slow oven and let them come gradually to a delicate cream color, not brown. These may be served in place of salted almonds.

COOKED NUT DISHES

Nut Croquettes

1 cup chopped nuts (not too fine), hickory, pecan, pine or butternuts, or a mixture of two with some almonds if desired; 2 cups boiled rice or hominy, 1½ tablespn. oil or melted butter, salt, sage. Mix, shape into rolls about 1 in. in diameter and 2½ in. in length. Egg and crumb; bake in quick oven until just heated through and delicately browned, 8 to 10 m. Serve plain or with any desired sauce or vegetable.

Nut Croquettes No. 2

1 cup chopped nuts, 1 cup cooked rice, any desired seasoning or none, salt; mix.

Heat but do not brown the oil, add half the flour, then the milk, and when smooth, the salt and the remainder of the flour, and combine with mixed nuts and rice. Cool, shape, egg, crumb, bake. Crumb also before dipping in egg the same as Trumese croquettes, if necessary. Bake only until beginning to crack. Serve at once.

Savory Nut Croquettes

1 cup stale, quite dry, bread crumbs, ½ cup (scant) milk or consommé, ¼–½ level teaspn. powdered leaf sage or winter savory, ½ cup black walnut or butternut meats, salt. Mix, shape, egg, crumb, bake.

1 cup chopped mixed nuts may be used and celery salt or no flavoring. Hickory nut meats alone, require no flavoring.

Nut and Sweet Potato Cutlets

Mix while warm. Pack in brick-shaped tin until cold. Unmold, slice, egg, crumb or flour. Brown in quick oven or on oiled griddle. Serve plain or with sauce 16 or 17.

★ Baked Pine Nuts

After picking out the pieces of shell, pour boiling water over 2 lbs. of pine nuts in a fine colander. Rinse in cold water and put into the bean pot, with 2 large onions sliced fine, 1–1⅓ cup strained tomato and 2–2½ teaspns. salt. Heat quite rapidly at first; boil gently for a half hour, then simmer slowly in the oven 10–12 hours or longer. Leave just juicy for serving.

Black Walnut and Potato Mound

Mix 1 qt. nicely seasoned, well beaten mashed potato, ½–1 cup chopped black walnut meats and 2 or 3 tablespns. grated onion. Pile in rocky mound on baking pan or plate. Sprinkle with crumbs or not. Bake in quick oven until delicately browned. Garnish and serve with sauce 6 or 16.

Nut and Rice Roast or Timbale

1–2 cups chopped nuts, one kind or mixed (no English walnuts unless blanched), 2 cups boiled or steamed rice, 1½–3 tablespns. oil or melted butter, salt.

Mix ingredients and put into well oiled timbale mold or individual molds or brick shaped tin. Bake covered, in pan of water ¾–1½ hr. according to size of mold. Uncover large mold a short time at the last. Let stand a few minutes after removing from oven, unmold, and serve with creamed celery or peas or with sauce 16 (cocoanut cream if convenient) or 34.

Loaf of Nuts

The quantity of liquid will depend upon the crumbs and other conditions. Put into oiled mold or can, cover, steam 3 hours. Or, have peanuts cooked tender, form into oval loaf, bake on tin in oven, basting occasionally with butter and water or salted water only. Serve with sauce 9, 10, 57, 59, or 69. Loaf may be served cold in slices, or dipped in egg, and crumbed, and baked as cutlets.

One-half cup black walnuts and 1½ cup cooked peanuts, chopped, make a good combination. A delicate flavoring of sage, savory or onion is not out of place with these.

To Boil Peanuts

Put blanched, shelled peanuts into boiling water and boil continuously, for from 3–5 hrs., or until tender. (When the altitude is not great it takes Virginias 4 or 5 hours and Spanish about 3 to cook tender).

Drain, saving the liquid for soup stock, and use when boiled peanuts are called for.

Nut Soup Stock

Use the liquid, well diluted, poured off from boiled peanuts, for soups. Large quantities may be boiled down to a jelly and kept for a long time in a dry place. If paraffine is poured over the jelly, it will keep still better. Use 1 tablespn. only of this jelly for each quart of soup.

Peanuts with Green Peas

Boil 1 cup blanched peanuts 1–2 hrs., drain off the water and save for soup. Put fresh water on to the peanuts, add salt and finish cooking. Just before serving add 1 pt. of drained, canned peas. Heat well. Add more salt if necessary, and serve. Or, 1 pt. of fresh green peas may be cooked with the nuts at the last. Small new potatoes would be a suitable addition also.

★ Peanuts Baked like Beans

Mix browned flour, tomato and salt, put into bean pot with the nuts and a large quantity of boiling water. Boil rapidly ½ hr., then bake in a slow oven 8–14 hours. Add boiling water without stirring, when necessary. When done the peanuts should be slightly juicy.

Baked Peanuts—Lemon Apples

Pile peanuts in center of platter or chop tray. Surround with lemon apples, garnish with grape leaves and tendrils or with foliage plant leaves.

Peanuts with Noodles or Vermicelli

Cook peanuts in bouillon with bay leaf and onions. Just before serving, add cooked noodles or vermicelli.

Nut Chinese Stew

Use boiled peanuts instead of nutmese and raw nut butter, and rice (not too much) in place of potato, in Nut Irish Stew.

Peanut Gumbo

Simmer sliced or chopped onion in butter; add 1 pt. stewed okra; simmer 5–10 m. Add 1 pt. strained tomato, then ¾–1 qt. of baked or boiled peanuts. Turn into a double boiler and add ½ cup boiled rice. Heat 15–20 m.

Hot Pot of Peanuts

Put layers of sliced onion, sliced potatoes and boiled peanuts into baking dish with salt and a slight sprinkling of sage. Cover the top with halved potatoes. Stir a little raw nut butter with water and pour over all. Cover with a plate or close fitting cover and bake 2 hours. Remove cover and brown.

Peanut Hashes

Cooked peanuts, chopped very little if any, may be used in place of trumese with potatoes or rice for hash.

Peanut German Chowder

Split biscuit and brown slowly in the oven. Slice or chop carrots and onions and mix together; mix thyme, broken pieces of bay leaf, both kinds of flour and salt, and pour into them gradually, stirring, the milk and broth.

Put a little oil in the bottom of a baking dish, then layers of the vegetables, peanuts and twice baked biscuit and pour some of the liquid over. Repeat layers, leaving biscuit on top. Pour remaining liquid over all. Sprinkle with what remains of the chopped parsley. Cover and bake 1½–2 hrs. in a moderate oven. Uncover and brown on top at last. Serve in the dish in which it was baked.

With care, the chowder may be cooked in a kettle by using more oil at the bottom, standing where the heat is not too intense, and replenishing with water when necessary.

Serve on a platter or turn into a tureen with a cup of hot rich milk or broth added if more liquid is desired.

The flavorings may be varied; savory and marjoram are sometimes used, garlic for some tastes, also a little tomato. The herbs may be omitted entirely. Crackers may take the place of biscuit. Nut milk only, may be used.

Peanut and Rice Croquettes

Chop nuts very little if at all. Mix all ingredients. Shape, egg, crumb, bake. Serve plain or with sauce 6, 44, 57, or 75.

Peanut Pie

Universal crust of ¾–1 cup of liquid, 1 qt. of peanuts boiled with salt and a little lemon juice, drained (liquid saved for soups and gravies). Chopped onion and parsley.

Mix butter and flour, pouring boiling water over, boil up, add salt, and half of onion and parsley; pour into oiled baking dish, put peanuts in, sprinkle remainder of onion and parsley over, cool to lukewarm, lay crust on, let rise, bake.

A pastry, rice or mashed potato crust (without eggs) may be used: if pastry, put a cup in the center of the pie to support the crust; with potato crust it would be better to simmer the onion in the oil of the sauce first.

Peanut Pie with Turnip Crust

Bake or boil peanuts (leaving quite dry when done) with sliced onion and a little carrot, browned flour and a little tomato, parsley, salt and celery salt, a trifle of thyme and garlic if desired. Thicken slightly, turn into baking dish, cover with mashed turnip, sprinkle with crumbs and chopped parsley, dot with butter or oil. Bake until top is nicely browned.

★ Peanut Cheese

½ lb. peanuts, boiled, ground; 5–5½ tablespns. Nut French soup or consommé which has been cooked down thick; 4 eggs, 1 teaspn. salt, a trifle of sage if desired. Mix all ingredients and put into well oiled porcelain or glass jars (if glass, follow directions for cooking trumese in glass), cover close and steam 1½–2 hrs.

Pine Nut Cheese

Pine Nut and Banana Cheese

Fruit and Nut Relish

1 cup fine chopped nuts—shell barks, almonds, pine nuts, cashews and English walnuts or other combinations; 1 cup banana pulp, ¼ teaspn. salt; mix all together, pack in mold, steam 3 hours. Serve cold in slices, with gems, wafers, sweet fruits or cakes. Nice for travelling lunches.

Almond Cheese

Cook almonds 5 hours; grind through nut butter cutter, or press through fine colander; add other ingredients, mix well, steam 1½–2 hrs.

Almond Confection

Bake 1–2 hours (according to size of loaves) in slow oven. Cherries and citron may be ground through food cutter—finest knife.

⅔ cup very finely-cut raisins and ½ cup hickory nut meats, in pieces, may be used instead of citron and cherries.

★ Nesselrode Confection—Peanut

TRUMESE

Many years ago when experimenting with gluten washed from wheat, the thought came to me that it would be a good thing if it could be combined with nuts, as the nuts would supply the oil lacking in the gluten. From former experiments I knew it would be a difficult problem, but it was finally solved and has resulted in giving to the world a valuable food product, which gives me great joy.

I give directions (the results of my own experimenting) for making this food as perfectly as it can be made in our homes without the aid of special machinery.

Whether it pays to make it or not depends on the value of our time or whether we can procure similar foods all ready prepared. (Similar manufactured foods on the market are called “protose,” “nutfoda” and “nut cero”, according to where they are made).

A part of the process will be entirely new to many but it is not at all difficult, and if directions are carefully followed the result will be success and soon the making of a quantity of “trumese,” as I have called it for convenience, will not be considered a greater task than baking a batch of bread.

The first thing of importance in making trumese is securing a good fresh bread flour one that is called a heavy flour, not a blended or a light flour.

A good bread flour will yield about two pounds of gluten to each seven pounds of flour: but in trying a brand with which you are not familiar, take ½–1 lb. more if you wish to have two pounds of gluten.

I give the recipe for two pounds of gluten, but if you are making trumese for the first time it may be well to take half that quantity.

The following suggestions will enable you to substitute measures for weights if you have no scales, and to calculate the recipe for trumese:

1 scant pt. of blanched, dried, Virginia peanuts, before grinding, equals ½ lb.

In mixing flour and water, calculate a little over 1 cup of water to each pound of flour, or 8½–9 cups for 7 lbs.

The starch from the first one or two washings of the gluten dough may be used wherever thickening is required; and for blanc mange, by adding it to boiling (sweetened or unsweetened) milk until of the right consistency to mold; or, for starching clothes. It is much better than whole flour for any of these purposes. It may also be used in place of the corn starch in Corn Starch Nutmese. No exact rule can be given for that, but a trial or two will enable one to calculate the quantity, and the nutmese is superior to that made with corn starch.

Make consommés double strength when using them for liquid in trumese. As a rule, it is better to make trumese plain and season as desired when preparing for the table.

If cans containing trumese do not leak, cook in a kettle of water with something beneath the cans, otherwise use a steamer. If glass jars are used, start in cold water and afterwards put into steamer, if preferring not to leave in kettle.

Trumese from peanuts is more satisfactory in flavor as well as cheaper, but to meet all cases I give recipes for making it of different kinds of nuts. The general directions will apply to all.

Trumese

If not sure of a pure cereal coffee use 4 teaspns. browned flour with 2 cups of water.

TO PREPARE THE GLUTEN

When sifted flour is weighed or measured, spread about ⅓ of it on the molding board and put the remainder in a pan. To this add cold water, stirring, until you think the dough when kneaded with the flour on the board will be very stiff. Stir the soft dough well, turn it on to the board and knead in the remaining flour. If dough is too soft it will waste in washing, and if too stiff (of which there is not much danger) it will be more difficult to wash.

After kneading return the dough to the pan, cover with cold water (or with several thicknesses of towel wrung out of cold water) and let it stand ½ hr. only.

Now, set the pan in the sink with a large fine colander in the dish drainer beside it. Let water run from the faucet to nearly fill the pan (if the water from the faucet is very cold, have a teakettle of hot water at your right hand to take off the chill) and work the dough with the hands until the water is thick with starch. Pour that through a strainer into some vessel where it can settle, to be used for any of the purposes mentioned. Continue to wash the dough, draining the water through the colander (so as to catch any particles of gluten) into the sink, until no starch remains in the water. You now have the part of the wheat which gives strength, the proteid element. Put the mass of gluten into a bowl, cover and let stand in a cold place about an hour (no longer,) draining occasionally.

Weigh out the 2 lbs. of gluten, run it through the food cutter with the finest knife, add the cooked and raw nuts which have been ground into butter and mixed together with the salt, and put all through the machine five or six times. If desired very fine, use the nut butter cutter the last time. Now mix with the cereal coffee, put into oiled cans with close fitting covers and steam. Sealed glass jars may be used if it is necessary to keep the trumese for some time, but it cannot be taken out of them in as good shape.

Another way to fill the cans is to divide the nut and gluten mixture into equal parts, put equal parts of the liquid into as many different cans, and run each part of the mixture through the mill again into the separate cans, or drop it into the cans in the shreds in which it comes from the mill. This may give a little better fibre.

Another way of preparing the whole. Cut the gluten into pieces with the shears; mix the cooked and uncooked nuts without grinding; put a piece of gluten into the mill, then a few nuts, grinding, until all are through. Sprinkle salt over the mass and put it through the mill five or six times more, the last time with the nut butter cutter. This gives a coarser grained trumese, but is an easier way.

A still easier way is to use all cooked nuts, but the trumese is a little tasteless to eat as it comes from the can. In making it, use 4½ teaspns. of salt and 2 cups of liquid only.

Trumese No. 2

Steam 6–12 hrs., or steam 5 hrs. and bake 1 hr. When baked 1 hr., use about 1½ cup cereal coffee.

Red Kidney Bean Trumese

Cook beans until tender and dry, rub through colander, combine with other ingredients and finish as for nut trumese.

Pine Nut Trumese

Almond Trumese

With both Almond and Pine Nut trumese it is better to grind the gluten and nuts together first.

English Walnut Trumese

Brazil Nut Trumese

Cashew Nut Trumese

TRUMESE DISHES

Trumese may be cut down the center, if loaf is round, laid on its flat surface, sliced and served with celery, olives, apples, salt and oil, oil and lemon juice; Chili, chutney, apple or gooseberry sauce or jelly.

When serving trumese to any one for the first time, prepare it in some of the hot ways, either broiled with a nice sauce, or in cutlets or pie perhaps, since many people would not be favorably impressed with it cold, until their taste had been educated to it.

“Taste is a matter of education.” We naturally like what we have been accustomed to.

Trumese Salad Entrée. Better than Sardines

Mix dry ingredients, add oil, then lemon juice slowly, stirring. Pour this over 1 lb. of trumese which has been cut in suitable shapes and laid in a flat pan. Let stand 2 hrs. or longer. Serve on lettuce leaves or with garnish of tomato and lemon.

Broiled Trumese

Lay slices of trumese on a well oiled hot, not burned, griddle and brown delicately on both sides. Or, brush lightly with oil, lay in a shallow pan and put into a hot oven. Or, broil in a wire broiler over coals or over or under a gas blaze. Serve with sauce 6, 12, 16, 17, 51, 54, 57, or 73 or with almost any of the meat and vegetable sauces; with apple sauce, baked apples, lemon apples or jelly; with green peas, string beans, creamed corn or any creamed vegetables; with cabbage or celery in tomato or with stewed onions. It may also be served on or around a mound of boiled rice with lentil or brown gravy, or with pilau or mashed Irish or sweet potatoes.

Trumese—Jelly Sauce

Add jelly or jelly and lemon juice to melted butter in a sauce pan and when hot dip slices of broiled trumese in the sauce, lay them on a platter and pour sauce over.

Trumese and Italian Sauce on Biscuit or Dumplings

Lay steamed dumplings or split biscuit on platter, pour hot sauce over and cover or surround with slices of broiled trumese.

★ Trumese with Poached Egg

Broil round slices of trumese and serve with a nicely poached egg on each slice. Do not forget the parsley garnish. The trumese and soft poached egg make a delightful combination. Cream sauce poured over the slices of trumese before the eggs are put on makes a very rich dish.

★ Trumese and Eggs

Mix nut butter smooth with water or tomato, add chopped ripe olives. Spread round slices of broiled trumese with the mixture, just warm in oven and slide a nicely poached egg on to each.

★ Trumese with Mushrooms

Lay slices of broiled trumese on platter with crisp toast points surrounding. Place broiled mushrooms on trumese, pour hot (not browned) melted butter over and serve.

★ Trumese à la Mode

Cook together chopped onion and carrot and fine sliced celery, drain and spread over slices of broiled trumese which have been laid on an agate baking pan. Add a little fresh or stewed tomato, a trifle of fresh or powdered thyme and a very little chopped fresh mint. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Mix salt, a little celery salt, browned flour, butter or oil and hot water and pour over all. Bake in a slow oven, covered part of the time. In serving, lay trumese carefully on platter, cover with vegetables remaining in pan and pour liquid, if any, over.

Parsley and sliced carrots make an appropriate garnish, but the dish is well garnished of itself.

A whole brick-shaped loaf, or halves of round loaves laid the flat side down in a pan, may be used instead of slices of trumese.

Chopped raw carrots and onion, thyme, bay leaf, browned flour, butter and oil and consommé. Bake, covered most of the time, when the raw vegetables are used. A gravy of nut butter, tomato and water, thickened, may be used instead of the consommé.

Celery, carrots, turnips, onions, bay leaf, parsley, salt, browned and white flour, oil or butter, water.

Onion, tomato, garlic, parsley, butter or oil, browned flour, salt, water. This sauce may be thickened a little and the whole served on boiled rice, the Mexican way.

★ Trumese in Tomato

This is one of the most satisfying preparations and is just as good cold as warm.

Pour enough slightly salted, strained or unstrained stewed tomato over the bottom of a granite pan to cover it well. Lay ¾ in. slices of trumese in the tomato and heat all in a moderate oven until the trumese has absorbed the tomato and is well dried. If too moist, the character is not developed. The pulp in the pan is all the sauce that is required. Ripe olives are an excellent accompaniment.

Trumese with Onions

Lay slices of broiled trumese in baking pan, cover with sliced onions and sprinkle with salt mixed with browned flour. Pour a little oil, melted butter or nut cream over. Add a little water when necessary. Cover and bake until onions are tender. Remove cover at the last. Make gravy of the remains in the pan after trumese is removed by adding water and thickening. Strain into a bowl or over trumese. May serve on boiled rice.

Spanish Trumese

Cover “Trumese with Onions” with stewed, or raw sliced, tomatoes about ½ hour before it is done and make gravy the same.

Trumese Smothered with Bananas

Cover slices of broiled trumese with sliced bananas, sprinkle lightly with salt, pour a little lemon juice over and bake until bananas are soft. Serve hot or cold.

Trumese Baked with Onion Dressing

Place layers of broiled trumese in a pan with a little water, cover with a dressing made in the proportion of 2 cups bread crumbs, 2 chopped onions, 1 level tablespn. butter or oil and 2 beaten eggs. Bake, covered, ½ hour, uncover and brown on top grate. Make gravy in pan by adding consommé and thickening, after the trumese and dressing are removed. Or, lay slices of stale bread over trumese, cover with sliced onions and a little oil, sprinkle with salt and bake 1 hour covered.

★ Trumese Cutlets

Dip slices of trumese in egg beaten with salt and water, 1 teaspn. of water to each egg. Roll in fine zwieback, cracker or bread crumbs. Brown in hot oven. Serve at once, plain or with any desired sauce.

The yolk or white of egg only with salt and a teaspoon of water may be used. Sometimes, substitute lemon juice for water with the yolk.

Again, stir 2 level tablespns. raw nut butter with 1¾–2 tablespns. of water and add to 1 egg with salt and chopped onion or any desired flavoring.

Lemon Rings—Parsley Butter

Cream butter, add finely-chopped parsley and place paste in pyramids in the center of thick slices of lemon; serve with plain cutlets. Paste to be spread on hot cutlet and lemon squeezed over by each individual. Many enjoy a mince of green onions and garlic in the parsley butter.

Imperial Cutlets

Dip trumese in batter of 1 egg, 1 level tablespn. thick tomato pulp, a little grated onion, browned flour and salt; then in crumbs. Bake and serve with string beans or greens.

Savory Cutlets—Mashed Potato

Use salt, a trifle of sage and 1 tablespn. grated or chopped onion (no water) with the egg. Crumb; bake, and serve on or around mound of mashed potato with drawn butter.

★ Batter Cutlets

Heat but do not brown oil in sauce pan, stir in flour, add water, stirring smooth. Remove from fire, add eggs and salt and a few bread crumbs.

Broil slices of trumese on one side, turn and drop a small spoonful of the batter on each. When broiled on the other side, turn again, leaving the batter next to the griddle and drop another spoonful on the trumese, turning again when the first batter is delicately browned. Serve (without sauce) as soon as second side is browned.

Or, drop spoonfuls of batter on a hot, well oiled baking pan, lay slices of broiled trumese on each and spread another spoonful of batter on top of each slice; bake in a quick oven.

★ Green Corn Cutlets

Batter No. 2

1 pt. grated corn (if canned, grind through food cutter), 2 eggs, with dry or toasted bread crumbs to make a batter thick enough to bake well, salt. If corn is dry, add a little milk or cream; if very moist, add oil or butter only.

Ragout (Stew) of Trumese

Thicken bouillon or consommé to the consistency of thin cream. Add trumese cut into dice and simmer for 20 m. or longer. Serve plain in tureen, or on toast, or in rice or mashed potato border.

When noodles, or macaroni in any form are to be added to the stew, simmer a bay leaf and more onion in the bouillon before thickening; garlic also if liked.

One day we added some water drained from spinach to consommé, thickened it and added a little cream, the trumese and some nutmese, and we had a choice combination.

Ragout of Trumese No. 2

Trumese; onion, garlic, browned flour, tomato, bay leaf; juniper berries crushed, one teaspoon to a quart of stew.

Stewed Hashed Trumese

Simmer hashed trumese in bouillon or consommé until just moist. Serve on toast, thin crackers or rice: or put trumese into cream sauce and serve on toast with or without a poached egg on each slice of toast.

Trumese for Luncheon or Second Course

Rub butter and flour together over the fire, add milk and salt. Rub the yolks of the eggs to a paste with the cream and stir into the sauce, then add trumese and sliced whites of eggs. Heat to just boiling, remove from fire, stir in quickly the flavored orange juice and vanilla and serve at once. ½ cup mushrooms may be added with the trumese. In that case, the mushroom liquor may form a part of the liquid instead of the whole half cup of milk.

Trumese with Truffles and Mushrooms

Melt butter in saucepan, add flour and milk, stirring until smooth. Add the onion and yolks of eggs, then truffles and mushrooms which have been cut into small pieces and simmered (without browning) in butter, then the onion tops or shreds of lettuce and the celery salt. Let all come nearly to the boiling point and serve over broiled trumese without delay.

★ Trumese and Mushrooms à la Crême

Simmer onion (without browning) in oil, add flour, water, cream and salt. When smooth, remove at once from fire and mix in lightly the mushrooms in halves or quarters and the trumese in small dice. Put into scallop dish, or pile in the center of shells. Sprinkle lightly with crumbs or granella and bake in a quick oven until a delicate brown and just heated through. When shells are used they should be set in a dripping pan and baked on top grate of oven. They must not bake too long. If the shells are the large silver ones, they can be prettily garnished. Serve on small plates, with delicate unfermented bread and celery if desired. Small patty pan shells of pie paste may be used.

When this dish was served at a diplomatic dinner in Washington, one of the guests pronounced it “sweetbreads” and could not be convinced to the contrary.

Trumese and Celery à la Crême—Substitute 1¼ cup (1¼ pt. before cooking) stewed celery for the mushrooms; or for

Trumese and Macaroni à la Crême—Use 1 cup small macaroni which has been cooked with a little garlic in the water; or for

Trumese and Oyster Plant à la Crême—Take 1¼ cup cooked oyster plant, and use the liquor in which it was cooked in place of water for the sauce.

Trumese en Casserole

Put vegetables in pudding dish in order given, with a piece of bay leaf occasionally. Mix butter, browned flour, salt, tomatoes and hot water and pour over them. Lay slices of broiled trumese over all; cover and bake in a rather hot oven 1–1¼ hour. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Set dish on large plate or tray, pin folded napkin around and send to table. If preferred, thicken liquor slightly before pouring it over the vegetables, and bake 15 m. longer.

★ ★ Trumese Pie

Sprinkle fine chopped onion and parsley in baking dish and lay in slices of trumese (part nutmese if desired). Repeat the same until about 1 lb. of trumese has been used. Sprinkle last with onion and parsley.

Sauce—Rub together 5 tablespns. oil or melted butter and 5 or 6 tablespns. of flour. Add 1 qt. of boiling water, boil up, add salt and pour over trumese. When cool enough, cover with biscuit of universal crust. Cover and let stand in a warm place until crust is very light, then bake in a moderate oven about ¾ of an hour. Cover with paper or asbestos sheet if the crust becomes brown before baking is finished. It is well to have some extra sauce to serve with the pie. This dish is a general favorite. Finely-sliced celery or 1 teaspn. of celery salt or ¾ teaspn. of sage may be substituted for the onion.

★ Rice and Trumese Pie

Boil 1 cup of rice in salted water. When done add ½ cup of milk; spread over above pie instead of universal crust and bake at once, covered most of the time. Use the 6 tablespns. of flour in making sauce for rice crust.

Nicely seasoned, not too moist mashed potato, without egg, may be used for crust. A little chopped parsley mixed with the potato makes it more attractive.

A pastry crust not quite so rich as for fruit pies is nice also; put a small cup or mold in the center of the dish to hold it up.

Savory Sauce or Vegetable Gravy may be poured over chopped or sliced trumese, and a nicely seasoned stuffing used for the crust, for a different pie. Slices of hard boiled eggs may be combined with trumese.

All Ready Crusts

When keeping house I nearly always have on hand crusts, either raised or pastry, baked on tins about the size of my pudding dish, so that I can lay them over the top of pie fillings or a nicely seasoned stew and just heat them through in the oven. Small pastry crusts, the size of individual dishes, are very convenient sometimes.

Trumese Shortcake—Italian Sauce

Add trumese in small dice to hot Italian sauce; heat to boiling and pour over split hot shortcake crust, in two layers.

Trumese Scallop with Cracker Crumbs

Sprinkle cracker crumbs in bottom of dish with chopped onion and the least bit of powdered sage. Pour a little sauce No. 41 over and cover with a thin layer of minced trumese. Continue these layers, pour a larger quantity of sauce over the last layer of trumese, then sprinkle with crumbs, dot with butter and bake till well heated through and delicately browned over the top.

Onion and sage may be omitted. Zwieback crumbs may be used instead of cracker, and sauce No. 8 or 46 in place of 41 for other scalloped dishes.

Trumese Pot Pie

Well oil the inside of a kettle. Place in it the filling and crust for trumese pie, making the sauce with 1 or 2 tablespns. less of flour. When crust is light, set the kettle covered tight, over a moderate fire, and when it comes to the boiling point let it just simmer for 30–35 m. without removing the cover. It may be necessary to very carefully place an asbestos pad under the kettle during the latter part of the cooking. Serve with dumplings around edge of platter, and trumese with gravy in center.

The dumplings may be steamed on a pie pan (perforated if convenient) and laid over the filling which has been baked in a pudding dish as for trumese pie.

A nicely seasoned trumese stew may be served with a border of small steamed dumplings, and other varieties of pot pie may be made according to taste and convenience.

★ Trumese Boiled Dinner—New England Style

Raw nut butter, a little browned flour and tomato, salt, carrots in 1–2 in. lengths, according to thickness, turnips in sections or thick slices, cabbage in quarters or eighths according to size, 1 beet (white if possible), pared and cut into four pieces, onions, whole, cut at right angles ⅓ of the way up from the root end, potatoes pared and cut into equal sizes, winter squash in large pieces, pared, slices of broiled trumese, parsley.

Oil the bottom of the kettle. Mix in it the nut butter, browned flour, salt and tomato, adding as much boiling water as necessary to cook the dinner. When the liquid is boiling put in the cabbage, carrots, turnips and beet. In about an hour, add the onions; then in ¾ of an hour the potatoes, with the squash laid inside down over the whole. When all are done, if you have a very large platter, lay pieces of squash around the edge with cabbage overlapping and the other vegetables in the center, with slices of broiled trumese around and sprays of parsley for garnish. The liquid remaining in the kettle, with a little water added if necessary, may be strained and served as gravy for the vegetables. The more nearly dry the vegetables can cook without scorching the better, but do not let them scorch. The squash need not be used, but it would not be a boiled dinner to a New Englander without it.

Timbales of Rice—Trumese Stuffing

Line a well oiled mold ½–1 inch deep (according to size of mold) with hot cooked rice. Fill nearly to top with mixture of Elsa’s roll, spread rice over top. Cover with oiled lid and steam ½–¾ of an hour. Serve with sauce 8, 12, 36 or 48, or any desired sauce.

Hot hominy grits (which have been cooked 2–3 hrs. in double boiler in proportion of 1 cup of grits to 3 of water) may be used in place of rice; also cold boiled macaroni chopped fine, with 1 egg added to each pint of macaroni.

★ Trumese Timbale—Boundary Castle Sauce

The nut butter may be omitted and 2 cups of stale (1¼ dry) crumbs used. Use the crust as well as the center of the loaf of bread. Soak crumbs in the water until soft, then stir over the fire until smooth and dry enough to leave the sides of the pan. Remove from the fire, add trumese chopped fine, bay leaf, sage, salt, nut butter and yolks of eggs. Beat until well mixed and if convenient rub through a fine colander, then add the whites of the eggs beaten a little. Press into a well oiled mold, which may have been garnished with truffles, and steam 1½ hour. Let stand a moment after taking from the steamer, then invert upon the center of the platter. Serve with Boundary Castle sauce, which is the crowning feature of the dish.

The timbales may be made in a round mold, or in individual molds and served on a chop tray. Omit herbs if preferred. If truffles are used for garnishing, the cuttings may be chopped and added to the loaf.

★ Trumese and Rice Timbale, Roast or Loaf

This is one of the simplest and most convenient preparations, and is as delicious as it is convenient.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly and put into a timbale mold or brick shaped bread tin, a covered can, or individual molds; steam, or bake in pan of water (covered until the last) ¾–1½ hour according to size of loaf. Serve with creamed celery, peas, some of the mushroom sauces, a plain cream or any desired sauce.

Rice Timbale—Trumese and Asparagus Tips

Partly fill buttered timbale mold, round or oblong, with hot, nicely cooked rice. Unmold on to tray or platter, surround with slices of broiled trumese standing against the sides of the mold. Pour a little drawn butter around on the dish, and lay clusters of cooked asparagus tips around the edge. Serve with plenty of the sauce. Sauce may be flavored with onion and parsley.

Elsa’s Roll of Trumese

Shape into a large roll; bake ½ hour, basting occasionally with oil or butter, and water. Serve with any desired sauce or accompaniment.

Cannelon of Trumese

Form into roll, cover with pastry crust, fastening well at the ends, and bake in moderate oven 20–30 m. Serve with 16, 34 or any desired sauce. Shelled whole hard boiled eggs may be put into the center of the roll for a novelty, when desired.

Trumese Rissoles, Pasties or Turnovers

Cut pastry crust into circles the size of a large saucer or small plate. Lay a spoonful of the filling of Cannelon of Trumese on one side of each; fold the other side over (after moistening edges) like a turnover. Bake. Nice for travelling lunches.

★ Trumese Soufflé

Stir flour smooth with part of the milk, heat the remainder to boiling, add flour and cook until thickened. Remove from fire and add butter, trumese, salt and beaten yolks of eggs; then chop in the stiffly-beaten whites. Put into baking dish, custard cups or molds. Set into pan of hot water and bake (covered part of the time with oiled paper) in slow oven 20–30 m., or until firm in the center. ¼ nutmese may be used.

★ Trumese Croquettes

Chop trumese fine, mix with other ingredients, stand in cool place until sauce is made.

Mix onion, browned flour No. 3, salt and tomato in pint measure, fill the measure with boiling water. Heat the oil, rub half the flour into it, add the boiling liquid, and when smooth, add the remainder of the flour, stirring well; cook thoroughly over a slow fire. Remove from fire, chop in lightly the trumese mixture and cool. When cold, shape into rolls about three inches long and 1 inch in diameter, roll in fine toasted bread or cracker crumbs, dip in beaten egg and roll again in crumbs. Bake in quick oven 10 m., or until croquettes begin to crack a little and are a delicate brown. If baked too long, or if they stand long after baking they will lose their shape. Serve plain, or with mushroom sauce, or jelly, or jellied cranberries, or with peas creamed, or seasoned with butter and salt only. Well made croquettes require no sauce. I sometimes plan to have creamed potatoes with trumese croquettes.

This quantity will make twelve croquettes. They may be shaped into cones if preferred.

In making more than once the recipe, use a little extra flour, as the evaporation is less in proportion. One secret of success with croquettes is to have the mixture as soft as possible to shape. In shaping, drop the soft mixture on to the crumbs by spoonfuls, lift carefully from beneath (so as not to get any of the crumbs inside the croquettes), and shape deftly with the fingers; then roll in the crumbs, taking care that the ends are well covered. Drop from one hand to the other to remove the loose crumbs and lay croquettes on a plate or board until all are crumbed the first time. (With some mixtures, the fingers may be dipped in oil and the croquettes shaped neatly before putting into the crumbs). For dipping, have eggs beaten slightly with salt and water, 1 teaspn. of water to each egg. Dip the croquettes into the mixture with the left hand only, see that the ends are moistened with the egg, drop on to a flat dish of crumbs, with the right hand roll them until they are well covered, and lay on to the pans in which they are to be baked.

All ready croquettes may be kept in a cold place for a day or two before baking when necessary.

★ Trumese Croquettes No. 2

Chop or grind trumese to make ¾–1 qt. Add 1½–2 teaspns. salt, 2 tablespns. each chopped parsley and grated onion. Fine cut celery may be used instead of onion.

Sauce—Rub to a smooth paste 5½ tablespns. of flour and 2–3 of butter or oil. Pour 1 pt. of boiling milk over slowly, stirring. Boil well, add trumese, mix, cool. When cold, form into croquettes, dip in egg, roll in crumbs, bake.

★ Brother Barnett’s Savory Trumese and Rice Croquettes

Use recipe for Trumese and Rice Timbale, p. 170. Flavor with sage or winter savory, shape into croquettes, bake. Serve with sauce 4, 9, 12, 44 or 54. You will be surprised to see how nice these are. Cooked hominy grits or chopped boiled macaroni may be used in place of rice.

Russian Croquettes

Cover small rolls of Elsa’s roll, p. 171, or of filling for cannelon of trumese, p. 171, with pastry crust. Bake. Serve with eighths of red apples, sections of orange or with baked bananas, or with any suitable sauce or vegetable.

★ Trumese and Potato Hash

Put trumese and double the quantity of cold potatoes (those cooked in their jackets until nearly tender being ideal) through food cutter, using next to the coarsest cutter. (If chopping by hand, be sure not to chop too fine, especially the potatoes.) Mix carefully. Simmer without browning, chopped onion in oil. Add the mixed trumese and potato, pour consommé or nicely seasoned gravy over and set in the oven to heat, and brown over the top. If obliged to finish on top of the stove, set back, on an asbestos pad, and heat slowly, covered.

The onion may be mixed with the trumese and potato, all put into a baking dish, nut butter stirred to a cream with consommé poured over and the hash baked for ¾–1 hour. Finely-sliced celery, celery salt, or any of the sweet herbs, powdered, may be substituted for the onion. Sage may be used occasionally with the onion.

Trumese and Rice Hash

NUTMESE

Grind both cooked and raw nuts into butter, add salt and water, mix well, put into oiled tins. Steam 5 hrs. or bake 1 hr. in slow oven on asbestos pad. May cook in sealed glass jars, following directions p. 156, for trumese in glass jars.

All ready prepared foods similar to nutmese are variously named “nuttolene”, “nutmete”, “nutcysa” and “nut loaf,” according to where they are made.

Tomato Nutmese

Cornstarch Nutmese

The following recipe makes a very palatable preparation for those who can use the starch; but meat substitutes should be made without starch.

Stir dry ingredients with the cold water, then add the boiling water gradually, stirring. Cook the same as nutmese. Use a little more water with Virginia nuts. See suggestion p. 155, for using starch washed out of gluten dough, in place of corn starch.

NUTMESE DISHES

Nutmese of nuts only, is suitable to serve with breads of all kinds instead of butter. It takes the place of cheese nicely with apple pie and may be served sliced, with Chili, apple, grape and different fruit sauces or with jelly.

Nutmese Cottage Cheese

Take the broken pieces of nutmese left from slicing, press them through a wire strainer, add salt and enough lemon juice to give the slight tartness of cottage cheese. Use plenty of salt and not too much lemon juice. Mix well and press through the strainer again. Shape into balls and roll in chopped parsley.

Carefully Broiled Nutmese may be served with creamed parsnips or celery on toast, or with mint sauce, tomato and tomato cream sauce, and nearly all the sauces and vegetables with which trumese is served. It is especially nice with green peas.

Tomato Nutmese and Eggs

Lay ¼ inch slices of broiled tomato nutmese on thin pieces of toast of the same shape and place a soft poached egg on each. Garnish with parsley.

Nutmese and Rice with Peas Sauce

Add chopped parsley and cooked green peas to tomato cream sauce which has been flavored with onion, and pour sauce over a low, rocky mound of rice surrounded by broiled nutmese.

Nutmese with Baked Beans

Score nutmese of the desired shape, on one side. Broil the scored side carefully and set in the oven to just warm through. Place in center of platter, pile baked beans around and garnish with parsley and lemon. Nutmese made in an oblong, square-cornered tin would be very suitable in shape.

String beans which have been cooked whole with raw nut butter in the water may be used in place of baked beans, and French dressing or Sauce Amèricaine poured over.

★ Nutmese Cutlets are made the same as trumese cutlets, p. 162, except that nutmese cutlets are better with granella than with bread crumbs.

★ Nut Irish Stew—a universal favorite

In 2 qts. of salted water to which have been added 4 or 5 tablespns. of raw nut butter, cook from 4–6 large onions sliced thin, and 3 pts. to 2 qts. of potato cut into irregular pieces about an inch in diameter.

When the potatoes have cooked enough to give a little consistency to the stew, drop in pieces of nutmese in strips about 1½ in. long and ¾ in. thick. Heat without stirring. Serve.

Nutmese in Cream of Tomato Sauce

makes a delightful stew. It may be served alone, on toast, in rice border, or in mashed bean border. Cut nutmese into dice and add to sauce just long enough before serving to heat through. Do not stir.

Add nutmese to Cream of Spinach soup when you have some left over and you have an enjoyable meat dish with very little trouble.

Nutmese and Green Peas with New Potatoes

Serve in cream or drawn butter sauce. Old potatoes cut in small pieces may be used.

Nutmese à la Crême

Break nutmese into irregular pieces with a fork and mix it with the eggs, chopped coarse and ¾ teaspn. salt.

Add onion to hot oil and simmer slowly without browning, for 10 m. Add flour, rub smooth, pour on hot water, stir until smooth and well cooked. Remove from fire, add parsley, salt and beaten egg. Put sauce, and nutmese with eggs, into pudding dish, in layers, with sauce on top. Sprinkle with crumbs, corn meal or browned flour No. 1. Bake in moderate oven until bubbling all through and delicately browned on top.

We sometimes use a little garlic, and sometimes a little cream with a very little strained tomato in the sauce. Another is made with the following sauce and finished the same as the preceding:

Sauce No. 2—Rub ⅞ cup pastry flour smooth with water; pour it gradually into 1 pt. of boiling milk, stirring until smooth. Pour this over 2 beaten eggs or yolks only. Add 1 teaspn. each chopped onion and parsley, and ¾–1 teaspn. salt.

A tablespn. of butter may be added when the sauce is taken from the fire, if desired richer.

Nutmese and Oyster Plant in Shells

Use nutmese and oyster plant in place of trumese and mushrooms, in Trumese and Mushrooms à la Crême, and the liquor in which the oyster plant was cooked instead of water in the sauce.

Scallop of Nutmese and Tomato

Layers of crumbs, thin slices of nutmese and tomato sauce or tomato cream sauce, or slices of tomato and a thick cream sauce; have sauce on top, sprinkle with crumbs, bake.

★ Nutmese and Corn

Place nicely seasoned, canned or grated fresh corn in layers with dice or small pieces of nutmese. Sprinkle with cracker dust or browned flour No. 1. Heat in moderate oven. This simple dish is very pleasing.

Nutmese Pie with Potato Crust

Prepare nutmese pie the same as trumese pie, p. 167. Cover with nicely seasoned mashed potato. Pour a little cream, oil or melted butter over and bake until top is delicately browned.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley, or, chopped parsley may be mixed with the potato. Universal or rice crust may be used.

Hashed Potato Crust for Nutmese

Use sauce No. 9 with nutmese and cover with well seasoned hashed or hashed creamed potatoes and brown in oven.

Nutmese and Potato Pie with Pastry Crust

Use sauce 43 or 14 with or without sage and onion, drop into it chunks or slices of fresh boiled potato, lay thin slices of nutmese over, cover with pastry crust and bake in moderate oven.

Apple and Nutmese Pie

Make the same as apple pie, using enough less apple to make room for a layer of nutmese, and only about half as much sugar. Serve for luncheon or early supper.

Nutmese Croquettes or Patties

Use nutmese in recipe of trumese croquettes, No. 2. Shape into patties if preferred. Serve with green peas or on a bed of mashed turnip sprinkled with chopped parsley.

TRUMESE AND NUTMESE DISHES

Nut Fricassee

Put equal quantities of trumese and nutmese in small pieces into baking dish. Pour nut and tomato bisque, p. 93, over and bake in moderate oven until nicely browned.

★ Nut Fricassee with Rigatoni

Make a thin nut gravy, simmer in it the stalks of celery, bruised and tied together (for convenience), and the cooked rigatoni. When the sauce is well flavored, remove the celery and add the nut meats cut into convenient pieces; and lastly, a little cream.

★ Nut Corn Pudding

Put layers of sliced trumese and nutmese in baking dish and sprinkle finely-sliced celery between. Cover with green corn pudding, p. 116, sprinkle with crumbs and bake 20–30 m. in moderate oven. If canned corn is used bake only long enough to heat through and brown over the top. Serve at once.

Nut Pastry Pie

Line as deep a pie pan as you have with a rich pastry crust; cover the bottom with a thin layer of cold drawn butter, sprinkle with chopped onion and parsley and lay on very thin slices of trumese and nutmese. Fill the pan in this way. Cover with crust as for fruit pies and bake. Slip on to chop tray and garnish with parsley or spinach leaves. Cut the same as fruit pies and serve with drawn butter. The pie may be sent to the table in the pan in which it was baked. It may be served as a complete course, or with celery, jelly, or small boiled onions. It may also constitute the principal dish of a luncheon.

★ Cream Timbales of Trumese and Nutmese

Put the bread crumbs and milk in a sauce pan or double boiler over the fire, stir until smooth. Remove from the fire, cool, add trumese and nutmese which have been rubbed to a cream together. Stir all very smooth. Add salt and cream and rub through a fine colander. Chop in the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Put into small timbale molds which have rounds of buttered paper in the bottom, decorated with truffles or not. Set in pan of hot (not boiling) water. Cover with oiled paper and bake in moderate oven about 20 m., or until firm in the center. Remove molds from water, carefully. Let stand a moment. Invert on to thin rounds of toast and place in center of chop tray or platter. Surround with tiny molds of jelly, button mushrooms, green peas, or small spoonfuls of thick cream sauce, according to the sauce to be served with them, whether a cream or creamed mushroom sauce.

ROASTS

Roasts are among the most popular of vegetarian dishes. In the home, in sanitariums and in our vegetarian restaurants they are always in demand. Except soups there are no dishes that we are so often asked to give the recipes for as our roasts. We always plan to have left-overs that will be good for them, as the proper combination of different ingredients is very satisfying, and richer flavors are often developed by reheating foods.

When we start to make a roast, we gather up the suitable ingredients: for instance, a few baked beans or mashed lentils, a little cold boiled rice, some tomato macaroni, a nut cutlet or two, perhaps one or two croquettes, a spoonful or so of tomato, some boiled onions, a few peas or string beans or baked peanuts, may be a little corn, and the vegetables strained out of a soup from the day before; throwing them one after another into a pan. Then we often add a handful of nut meats, chopped or whole, a little sage, sometimes sliced celery or chopped onion, occasionally a little browned flour; never potatoes unless an infinitesimal quantity. Then we scatter over some coarse bread or zwieback crumbs or granella and pour on consommé, broth or gravy, some soup we happen to have, or water, and add one or more beaten eggs, according to the number and size of the loaves; just enough to hold the ingredients together. The eggs may be omitted, but we are more sure that the roast will turn out of the tin well without being too solid, by using them; then, too, they add to the nutritive value of the roast.

Mix well, but not to pastiness, adding more crumbs or liquid as required to make a rather soft mixture. Allowance must be made for the swelling of the crumbs, if they are very dry, and the thickening of the eggs. More salt may be necessary but not much if the foods were seasoned before. The roast should not be as salt as the gravy that is to be served with it.

When of the desired consistency put the mixture into well oiled molds or brick shaped tins, taking care that the corners are well filled. Brush the tops with oil or melted butter or pour a little thin cream over. Bake in a moderate oven in a dripping pan or covered baker without water until the roast is well heated through and the eggs set, then pour boiling water into the baker, cover and bake for an hour or so longer. Remove from oven, let stand a few minutes, invert on platter, lifting mold carefully, garnish, and send to table with a suitable sauce. Some of the meaty flavored sauces are most appropriate. The pieces of nut meat in the roast add much to the pleasure of masticating it. Roasts may be warmed over by setting in pan of hot water in the oven.

Cutlets of Roast

Cut cold roast into not too thin slices. Egg and crumb, or flour only. Bake or broil and serve with or without a sauce. Some such accompaniment as stewed onions or carrots is enjoyable. Cutlets may be served on a bed of pilau.

Below are given the ingredients of a few roasts that were made in a small institution at different times.

No. 1

Some macaroni strained out of the soup from the day before, a little nutmese à la crême, some trumese cutlets, hard boiled eggs, a little nutmese, sage, crumbs, eggs, consommé. The nutmese was put in the center of the loaf in a layer.

No. 2

Stewed red kidney beans ground, egg macaroni ground, dry zwieback ground, a few nuts, eggs, consommé, nutmese in layers. Served with Sauce Imperial.

No. 3

Baked peanuts, rice, garlic, a little melted butter, savory tomato gravy (made with tomato, Chili sauce, bay leaf and a little cream) a very little sage, eggs, crumbs, soup.

No. 4

Macaroni, rice, peas purée, trumese cutlets, some trumese in tomato, and nutmese, laid in the center of the loaf. Sage, eggs, crumbs, soup.

Brazil Nut and Lentil Roast

Mix all ingredients, using more or less water according to dryness of crumbs. Press into brick shaped tin or any convenient mold; brush with oil or cover with thin cream. Bake in moderate oven until well heated through, then set in pan of hot water, cover and finish baking. Serve with sauce 6, 9, 10, 16 or 17. Flavorings of onion and browned flour, or of sage may be used if desired.

Black Walnut Roast

LEGUMES

Legumes—peas, beans and lentils form an important part of the vegetarian dietary, containing as they do a so much larger proportion of the muscle-building material than flesh meats, and being at the same time inexpensive.

Another advantage is that they are grown in considerable variety in nearly all countries.

We have beans—white, large and small; colored, of all shades and sizes; peas—dry, green and yellow, split and whole, chick peas and other varieties; lentils—German or Austrian, red or Egyptian. The ground nut or peanut is also a legume.

Chick peas are found in the Italian groceries or macaroni stores. They have a rich flavor peculiar to themselves.

The Soy bean, most common in China and India, has almost no starch and is richer in oil than any other legume.

The legumes require a prolonged, slow cooking to render them digestible and to develop their rich flavors. The hulls of some are difficult of digestion. It is for this reason that we suggest rubbing legumes through a colander in so many recipes. Experiments have proven, also, that a larger percentage of their nutritive value is assimilated when the hulls are excluded.

Parboiling causes beans to be flat and tasteless; then the need is felt of a piece of pork or at least a lump of butter; while if they are put at once, without soaking, into the water in which they are to be cooked, their own rich, characteristic flavor (which nothing can replace) will be retained.

The large, dark flowering beans and a few other colored ones are exceptions, and should be parboiled, as their flavor is so rich that it may be denominated “strong.”

Nearly all legumes for stewing or baking should be put into boiling salted water (most authorities to the contrary notwithstanding), to keep them from cooking to pieces and to preserve their color and flavor. In sections where the altitude is great, however, legumes must be soaked for several hours and be put to cooking in cold, soft water; even then a longer time will be required for cooking than nearer the sea level.

The water may be rendered soft by boiling and settling, if necessary. Soft or distilled water will cause legumes to be more digestible at any altitude. Rain water is the very best. Most legumes about double in bulk in cooking.

★ Mashed Lentils

Do not waste time by looking lentils over by handfuls, but put them into a large, flat colander, give them a shake or two to remove the fine dirt, slide them to one side of the colander, then with the fingers draw a few at a time toward you, looking for particles of sand or gravel. Pick these out but do not pay any attention to the wheat, chaff or poor lentils. Those will come out in the washing in much less time than it takes to pick them out and if a grain or two of wheat is left it will do no harm.

When you are sure all the gravel is out, set the colander into a dish pan and pour cold water over the lentils. Stir with the hand until all but the waste matter has settled to the bottom; then carefully pour the water off. Repeat the process until all objectionable substances are removed. Rinse the colander up and down in water, drain the lentils and put immediately into a large quantity of boiling water in a broad-bottomed vessel. (The shape of the utensil has much to do with the drying out without scorching.)

Let the lentils boil fast for a short time, then simmer without stirring. If they are stirred after they begin to soften they will scorch. Now keep the vessel over a slow, even fire until the lentils are well dried out. The drying may be finished in the oven if the dish is covered so the lentils will not become hard on the top. This drying is imperative. It develops a rich flavor that we do not get without it.

When well dried, add a little water and rub the lentils, a few at a time, through a fine colander with a potato masher. (Do not deceive yourself by thinking that you can get along faster by putting a large quantity into the colander at once.)

Throw the hulls into a dish of boiling water. At the last, stir the hulls well and rub again in the colander, reserving what goes through this time for soups and gravies.

When all the lentils are through the colander (of course care should be taken to keep them hot during the process), add plenty of salt and beat until smooth and creamy. Keep hot in a double boiler, covered, till serving time. Beat again just before serving. Serve piled in rocky form or in smooth mound on hot platter (or in a hot covered dish if to be long on the table), with different garnishes: a wreath of celery tops, sprays of parsley or chervil, spinach leaves or cooked vegetables. Serve with sauce 16, 17, 53 or 54.

Mashed Lentils—Rice

Make well in center of lentil mound and fill with sauce 8, 53 or 54. Surround mound with hot boiled rice; garnish with green.

★ Mashed Peas

Prepare dried green peas the same as mashed lentils. Serve with sauce 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 57 or 59.

Sauce 1, flavored or not, combines nicely with peas. Serve mashed peas and rice with sauce 16 sometimes.

Mashed Beans

Sauce 16, 18, 19, 34, 57, 58 or 75, or Mayonnaise or French dressing are all suitable for mashed beans. Some beans will all go through the colander in mashing.

★ Variegated Meat

Put different colored mashed legumes, for instance, red and white beans, or red and white beans and green peas, lentils and white beans (sometimes red beans also), green peas and red beans, yellow peas and red or black beans, or green and yellow peas, red and white kidney beans and green peas, or red and black beans with green peas into a mold or a brick-shaped tin dipped in cold water, in straight or irregular layers. Press down close, cover and set in a cold place until firm. Unmold and slice, or, send loaf to table whole on platter garnished with lettuce or spinach leaves. Pass Improved Mayonnaise (with chopped parsley) or French dressing, olive oil or Chili sauce. This makes a good summer Sabbath dinner dish.

★ Peas Pie—Corn Crust

Put mashed green peas in oiled baking dish, cover with crust, bake only till the eggs in the crust are set; serve at once. No sauce.

Lentil Pie—Potato Crust

Cover mashed lentils in baking dish with nicely seasoned mashed potato, brown in oven; serve with sauce 6, 16, 49, 51, 53 or 54.

Lentil Pie—Universal Crust

Mashed lentils, not too dry, flavored with browned flour and chopped onion, a little sage also if desired, with universal crust. Serve with sauce 1, 16, 43 or 53. A rich pastry crust may be used.

Mashed Peas—Macaroni or Vermicelli

Cook macaroni or vermicelli with garlic, or onion and garlic. Put into thick cream sauce and serve around rocky mound of mashed peas.

Creamed Beans

Cook and mash beans according to directions for mashed lentils; add salt, and cream sauce made with butter, flour and milk; then eggs beaten. Turn into oiled baking dish, sprinkle with crumbs, bake a delicate brown, serve at once. The eggs may be omitted but the beans are delightfully light with them.

Lentils—Poached Eggs

Spread a half-inch layer of mashed lentils on slightly moistened rounds of toast and place a nicely poached egg on each. Garnish.

Bean Croquettes

Shape dry mashed beans into thick croquettes (oiling the hands or dipping them in hot water occasionally), coat delicately with oil or melted butter, heat in oven till beginning to crack a little, no more. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, serve with Sauce Amèricaine, Sauce Imperial, or Mayonnaise or French dressing, or with a garnish of lemon rings with parsley butter, p. 163. Any seasoning but salt in the croquettes spoils them.

Lentil Croquettes

Prepare the same as bean croquettes, serve with any sauce given for mashed lentils, or with small boiled onions sometimes. A little browned flour and chopped onion may be used in the croquettes. Rice and lentil croquettes may be served with Boundary Castle sauce.

Peas Croquettes

Shape the same as bean croquettes, adding a little finely-sliced tender celery if desired. Serve with sauces given for mashed peas. The croquettes are very pretty rolled in parsley before baking. Chop the parsley, not too fine, and spread it out thin with spaces between the particles on a vegetable board. Roll the croquettes over it once.

Legume Patties

Shape mashed peas, beans or lentils into thick flat cakes instead of into croquettes, and serve with suitable sauces.

Peas Timbales

Mix all with beaten eggs, bake in a single or in individual molds well oiled, in pan of hot water until firm.

(Very finely sliced celery may be used instead of onion juice. Peas and eggs only may be used for plain timbales). Serve with cream sauce. Finely sliced celery, a few whole green peas, a little stewed corn or a few pieces of tomato pulp may be added to the sauce.

The individual timbales may be used as a garnish for some vegetable dish, giving meat value to it. Decorate timbales with egg daisies, carrots, or anything desired.

Rice and Lentil Timbales

Line a well oiled mold with a ¾ in. layer of boiled rice. Nearly fill the center with mashed lentils, cover with rice, steam or bake 20 m. to ½ hr. Unmold carefully, garnish, serve with cream, brown, mushroom or any suitable sauce.

Mashed peas may take the place of lentils, with sauce of celery, onion or tomato cream.

Lentil Roast

Cook and mash lentils, add nut butter and onion which have been cooked with salt ½ hour in the water, then the browned flour or the crumbs, sage and beaten egg; more salt and water or crumbs if necessary for right consistency. Press into well oiled mold or brick-shaped tin, bake, covered, in pan of water about 1 hour or until firm. Dry in oven 10 m., out of water if necessary. Let stand in warm place 5 m. Unmold on to platter, garnish. Serve with sauce 6, 16, 18, 54 or 57.

For people with good digestion, the lentils may be ground through a food cutter instead of being put through the colander.

Chick Peas Roast

Peas Roast

1 pt. mashed, dry, split or whole green peas, 1 to 2 eggs or whites of eggs only, or a little fresh cracker dust. Bake as lentil roast until firm only. Serve with tomato cream sauce or almond cream, tomato or celery cream sauce. Peas require no flavoring, but celery or celery salt may be added, serving with plain cream sauce.

Sister Boulter’s Red Kidney Bean Loaf

Cook and crush or grind red kidney beans, add salt and sage, mold. Serve cold, sliced, with or without oil, or use for sandwiches. A few crumbs may be added if necessary, the loaf baked, and served hot with any suitable accompaniment.

Purées of Legumes

Add sufficient water, nut or dairy cream or milk to mashed beans, peas or lentils to make of the consistency of a thick batter. No sauce is required.

★ Rich Baked Beans

Wash beans and get them into boiling salted water, in the bean pot, as quickly as possible. For each pint of beans use 1¼ to 1¾ teaspn. of salt. Add plenty of water at first, perhaps three times the quantity of beans. Put into a hot oven until they begin to boil, then reduce the temperature to such a degree as will keep them just simmering for from 12 to 24 hours. The old-fashioned New England baked beans were kept in a brick oven for three days, and each day they were better than the last.

Do not stir the beans after the skins begin to break. When necessary to add more water, pour it boiling over the top and let it settle in gradually. A gentle shaking may be helpful. After they are swollen and softened they should not have too much water on at a time, nor be baked too fast; if so, they will be “mushy.”

They are most generally liked slightly juicy when served—not too wet nor too dry, but just “juicy.” They may be served with the Salad Entrée dressing, Improved Mayonnaise or French dressing, with oil or lemon juice or with Chili sauce, but they all spoil that delightful bean flavor in the rich, thick juice. Beans have a characteristic flavor which is destroyed by the addition of anything but salt and water. Molasses, cream, nut butter and tomato are all good in their place, but that is not in baked beans if we attain to the keenest enjoyment of the bean flavor. We get the rich red color, without the rank molasses taste, by prolonged baking. Cream and milk deaden the flavor, and nut butter and tomato change it.

Those who taste our baked beans for the first time exclaim, “I would not have believed it,” and it is hard for them to believe that there is no meat in them.

For those who think they must have the molasses, use 1 teaspn. molasses (or 2 teaspns. for a very strong molasses flavor) 2 teaspns. oil and 1½–1¾ teaspn. salt to each pint of beans.

★ Western Baked Beans

Boil beans in salted water until the skins are broken. Put into a pudding dish with plenty of water and bake in a slow oven until dry and mealy and delicately browned over the top.

Baked Split Yellow Peas

Wash peas, put into bean pot, add browned flour, tomato and salt which have been mixed together, then turn over them two or three times their quantity of boiling water. Stir well. When boiling, regulate the heat of the oven so as to keep them gently simmering for from 5 to 7 hours. Do not stir after they are first put to cooking. They require greater care than beans to keep them from breaking. However, if they do not keep their shape they will be of a jelly-like consistency not at all objectionable. May add 2 large onions sliced fine.

Baked Split Yellow Peas No. 2

Rub nut butter smooth with tomato and add with salt and boiling water to peas. Raw nut butter and browned flour may be substituted for the roasted nut butter.

★ Baked Split Green Peas

Wash peas and put into a baking dish with 1 teaspn. of salt to each pint of peas and 2 to 2½ times the quantity of water. Cook on top of the stove until tender (about 1 hour), then put, covered, into a slow oven and bake until dry and mealy all through, which will not be long if there was not too much water in them. Peas lose their delicate flavor and develop a strong taste if cooked too long. If this amount of water is too great, use a little less. Serve if desired in the dish in which they were baked, with sauces given for mashed peas. A mint and celery flavored raw nut butter sauce is nice with them.

When desired very smooth they may be put through a colander. They may be used in soups and in all dishes where mashed peas are required.

Baked Lentils—great favorites

Add a little cream, turn into a baking dish and finish in the oven. Serve juicy.

A little thick cream poured over the lentils during the last of the baking gives a nice crusty finish to the top.

Stewed Beans

Put red kidney and other beans with tough skins into boiling unsalted water and cook until nearly but not quite tender before adding the salt. Common white, Lima and all beans with tender skins must be put into boiling salted water at first. After a short time of rapid boiling let beans just simmer until tender, then add a little heavy cream and stand back where they will keep hot but will not boil, for a half hour or longer. A little raw nut butter may be cooked with them sometimes, or, cocoanut cream may be substituted for dairy cream.

Red kidney and some of the richer varieties may be served with boiled rice or in a mashed potato border.

Stewed Split Green Peas

Cook peas in salted water ¾ to 1 hour, add cream, heat and serve. Two parts stewed dried or green sweet corn to one of peas, may be added sometimes.

Flowering Beans

which have no equal in flavor, should be put into a large quantity of cold water, brought to the boiling point, boiled for 10 m., drained and put to cooking in boiling unsalted water. Add salt when nearly tender. Try them.

Stewed Beans in Bean Sauce

Mash a few of the stewed beans, add cream, or milk and butter with the water from the beans, more salt if necessary; blend well, pour over remainder of beans, heat. Serve on toast or as preferred.

Stewed Lentils—for people with good digestion

Cook lentils with raw nut butter, onion, garlic, browned flour and salt, until tender, rich and juicy. Serve without mashing with boiled rice or with some of the large sizes of macaroni, cooked.

Lentils may be cooked plain with salt and seasoned with cream or butter at the last.

Ragout of Chick Peas—especially delicious

Soak the peas over night. Cook and cook and cook in the water they were soaked in. When about half done add garlic, onion, a very little browned flour, tomato and salt. Serve with dressing, rice, dumplings—steamed or baked, or on toast.

Cabbage Leaf Rolls of Lentils

Boil cabbage leaves in salted water 5–8 m., or sprinkle with salt, pour boiling water over and let stand 20 m. to ½ hour. Refresh with cold water, drain.

Cook lentils till beginning to get tender but not until broken, drain and save water.

Cook rice in salted water until swollen but not soft (about 15 m.), drain if necessary and save the water. Mix lentils, rice, sage, chopped onion, raw nut butter and salt smooth with a little of the lentil water. Put a tablespoonful of this mixture in the center of each cabbage leaf. Fold the sides of the leaf over and roll into croquette shape. Pack close in layers in an oiled baking dish. (A flaring granite pan would do nicely.) Pour the rice water and lentil water over, with a little tomato if desired, and add enough boiling, slightly salted water to cover. Press a plate over the rolls, cover and bake ¾ to 1 hour in a moderate oven.

Drain, save liquid, remove plate, invert dish on to chop tray, leaving rolls in a mound. Thicken liquid slightly and turn over rolls or serve separately. Garnish mound.

Savory Hash

Equal quantities mashed lentils and boiled rice or chopped potato, seasoned with sage or onion. Add water or cream and salt. A few soaked and chopped dried olives may be added to the hash.

“The pea and the lentil are roasted in the Mediterranean countries and form there a regular article of food. In India peas are parched in hot sand. The chick-pea, as found by experiment, can be parched over coals in a few moments and thus be made edible. The taste reminds one of pop corn and roasted chestnuts. A slight bitterness is present, due, probably, to the skin which does not slip off in roasting as does the skin of the peanut. When this skin is removed before roasting, as it may be by a half hour’s soaking, the product is improved.

“Our common split pea is also palatable when parched. Parched peas are too hard for any but the strongest teeth, and, as used in India, they are ground and cooked after parching. The roasted chick-pea is also used as a substitute for coffee.”—Mary Hinman Abel, Farmers’ Bulletin No. 121, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.

EGGS

“Milk and eggs should not be classed with flesh meat. In some cases the use of eggs is beneficial.”

“While their use will become more and more unsafe as disease in animals increases, they should not be discarded entirely, when other foods to supply the needed elements cannot be obtained. Great care, however, should be taken to obtain milk from healthy cows and eggs from healthy fowls that are well fed and well cared for.”

Though eggs are, to some extent, stimulating, they do not contain the poisonous, excrementitious matter found in the flesh of dead animals; and no animal life is destroyed by their use.

As eggs, at present, form so important a part of the Vegetarian dietary, care should be taken to prepare them attractively and palatably.

Suggestions

Only strictly fresh eggs should be used for any purpose. There is danger in stale eggs.

The beaten raw egg is usually considered the most digestible, but there are some with whom lightly cooked eggs, as “Eggs in the Shell” agree best, and still others upon whom the soft yolk acts almost like poison, who can take omelets or scrambled eggs better, where the whites and yolks are thoroughly mingled (when cooked in not too large a quantity of oil).

Occasionally we find a person with whom the white of the egg disagrees; but very seldom.

Try taking the beaten white of an egg when you have a sour stomach. It is very soothing, also, to an irritated, sensitive stomach.

The white of an egg relieves the pain and prevents inflammation when applied quickly to a burn or scald.

A few sliced Brazil nuts or filberts or broken pieces of other nuts added to omelets or scrambled eggs aid mastication.

Salt should not be put into the water for poaching eggs; it renders them less digestible.

The cooked yolk of the egg is most digestible when cooked long enough to be dry and mealy, and the white when just jellied.

Never use milk in scrambled eggs or omelets. The casein of the milk hardens with cooking and renders the eggs tough; besides, the flavor of the eggs is much finer with water, and omelets are lighter. Cream spoils the flavor though it does not toughen the egg as does milk.

Always bake soufflés, puff omelets, cakes, all things to be made light with egg, slowly, and well from the bottom, so that they will stay up, after rising. Serve soufflés and puff omelets as soon as done.

For custards or any thickening, beat eggs just sufficiently to mingle, not to a foam.

Drop yolks of eggs in cold water to keep them from drying up when whites only are desired, and lift carefully from the water with a teaspoon when ready to use.

Stand yolks of eggs in half the shell on a wrinkled towel while waiting to prepare the whites for egg creams and other dishes.

When eggs are used freely in breads, cakes or puddings, other proteid foods will not be required, so they need not add to the expense of the meal.

Eggs In the Shell, or Curdled Eggs

The objection to the “soft boiled” egg is that the white is hard while the yolk is soft. To obviate this difficulty, put from 1 to 4 eggs into boiling water, 1 pint for each egg (cover if the dish is broad and shallow; if deep, leave uncovered), and let stand off from the fire for from 5 to 10 minutes according to the age of the eggs. Fresh laid eggs will cook in a shorter time than those several days old.

When a larger number of eggs is required, use a smaller proportion of water and let them stand on the back of the range where the water will be below the boiling point, for 5 minutes.

The most accurate way to obtain the desired result is to keep the water at the temperature (by the thermometer) of 168 to 170 degs. for 10 minutes; never allowing it to go above 170 nor below 168. The flavor of eggs cooked in this way is as much more delicate and delightful as is the consistency.

Roasted Eggs

Prick the shells of the eggs several times at the pointed end to prevent their bursting during cooking, set them on the large end in the hot sand or ashes under the camp fire, cover with leaves, hot sand and embers and cook for 10 minutes. When opened they will be smooth and of a velvety consistency. The same result may be obtained by putting eggs in the hot ashes under the grate of the kitchen range.

Poached Eggs

In an oiled, shallow pan have unsalted boiling water deep enough to be at least ½ in. above the eggs. Slide the broken eggs (only fresh laid eggs will poach nicely) into the perfectly boiling water, singly, or all from one large dish. Set pan on asbestos pad, cover and leave where the water will keep hot but will not boil, until the eggs are jelly-like. Remove carefully from the water with a small oiled skimmer and cut off the ragged edges with a biscuit cutter. Nothing is more offensive to the eye than a rough ragged poached egg.

Besides the usual toast, poached eggs may be served on cream toast, round slices of broiled trumese, on hash or creamed vegetables, or in shallow nests of boiled rice, mashed potato or spinach. Do not forget the garnish, as there is no place where a spray of parsley gives a better effect than on poached eggs.

Or, place oiled muffin rings in the pan of water and break an egg into each ring; take up with griddle cake turner and remove the ring.

The most nearly perfect of all, however, are eggs poached in the Buffalo Steam Poacher after the following method:

Have the lower part of the poacher ⅔ full of boiling water; set the well oiled poacher cups, each containing an egg, into their places; cover, let stand over the hot fire just a moment to allow the cover to become filled with steam, then set off from the fire. Leave, covered tight, for 6 m., when you will have eggs beautifully jellied all through, which (if the cups were oiled sufficiently will slide out on to whatever you wish to serve them on.)

Sometimes poach eggs in thin cream or in milk and butter, lay on to slices of toast, halves of biscuit or large thin wafers, and pour the cream around.

Poached Yolks of Eggs

Drop yolks, one at a time, into rapidly boiling water; keep them rolling, by rapid boiling, for at least 10 m.; then stand where they will boil more slowly till done, 20–25 m.

Poached Whites of Eggs

Break whites of eggs into thoroughly oiled cup or bowl, set in pan of hot water, with something to keep the dish from touching the bottom of the pan, and leave over the fire until the white is set.

Poached Beaten Eggs

Beat eggs to a foam with water, or any desired addition, and cook in steam poacher.

Creamed Eggs

Break eggs into a shallow baking dish, cover with thin cream and bake in a moderate oven; sprinkle with salt and dot with parsley leaves before serving. Or, bake or steam singly in ramekins or custard cups. Rye bread crumbs may be sprinkled in the bottom of the dish and over the eggs for variety, also ground pine nuts.

Rice with Poached Eggs

Steam rice in shallow dish; when done, make depressions for the required number of eggs; break one into each hollow, set dish in steamer for 2 m., or till whites are set, sprinkle with chopped parsley and send to table. Creamed potatoes may be substituted for rice sometimes, and either may be baked in the oven by covering with a pan.

Poached Eggs—Creamed Celery

Put nicely poached eggs on rounds of toast and arrange in a circle on a chop tray; fill the center with celery in cream sauce. Garnish with leaves of spinach.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Put eggs into warm water, bring to just below the boiling point, 200 degs. and keep at that temperature for about 30 m. Drop for a moment into cold water before removing the shells. Or, when necessary, boil rapidly for 10–20 m.

Italian Eggs

Cut hard boiled eggs in halves lengthwise, lay on to cutlets of corn meal porridge and pour Italian sauce around.

Creamed Eggs on Toast

Serve halves or quarters or slices of hard boiled eggs on toast with cream sauce, plain, or flavored with celery or onion, with chopped parsley sprinkled over. Plain or tomato drawn butter may be substituted for cream sauce.

Eggs and Macaroni

Cook macaroni in 2-in. lengths, in salted water with onion and garlic or garlic only. Drain and arrange in nest fashion on chop tray. Lay whole, shelled eggs in center, pour cream of tomato sauce around and over nest. Sprinkle with parsley. Drawn butter or cream sauce may be used.

Or, cut eggs in halves, crosswise, remove yolks and mix to a paste with melted butter, salt, onion juice and chopped parsley. Fill whites with the mixture and arrange on bed of macaroni. Pour sauce over. The roast gravy or some of the mushroom sauces may be used.

Eggs With Sauce

Hard boiled eggs, whole or in halves, may be served with cream, cream of tomato or mint sauce, or with sauce Imperial or fruit sauces or jellies; with mint sauce on broiled nutmese.

Stuffed Eggs

Cut hard boiled eggs in halves, lengthwise, remove yolks and add to them bread or roll crumbs soaked in cream, a little chopped parsley and salt. Rub all together until smooth, add raw egg (or yolk only) to bind, fill spaces in the whites of eggs and press the halves together. Add beaten whole egg to the mixture remaining, dip eggs into it, roll in crumbs and heat in oven or steamer, covered, until just warmed through. Serve with any desired sauce.

A little onion juice may be added to the yolk mixture, or nutmese or trumese cut very fine, with or without chopped mushrooms. Mashed potato may be substituted for bread crumbs.

The eggs may be served as a garnish for green peas or on slices of toast with or without sauce.

Eggs with Ripe Olives

Cut eggs in halves crosswise, remove yolks and mix with olives and dressing, return to the whites, stand on leaves of lettuce and sprinkle with parsley. Pour dressing around. Improved Mayonnaise dressing is suitable also. May garnish with whole olives.

Pickled Eggs

Pickle—2 parts each of lemon juice and water, ⅓ part sugar, salt and a little celery salt. Heat to boiling, pour over hard boiled eggs with a few slices of red beet. Let stand 24 hours.

Eggs à la Salade

Cut hard boiled eggs in halves lengthwise, remove yolks, rub through wire strainer and mix to a smooth paste with Improved Mayonnaise dressing (flavored with onion or garlic if desired), fill the whites and press the halves together. Lay in nests of shredded lettuce dotted with the dressing.

Or, rub whites through strainer, place around the inside of nests of shredded lettuce; mix yolks with dressing, shape into small eggs and place in nests.

Shirred Eggs

Butter and crumb individual dishes, break 1 or 2 eggs into each, set over pan of hot water in oven and bake until eggs are set. The dish may be rubbed with a cut clove of garlic.

If preferred, sprinkle oiled griddle with crumbs, set buttered muffin rings on it, pressing them down firmly, and drop an egg into each ring. Bake. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, serve on toast with any desired sauce.

Scrambled Eggs.

Put oil in pan and heat very hot but not smoking. Turn in eggs which have been broken and salted but not beaten. As they set, draw carefully from the bottom of the pan with a spoon without turning over. When all are set but not hard, slide quickly (leaving the shining side up) on to a plate or platter. The dish must be all ready, as a moment’s delay will overcook the eggs.

Another Way—Take from 1 teaspn. to 1 tablespn. of water (never milk) for each egg; beat, and scramble as above.

Do not stir, just draw the eggs from the bottom of the pan. Cream may be used but the flavor is inferior to the water scramble. Nut cream may be used instead of water.

To Scramble a Large Quantity of Eggs

Break 3 or 4 dozens of eggs into an oiled agate or aluminum kettle, add salt and water, beat slightly and set kettle into hot water. Stir occasionally at first, then more often as eggs begin to set.

★ Tomato Scrambled Eggs

Take ¾–1 teaspn. thick tomato pulp to each egg, with salt. May flavor with onion.

★ Sour Milk Scrambled Eggs

Various Scrambles

Simmer sliced celery or onion in oil a few minutes before adding eggs. Or, add asparagus tips, green peas, mushrooms, a little boiled rice or a few broken nuts or bits of trumese or nutmese to eggs before scrambling.

★ Cream Sauce Scramble

Add 3 eggs to each half-cup of hot cream sauce; mix until done. Garnish with sliced tomato. Mushrooms may be added to the cream sauce before the eggs. Any desired sauce may be used.

Florentine Scrambled Eggs

Spread nicely scrambled eggs on rounds of moistened toast and place a broiled or baked half of tomato on top. Garnish with parsley or spinach leaves or with lettuce and fringed celery.

Egg Croquettes

The whites of eggs may be rubbed through a wire strainer or a ricer. Make sauce the usual way; cool; add the eggs and shape into croquettes, egg, crumb and bake. A few cooked chopped fresh or dried mushrooms may be added with the eggs.

Egg and Rice Croquettes

OMELETS

The making of an omelet is very simple, requiring just a little practice, and it is by far the most attractive way of serving eggs.

It is better to make several small omelets of 3 or 4 eggs each than one very large one. Six eggs is the most that can be handled at all properly.

Use 1 teaspn. to 1 tablespn. of water to each egg. The water may be omitted entirely.

Omelet pans should not be used for anything else. To keep them smooth, rub with soft pieces of paper or a cloth after using, and occasionally scour them with salt. Do not wash them. Keep in warm, dry place.

Plain French Omelet

Beat. Have butter or oil in pan to well cover the bottom. Heat hot, but not to smoking or brownness. Turn the eggs in and with a spatula (or a thin bladed knife) lift the set portions, allowing the liquid part to run underneath. When all is set, jelly-like, not hard, roll quickly from one side into the form, as one writer says, of an “oval cushion.” Hold omelet for a moment over the fire to take a delicate cream color underneath. Turn on to a hot platter, the under side up, garnish and serve.

If the oven is just right, setting the pan in the oven a moment before or after folding puffs the omelet nicely.

The plain omelet may be varied by mixing some garnish with the eggs and spreading it over the top before folding, or serving it around the omelet on the platter.

When the material is to be folded in, leave the center of the omelet a little thinner.

Omelet Variations

Asparagus—Season asparagus tips with butter and salt; lay between folds of omelet and on the top, or, pile at one side of the omelet. The butter may be omitted and a rich cream or egg cream sauce poured over the tips and around the omelet.

★ Banana Cream—Heat, do not boil cream and sugar; add banana cut into small dice; cover omelet (which has had a little sugar beaten with the eggs), fold, serve with wafers. Do not heat the cream after adding the banana.

Corn, a great favorite—Use 1½ tablespn. nicely seasoned, rather dry stewed corn (no water) for each egg. Mix well and cook as plain omelet. Use 1 tablespn. grated fresh corn for each egg. Creamed dried corn may be used.

Crumb—2 eggs, 2 tablespns. bread crumbs, ¼ cup milk, salt. Beat eggs together or separately.

Fine Herbs—Finely-chopped fresh thyme, tarragon and chives; or, parsley, thyme and marjoram, beaten with the eggs. Lemon butter sauce may be spread over the omelet after it is on the platter.

Jelly—Spread with jelly before folding; or garnish with spoonfuls; or unmold a small flat mold of jelly beside the omelet on the platter and serve with it. Garnish with geranium or spinach leaves.

★ Mushroom—Cook mushrooms, fresh, in their own juices, in a double boiler with butter and salt. Cover half the omelet before folding and garnish the folded omelet with some of the most perfect mushrooms. Pour the liquid around. Chopped mushrooms may be used on the inside if prepared in the same way.

★ Another—Broil the mushrooms, pour melted butter over and use in the same way as above.

Nut—Add a few broken or coarse chopped nuts to egg mixture and garnish top with halves of nuts.

Onion—Add grated or finely-sliced onion and chopped parsley to egg mixture. Cook omelet very soft. Or, simmer sliced onions in oil till tender (not brown), add egg mixture and cook. Or, simmer onions in oil, drain oil into omelet pan, cook omelet and cover with onions before folding.

Onion and Tomato—Simmer onions in oil, add a little drained, stewed tomato and salt, heat and serve around omelet.

Oyster Plant—Cover omelet with stewed oyster plant in slices with a little of the liquor seasoned with butter, cream or cream sauce, before folding.

Parsley—Chopped parsley in omelet mixture and omelet served with parsley butter.

Peas-green—Same as oyster plant omelet. The dried chick peas, cooked and richly seasoned as on p. 194, make a delightful accompaniment.

Peas-mashed—1 tablespn. of mashed peas and ½ tablespn. of water to each egg. Salt.

Prune—Prunes stewed in a small quantity of water so that the syrup is rich; pitted, quartered and folded into omelet.

Rice—Mix boiled rice with eggs, cook soft, serve with tomato sauce if desired.

Tomato—Drain stewed tomatoes, season well with butter and salt, or salt only. Serve in and around omelet. Or, thick tomato pulp may be added to the egg mixture. Serve omelet plain or with cream sauce.

Trumese Salad Entrée—Lay strips of trumese salad entrée on half of omelet; fold, turn on to platter, pour dressing around, garnish with parsley or spinach leaves.

Omelet with Okra in Almond Cream Sauce—delicious

¾ tablespn. almond butter, ⅓ cup water, salt, mix, boil; add ⅔ cup drained stewed okra, heat. Serve in and around 3-egg omelet.

Vegetable Pudding Omelet

Put hot creamed vegetables—asparagus, peas, peas and carrot, or any preferred, in bottom of pudding dish. Cover with omelet mixture, bake in moderate oven till eggs are just creamy and delicately browned; serve at once.

Puff Omelet

Mix yolks, salt and water; beat the whites to a stiff froth with a little salt, and chop into them the yolk mixture. Turn into a hot well oiled pan and set on an asbestos pad back from the direct heat of the fire. Cover and cook until the top will not stick when lightly touched with the finger. It should take from 15 to 20 m. If cooked too rapidly the omelet will fall. Fold, or slide on to a hot dish without folding. Serve plain or with any desired accompaniment.

If the oven is not too hot, the omelet may be baked, but it should be set on something to keep it from the bottom of the oven and may need to have a pan turned over it. May score across the top with a hot iron when omelet is not folded.

One egg only, makes a nice little omelet. It may be baked in a large muffin ring (or two small) on a griddle and served on a thin slice of toast, with or without cream sauce.

These omelets are delightful and one requires but little practice to attain perfection in them. They will admit of the same variations as the French omelet.

Fruit juices with a little sugar may be substituted for the water sometimes. The water may be omitted.

A delightful omelet may be made by mixing 2 teaspns. of pine nut, almond or steamed nut butter with the water.

Foam Omelet

Mix beaten yolks with ⅓ less water than for the puff omelet; cook until delicately jellied, spread stiffly-beaten whites near the edge of half the omelet; set on top grate of oven to warm. Fold and serve at once. Omelet may be dotted with jelly before putting the whites on. Half the beaten whites may be mixed with yolks as in puff omelets.

Savory Puff Omelet

Orange Omelet

Beat yolks, add 2 teaspns. of sugar, then orange juice and then the stiffly-beaten whites. Cook, spread half of omelet with orange pulp sprinkled with sugar, fold, serve.

Another

Add orange juice and grated rind with a little vanilla to yolks, then beaten whites as usual. When baked, fold and dust with powdered sugar.

Grape Omelet

Use grape juice instead of water in puff omelet. Fold and dust with powdered sugar.

Unroasted Nut Butter Omelet. Choice

Mix nut butter, water, yolks and a little salt; add stiffly-beaten whites and cook as puff omelet. 1½ tablespn. of cooked cream of raw nut butter may be used if more convenient.

Almond Butter Omelet

1 teaspn. almond butter and ½ tablespn. water to each egg; combine and cook as above.

BREAD AND BAKED OMELETS

Bread and baked omelets may be served with gravies, sweet sauces or jelly, or with green peas or asparagus, or may have corn, peas, etc., mixed with omelet before baking. They may be made of milk, cream or water. Water makes the lightest and most delicate omelets. Stale, not dry, crumbs are used.

Baked Omelet

Beat all together or beat the whites of eggs separately, and bake in a slow oven until set. Fold or serve without folding. A few chopped nuts may be added when desired.

Bread Omelet

Pour 1 cup boiling water over 1 cup bread crumbs; let stand until soft. Beat 6 eggs just enough to mix them, add moistened bread crumbs, salt and a little chopped parsley. Turn into hot oiled omelet pan and bake on top of stove or in oven. This omelet may be baked in muffin rings on a griddle as may many omelets. Try molasses sauce with it.

Bread and Milk Omelet

Soak 1 cup of bread crumbs in 1 cup of sweet milk; add yolks of 3 eggs with salt, then the stiffly-beaten whites. Cook as puff omelet. Serve with or without jelly in the center.

German Crumb Omelet

Beat yolks of eggs, add corn starch blended with water, then crumbs, salt, onion and parsley. Chop in stiffly-beaten whites. Bake in oven.

Miss Chaffee’s Cracker Omelet

⅔ cup of cracker crumbs, fill cup with milk; when crumbs are soft, add well-beaten yolks of 3 eggs, then stiffly-beaten whites.

Bread Omelet Pie

Soak 1 cup soft bread crumbs in 1 cup hot milk or water, add 1 tablespoon of oil or butter, 1 teaspn. each chopped onion and parsley, salt, and 2 well beaten eggs. Have hot, in baking dish, a thin layer of nicely seasoned drained tomato, or trumese seasoned with oil and lemon juice, or any desired filling; cover with the omelet and bake until just set.

Breaded Tomato Omelet

¾ cup of crumbs soaked in 1 cup strained tomato. Add yolks of 3 eggs, 2 or 3 tablespns. cream, salt, chopped parsley and stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Bake.

Corn Starch Omelet. Extra Good

Beat yolks of eggs, corn starch and salt together; add milk gradually; beat and chop in the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Cook as puff omelet.

White Sauce Omelet. Unequaled

Heat butter, add flour, then hot milk and salt; pour over beaten yolks of eggs, add sugar, fold in stiffly-beaten whites; turn in to well oiled omelet pan and cook as puff omelet.

This recipe is copied almost verbatim from “A Book for a Cook,” by permission of the Pillsbury Flour Mills Company.

Omelet Soufflé

Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar, add the lemon juice, chop in stiffly-beaten whites, heap in buttered baking dish; bake in slow oven till set. The yolks of 4 eggs only may be used.

★ Omelet Soufflé No. 2

When partially cool add yolks of eggs, then the stiffly-beaten whites with salt; bake in a slow oven; serve plain or with maple syrup, honey, or hard sauce.

Egg Timbales

Beat eggs, salt and onion juice until blended only; add liquid gradually. Divide equally among 6 well buttered timbale molds (common cups will serve the purpose). Stand in a pan half filled with hot water and bake in a moderate oven about 20 m., or till firm to the touch. Turn out carefully on heated platter and pour bread or tomato sauce around. 5 or 6 eggs are sometimes used.

A teaspn. of chopped parsley with or without onion, a few peas or a little stewed corn may be added to eggs before putting into cups.

Rice and Egg Timbales

Slice eggs and chop a little, leaving coarse; mix with rice, celery, parsley, oil and salt and press into well oiled mold; set in pan of water in oven, cover and bake ¾–1 hour. Unmold and serve with cream sauce. Celery may be omitted and creamed celery or creamed peas served with the loaf. Individual molds may be used.

Scalloped Eggs and Potatoes

Put alternate layers of sliced potatoes and eggs in serving dish, sprinkle with salt, pour white sauce (with parsley stirred through it) over. Cover with oiled crumbs and bake. Sage, savory, onion or celery salt may be added.

★ Scalloped Eggs and Celery

Slice and cook celery and arrange in layers with the cream sauce and sliced hard boiled eggs, in oiled baking dish with the sauce on top. Sprinkle with oiled crumbs, bake.

Eggs in Perfection

Poach yolk of egg and rub through coarse strainer; beat white stiff with a trifle of salt and place in mound on a gilt edged plate or small platter; dot with riced yolk, sprinkle with salt, press slightly salted, green tinted, whipped cream through pastry tube in small roses on to the top. Serve immediately with wafers or long strips of zwieback.

This dish gives both the yolk and white in their most digestible form. A little thick tomato pulp may be added to the white. The cream may be dropped on with a teaspoon.

UNCOOKED EGG DISHES

Egg creams, in their great variety, are the most delightful ways of serving uncooked eggs, both for desserts and for invalids.

For preparing them, the ingredients and all utensils and dishes should be as nearly ice cold as possible.

The white of the egg should be beaten very stiff. The milk and cream should have been sterilized.

The creams must be prepared just at the time of serving as they become liquid and lose their creamy consistency very soon.

Set the glass or dish of cream on to a small plate with a doiley, and if possible lay a delicate flower or leaf beside it.

The recipes are given for one egg but several may be prepared at once, when required, by using a cake bowl for beating.

Lemon juice added to the white renders it stiffer, but other juices and liquids soften it, so small quantities of them should be used and they should be mixed in very lightly.

High colored fruits and juices should be poured between layers of the egg, not mixed with it.

Lemon Egg Cream

Sprinkle a trifle of salt on to the white of an egg in a bowl and beat with a revolving egg beater to a very stiff froth; then add 1 tablespn. of sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Remove the egg beater, chop in lightly 2 teaspns. of lemon juice and remove ⅓ of the beaten white to a cold plate. Add the yolk and another teaspoon of lemon juice to the white remaining in the bowl. Chop them in lightly and quickly, not mixing very thoroughly. Drop this egg mixture into a cold glass and on top of it lay the white which was taken out. Serve at once.

All of the white may be beaten with the yolk if preferred. The whites of 2 eggs and yolk of one may be used.

A company of ladies to whom I once served this cream as a dessert pronounced it “the most delicate boiled custard” they had ever tasted.

Raspberry Egg Cream

Beat the white of 1 egg to a stiff froth with 1 teaspn. of sugar, chop in the yolk with 1 tablespn. of cream, drop a spoonful or two into a glass, then pour over a little rich red raspberry juice or drop on a few crushed or stewed berries. Continue this until all the egg is used. Serve at once.

A little lemon juice may be mixed with the raspberry if desired. The cream may be omitted. A part of the white may be left for the top. Strawberry, grape, currant and other juices may be substituted for raspberry. Pineapple and orange juices can be mixed with the egg: they are improved by combining with lemon juice.

Banana Egg Cream

Combine 1 or 2 tablespns. of fresh banana pulp and 1 tablespn. of cream with a beaten egg, leaving a part of the white on top if desired.

Vanilla Egg Cream

Beat the white of an egg with 1–2 teaspns. of sugar, reserving a little for the top; chop in the yolk with 1 tablespn. of cream and a delicate flavoring of vanilla; serve in a glass, with white on top of yolk mixture.

Or, for a change, beat the white and yolk separately, add half the sugar and cream to each, flavor yolk with vanilla, pile white in a dainty glass dish and pour yolk mixture over it. A little of the white may be chopped with the yolk.

Almond Egg Cream

Use 1 teaspn. almond butter, mixed to a thick cream with water, in place of dairy cream, in preceding recipe. Vanilla may be omitted.

Maple or Honey Egg Cream

Beat the white of an egg, add ⅔–1 tablespn. of maple syrup or of honey (malt extract sometimes); chop in yolk and if desired, 1 tablespn. of cream.

Caramel Egg

Beat white of 1 egg, add 2 teaspns. of sugar, beat, chop in yolk; pour over, stirring, the hot liquid made from boiling 1½–2 tablespns. of cereal coffee in ¾ cup of water to which 1 teaspn. of melted cocoa butter has been added. Liquid may be added cold, with a few drops of vanilla instead of cocoa butter.

Egg and Milk

Take 1–2 teaspns. of sugar and 3 tablespns. of milk, with the beaten egg in vanilla cream.

Egg and Hot Milk

Beat whole egg with 1–2 teaspns. of sugar until creamy; add a few drops of vanilla and pour over ½ cup boiling milk, stirring.

Carbonated Egg

Beat an egg, all together, with salt, add 1–3 tablespns. of cream and as much carbonated water as desired.

MUSHROOMS

The delightful flavors of mushrooms make them a valuable adjunct to the vegetarian dietary, whether or not they are classed with meat foods.

No one need to be in ignorance as to the edible ones with the many reliable books now published in regard to all varieties. But if you have not studied the subject, consult some one who is a judge before you use those you have gathered. Or, use only canned ones or those sold in the markets. Many cases of sickness have come from using mushrooms partially decayed, rather than from poisonous varieties; so be sure to reject those not entirely sound.

Mushrooms will not admit of many combinations without losing character. The simplest ways of preparing them are the best. It is a waste of time to peel any of the varieties except the puff ball.

Overcooking toughens mushrooms. 5–20 minutes is sufficient time for any, except, perhaps, when cooked in a double boiler, then a half hour may not be too long.

Cream with water develops the flavors better than milk. Butter when used gives the same result.

When necessary to wash mushrooms, rinse up and down in cold water, rub the caps quickly, shake and drain in a colander. Often they will require rubbing only, with a soft flannel. Always cut off a thin slice from the end of the stalk and throw it away.

When the caps only are to be used in a dish, chop the stems and imperfect caps and cook for soups and sauces. Mushrooms are not expensive, as a few fresh or dried ones go a long way for flavoring. Unless plentiful, do not use mushrooms in timbales or roasts but in the sauces, where they will count. In the recipes, fresh ones are meant unless canned ones are mentioned.

Broiled Mushrooms

Remove stems, place in fine wire broiler, turn the gills first to the fire for 5 m., then the other side. Put a small piece of butter in the center of each mushroom, sprinkle with salt, broil 5 m. Lay carefully on to pieces of toast or thin toasted wafers or slices of broiled trumese, skin side up, and serve at once. Melted butter may be poured over mushrooms on toast instead of putting butter into them while broiling. Caps are sometimes dipped in salt and olive oil and broiled after standing in a cold place for an hour. The heat should not be too intense for broiling.

Baked Mushrooms

Cut off part of stems, lay tops down in shallow baking pan, dust with salt, put a small piece of butter in each mushroom, bake 20 m. in hot oven. Serve in pan, or on toast with sauce from pan poured over.

Steamed Mushrooms

Put mushrooms in saucepan or double boiler with salt and no water. Cover close, cook 20–30 m. Add hot cream or butter mixed with a little flour, heat. Serve on toast, cutlets of corn meal porridge, rice cutlets or slices of broiled trumese. Butter, 2 tablespns. to the pound of mushrooms, may be added when put to cooking and no milk or cream used.

Stewed Mushrooms

Cut mushrooms into sixths or eighths or slices. Cook in small quantity of water 10–15 m., add cream, or milk and butter, enough to moisten toast. Heat, serve on toast.

★ Creamed Mushrooms

Stew mushrooms in a larger quantity of water, add cream, and thicken to the consistency of very heavy cream. Serve in dainty shells of pastry crust, or on toast or wafers, surrounded with green peas or not.

Mushroom Stew

Add cooked fresh or dried mushrooms to thickened consommé. Serve over rice or macaroni or in rice border.

Stewed Canned Mushrooms

Drain mushrooms, if large cut into quarters and put into rich egg or cream sauce without further cooking.

Canned mushrooms (except home canned) are esteemed more for the feeling between the teeth than for their flavor and are at their best in pies, scallops and creams.

Dried Mushrooms

Wash dried mushrooms well, soak 4–12 hours in water or milk, simmer for 5 m. only, in the liquid in which they were soaked. Use in soups, sauces or stews, in small quantities, as the flavor is very rich.

Pickled Mushrooms

Soak mushrooms pickled in salt, for 24 hours, changing the water several times; drain, and if to be cooked in batter dry between the folds of a towel. Use cutlets of trumese batter with them, or with soaked dried mushrooms.

Puff Balls

Pare and cut puff ball mushrooms into half-inch slices. Simmer in butter or olive oil, with or without dipping in egg, and season with salt. Or, stew and serve as other mushrooms.

Mushrooms in Rice Rings

Shape cups of steamed or boiled rice in muffin rings, fill with creamed mushrooms or Boundary Castle sauce, protose and mushrooms à la crême, thin, or with mushroom stew.

Sister McBurnie’s Chop Seuey

Mushrooms à la Crême

Use all mushrooms in recipe for celery and mushrooms à la crême p. 115, or all fresh mushrooms in trumese and mushrooms à la crême p. 165.

Fresh Mushrooms—Under Glass Globe with Cream

Cover the bottom of a porcelain dish with toast. On the toast pile mushrooms, gills down, several rows high, sprinkling with salt. Pour ⅓–½ cup of cream on to the mushrooms, cover with the globe or bell and simmer on the top of the stove 20–30 m.

The cover is removed after the plate is placed before the guest. This quantity is served for luncheon when the dish is the principal one of the meal. For a single course, a smaller portion of toast would be required and not more than 4 or 5 mushroom caps.

Mushroom Timbales

Simmer onion in butter, add parsley, flour, and milk or consommé. Remove from fire, add yolks of eggs beaten with the tablespn. of milk, salt and mushrooms. Fill small molds which have been garnished as desired, bake in pan of water 20 m. or until set. Unmold on to rounds of toast, surround with thick mushroom sauce.

Mushroom and Oyster Plant Pie

Mix the flour and butter, pour boiling water over, stirring, add cream and salt.

Put cooked oyster plant and mushrooms in pieces (⅔ oyster plant, ⅓ mushrooms), 1 pt. in all, into baking dish. Pour sauce over, cover with universal or pastry crust and proceed as in trumese pie.

Substitute stewed potatoes for oyster plant with either crust, or cover with a thin crust of mashed lentils, or use celery in place of oyster plant and cover with a rice crust.

★ Cream of Fresh Mushroom Soup

Cook chopped imperfect caps and stems of mushrooms in water 5–10 m. Add more water if necessary and heavy cream; thicken with flour to the consistency of heavy cream. Add salt and a few cooked caps if desired, or, from 1–3 caps may be placed in each dish when the soup is served.

★ Boundary Castle Soup

Add sufficient water with salt to Boundary Castle sauce to make of the consistency of soup. Very delicious.

STUFFINGS AND DRESSINGS

The quantity of liquid, if any, must be determined by the purpose the dressing is to be used for and the dryness of the ingredients. As a rule, dressings are better without eggs.

Dressings may sometimes be put over the top of suitable meat pies for the crust.

They may also be put into the bottom of a well oiled tin or pudding dish with slices of or minced nut meat or mashed legumes on top, baked and inverted on a platter or chop tray for serving; garnished with halves of nut meats, accompanied of course with a suitable gravy.

Whole pine nuts, or broken nuts of different kinds may sometimes be used in stuffings.

Simple Dressing

Dip slices of stale bread into salted hot water quickly. Lay them in a baking tin and sprinkle delicately with powdered leaf sage or savory. When a sufficient number of layers is prepared, sprinkle with crumbs and a little more water if necessary. Bake in a quick oven about 20 m., or until browned over the top. Serve on a platter with some ragout over it.

Or, bake in a pudding dish and send to the table to be served with the meat dish with gravy.

Savory Dressing

Crumbs, egg or not, butter or oil, parsley, thyme, sage, summer savory, onion juice and salt.

Danish Dressing

Onion and Parsley Stuffing

A few sage leaves may be substituted for the parsley for a sage and onion stuffing.

Celery Stuffing

Nut and Raisin Dressing

To bread crumbs, melted butter, thyme, sage, grated onion and salt, add a few seeded raisins and chopped English walnuts.

Vegetable Stuffing

½ cup each mashed green peas, onions in oil, stewed celery, stewed carrot and finely-sliced raw celery, salt, 1 or 2 eggs.

Chestnut Stuffing

Black Walnut and Potato Stuffing

MEAT AND VEGETABLE GRAVIES AND SAUCES

Suggestions

The sauce should be a little more salt than the food with which it is to be served.

No positive general rule can be given for thickening, as flour varies and different kinds of liquid require different proportions. Also the evaporation of liquids, in different quantities, varies.

About one tablespoon of flour may be calculated for each cup of water; but for milk, cream or tomato that amount is quite too much.

Do not make sauces too thick. A sauce should not be a paste. The consistency of medium cream is about right for nearly all; some should be thinner, and a few slightly thicker.

A Roux is a mixture of oil or butter, and flour, heated together for thickening sauces. It is used in the following manner;

Heat the oil, without browning, in a saucepan; add the flour, rub smooth with wire batter whip, then add liquid, hot, stirring until smooth. The sauce should come to the boiling point only and be removed at once from the fire as otherwise the oil will separate.

Adding flour to hot oil cooks it more perfectly than a boiling liquid and obviates the raw flour taste.

1 Plain Nut Sauce

1 tablespn. raw nut butter, 1 pt. water. Mix butter with water, boil ½ hr., add salt with water to make 1½–2 cups; thicken slightly.

Serve with nut and legume dishes, over boiled rice and with some vegetables. Steamed nut butter may be used instead of raw.

2 Nut Onion Sauce

3 Nut and Tomato Sauce

Use ⅓ tomato instead of all water in plain sauce. A little browned flour sometimes.

4 Nut Gravy for Roasts

Cook browned flour, onion, garlic, bayleaf and a very little tomato with plain sauce. A little sage occasionally.

5 Nut and Tomato Bisque Sauce

May use steamed or roasted nut butter, nutmese, or the water from boiled peanuts with a little lemon juice, for nut sauces.

6 Simple Brown Sauce

7 Brown Onion Sauce

Simmer without browning sliced or chopped onion in oil, before adding flour to brown sauce.

8 Savory Sauce

9 Roast Gravy—par excellence

A little tomato, onion, a trifle of thyme and bay leaf with nut cream in brown sauce. Simmer, strain.

10 Consommé Sauce

Consommé with more browned flour and tomato or onion, thickened. Roux may be used.

11 Celery Consommé Sauce

Add celery to hot oil, then flour and hot consommé with more salt if necessary.

★ 12 Everybody’s Favorite

Throw crushed or finely-chopped garlic into oil and proceed as for sauce with roux, adding parsley last, of course. The sauce is nice without the parsley. Raw or steamed nut butter may be used.

13 Almond and Tomato Cream Sauce—starchless

This sauce heated with stewed okra makes a delightful omelet sauce, or side dish, or dressing for trumese, toast or rice.

★ 14 Old Fashioned Milk Gravy

Blend the flour with cold water or milk, stir into boiling milk, boil up and add salt. Or, put 1–1½ tablespn. of oil in a sauce pan; when just hot add the flour, then hot milk, stir until smooth and add salt.

★ 15 Sour Cream Gravy

Mix cream and flour, pour boiling water over, stirring constantly, to make of the desired consistency; boil thoroughly, add salt, serve. The gravy may be flavored.

16 Cream or White Sauce

Follow directions for sauce with roux. Or, heat milk, without oil, in an oiled frying pan, to just boiling; add slowly, stirring, flour blended with water or milk. Boil up well, remove from fire, add salt.

For vegetables the sauce should be thinner. A teaspoonful of sugar improves the flavor with carrots and turnips.

★ 17 Tomato Cream Sauce

18 Cream of Tomato Sauce

19 Cream of Tomato Sauce—Sister Howard’s

CREAM SAUCE VARIATIONS

20 Mint Cream—Add chopped mint to cream sauce. Use for green peas, mashed dry green peas, poached or hard boiled eggs and other dishes.

21 Cream of Celery—Use water in which celery was cooked, with cream, or milk and oil or butter, for cream sauce, and add stewed celery.

22 Cream of Onion—Add stewed, crushed, boiled onions to cream sauce. Or, add cooked onions to roux in pan, then add milk. Or, simmer without browning, chopped raw onions in oil, before adding flour.

24 Cream of Spinach—Pour cream sauce gradually stirring, into macerated, cooked spinach; heat; strain through wire strainer if necessary.

26 Golden—Mashed or grated cooked carrots in cream sauce, with or without onion and garlic.

27 Brown Cream—Use 1–1½ (according to brownness) tablespn. browned flour in cream sauce recipe.

29 Egg Cream No. 2—1 tablespn. butter, 1 teaspn. flour, 1 cup milk, 2 beaten eggs, salt, 1–2 tablespns. lemon juice if desired, chopped parsley.

30 Egg Cream-non-starch—For stewed cucumbers, oyster plant, asparagus and carrots. To each pint of vegetables, ½ tablespn. butter, ½ cup thin cream or rich milk, yolk of 1 egg, salt. Richer cream may be used and butter omitted. Use the yolks of 3 eggs only for a pint of cream.

32 Bread Sauce

Soak crumbs in half the milk in double boiler till soft; beat until smooth; add salt and the remainder of the milk, heat, strain through coarse strainer, if necessary. If the milk is not rich a little butter may be added just before serving. Browned coarse crumbs (fine croutons) may be sprinkled over the dish with which the sauce is served.

Flavor sauce with onion, onion and sage, chives, celery salt, or onion and parsley, sometimes.

33 Bread and Bean Sauce—Sister Elsie’s

34 Drawn Butter

Rub butter and flour together, pour boiling water over, heat to boiling, remove from fire and add salt; or, follow directions for sauce with roux.

VARIATIONS OF DRAWN BUTTER

36 Tomato—Use ¼–½ cup of strained tomato, and water to make 1¼ cup, in drawn butter. Flavor with onion if desired.

38 Sour—½ to 1 tablespn. lemon juice to each cup of liquid in drawn butter.

39 Onion—Add crushed boiled onions to drawn butter. Use sometimes 1¼–1½ tablespn. browned flour No. 1, instead of white flour. May simmer (without browning) sliced or chopped raw onion in butter before adding flour.

40 Drawn Butter Sauce

41 Emerald Parsley Sauce

Add 3–4 tablespns. chopped parsley to drawn butter of 1 pt. of water. 2 or 3 teaspns. lemon juice may be added, also a little mint and sugar sometimes.

A nice way to prepare the parsley is to wash it well and boil 10 m. in salted water, drain, chop and bruise to a pulp. Milk with less flour may be used for the sauce.

42 Tarragon Sauce

Substitute finely-chopped fresh tarragon for parsley in preceding recipe. Use a little lemon juice if desired.

★ 43 Sauce for Meat and Vegetable Pies

Rub together 5 tablespns. oil or melted butter and 5 to 6 tablespns. of flour; add 1 qt. boiling water, boil well, add salt. Or, make as sauce with roux.

Allow a few slices of onion to stand in sauce for 10 m., then strain and it is nice for the table for any use.

44 Gravy for Rhode Island Johnny Cakes

45 Cream of Lentil Gravy

Thicken milk with flour blended with water and combine with lentils; heat. Add finely-sliced celery and chopped parsley for some dishes.

46 Nut and Lentil Gravy

Mix nut butter with water and add with tomato to mashed lentils. Heat to boiling, strain through fine strainer, add salt.

47 Swiss Lentil Gravy

Heat lentils, browned flour and onion together for 10 m. Thicken with white flour stirred smooth with water. Add salt, strain, reheat.

48 Vegetable Gravy

Simmer vegetables and bay leaf in oil for 10 m. Do not brown. Add brown and white flour, tomato and water; boil. Remove bay leaf; add salt, thyme and parsley; serve. Celery tops may be used instead of sliced stalks. The gravy may be strained.

49 Olive Sauce

Prepare sauce in the usual manner and add sliced or chopped olives just before serving.

50 Olive and Nut Butter Sauce

Make thin cream of roasted nut butter, boil up, add chopped or sliced ripe olives and salt if necessary. A little tomato may be used.

For a cold sauce, stir nut butter smooth with tomato or water and add chopped olives.

51 Cream of Fresh Mushroom Sauce

Cook chopped stems and imperfect mushrooms in salted water for 10 m. Add water. Thicken a little more than for an ordinary sauce. Add a little heavy cream, heat.

Mushrooms may be cooked for 20 m. in milk and butter in a double boiler or on back of range.

52 Mushroom and Asparagus Sauce

Use asparagus liquor for part of the liquid in the preceding recipe and add a few cooked asparagus tips.

53 Boundary Castle (Fresh Mushroom) Sauce

For timbales, mashed lentils, macaroni, rice, potatoes or toast, broiled trumese, croquettes, patties and corn meal porridge.

Simmer but do not brown onion in oil for 10 m., add browned and white flour mixed, then tomato, with water for thick sauce. Now add with their liquor, the mushrooms which have been cooked for 10 m. and water to make of the right consistency, with the salt and parsley.

When served with timbales decorated with truffles, use juice of truffles in sauce.

54 Italian (Dried Mushroom) Sauce

Heat oil, add onion and garlic, simmer, add flour, then liquid, and lastly the mushrooms which have been soaked for 2 hours, chopped, and cooked for 5 m. in the water in which they were soaked. Serve sometimes over split biscuit, on a platter, with slices of broiled trumese on top, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

55 Canned Mushroom Sauce

★ 56 Dried Mushroom Brown Sauce

May add a few chopped dried mushrooms cooked 5 m. after soaking 4–5 hours. A little lemon juice may be added if liked.

★ 57 Sauce Imperial

Cook all except flour, oil and parsley together for 20 m. Strain, heat oil, add flour and the strained tomato mixture. Then add 1¼ to 1½ teaspn. salt (or enough to destroy the acid taste of the tomato), and the parsley.

★ 58 Chili Sauce

Cook tomato, onion and bay leaf together until onions are tender; then add dry ingredients (which have been mixed together), and the lemon juice. Boil up well, put into jars and seal. Thyme and bay leaf may omitted.

★ 59 Tomato Catsup

Slice celery very fine, add with sugar and salt to the boiling tomatoes; cook until the celery is tender and the sauce rather thick.

60 Other Catsups

Very delightful sauces may be made by cooking a consommé, the nut French soup and other suitable soups down thick.

61 Peas and Carrot Sauce

Add cooked carrots cut into dice or fancy shapes, and cooked green peas, to thickened white soup stock, p. 77. They may be added to cream sauce or drawn butter.

62 Pink Sauce

Fruit color, or rich red beet juice in drawn butter or white sauce. Sauce may be flavored with onion, garlic and lemon juice or with celery.

63 Apple and Onion Sauce

Simmer chopped onion in oil 5–10 m. Add thick slices of apple with salt and a very little water. Cover close; cook until apples are tender. Serve with broiled trumese or nutmese, or with omelets or scrambled eggs.

64 Another

Apples in quarters, not pared, grated onion, a little tomato, sugar, salt and celery salt, water to cook apples tender. Rub through colander.

65 Currant Sauce

Cook onion in water, with salt and sugar. When tender, add currants and celery salt; cook until currants are broken but not till the seeds are hard. Put into jars boiling hot. Seal.

66 Currant Sauce No. 2

Simmer all together until currants are broken. Seal in jars. Or, cook celery in salted water, add currants and sugar, and cook until currants are broken only.

67 Baked Gooseberry Sauce

68 Jellied Chutney Sauce

Make jelly and add a little at a time to raisins. Stir in orange rind and put into tumblers. Rind may be omitted.

69 Tomato Chutney

70 Ripe Cucumber Chutney

Soak cucumber in cold water over night, drain; cook with the sugar, raisins and part of the lemon juice until soft; add the other ingredients, heat well and seal in jars.

71 Apple and Green Tomato Chutney

Grind tomatoes through food chopper, drain, pour cold water over and drain after 1 hr., mix all ingredients, let stand in stone jar over night.

In the morning set jar in kettle of cold water with something underneath to keep it from the bottom of the kettle; heat to boiling, cook 6 hrs., stirring occasionally. Seal in jars. May cook carefully in preserving kettle on pad or ring.

72 Brother Coates’ Mother’s Chutney

Chop fruit fine, boil in ½ the lemon juice and water with the sugar. Chop onions, shallots and garlic fine, mix with salt and remaining lemon juice and water and add to boiling fruit. Cook well together and put into jars.

73 Mint Sauce

Pour boiling water over mint, add lemon juice and sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Do not heat sauce. Proportions of mint, sugar and lemon juice may be varied and water may be omitted.

74 Currant Mint Sauce

Add chopped mint to melted currant jelly. The addition of particles of thin yellow rind of orange makes a variation.

75 Sauce Amèricaine

For variety add chopped or sliced olives, or onion juice and parsley, or olives and onion.

76 Sauce for Breaded Carrots

Cream the yolk of a hard boiled egg with a tablespn. of butter; place on back of range and add ½–1 tablespn. of lemon juice with water to make 2 tablespns., and salt. As soon as the mixture thickens, pour it over the carrots.

77 Sour Sauce for Carrot Timbale

Mix creamed butter and beaten yolks of eggs with cream; pour boiling water over; cook in double boiler until thick. Remove from fire, add lemon juice and salt. Serve at once. Excellent without lemon juice.

78 Lemon Butter Sauce

Cream butter and work into it lemon juice to taste. Add chopped parsley, 1 tablespn. to each half cup of butter.

79 Pickle for Beets, String Beans and Carrots

2 parts lemon juice, 1 part water, 1–1¼ part sugar, a trifle of salt or none; heat to boiling, pour over vegetables, drain off. Repeat twice.

VEGETABLES

“Upon leaving Eden to gain his livelihood by tilling the earth under the curse of sin, man received permission to eat also ‘the herb of the field.’”

While vegetables are not, as some suppose, the chief article of a vegetarian diet, they form an important part of it, supplying the bulk so necessary to good digestion, as well as the mineral elements. One writer says, “Nearly all vegetables are blood purifiers; they dissolve other food and greatly assist digestion.”

Suggestions

Vegetables should be used soon after gathering, as they begin to ferment and lose their wholesomeness as well as flavors very shortly.

As a rule put vegetables to cooking in boiling water, and bring to the boiling point again as quickly as possible.

Cook green vegetables in salted water to preserve their shape and color. A lump of white sugar in the saucepan is said to preserve the color also, or a few drops of lemon juice, or charcoal tied in muslin.

Cook roots and tubers in unsalted, and if possible soft water until tender or nearly so; then add the salt and let them boil up well.

If roots have become withered soak them in water as nearly ice cold as possible, for three or four hours or over night, before cooking.

Soak cauliflower and loose heads of cabbage in cold (not salted) water for an hour or more. Drain and shake gently to dislodge insects, if any.

Turnips should be pared inside the dark line encircling them, or they will have a strong taste.

Parboiling leeks, onions, cabbage and old carrots renders them more digestible and more agreeable to some.

Milk or cream of raw or steamed (not roasted) nut butter may be substituted for dairy milk or cream with nearly all vegetables.

Many vegetables are delightful to the cultivated taste served plain with Brazil or other nuts. Thus we get the benefit of the fine delicate flavors in the different foods instead of covering them up with sauces and dressings.

Artichokes—Globe

Soak artichokes for several hours or over night, drain, cut stalks close, trim away the bottom leaves, clip the sharp points from the leaves or cut off the tops straight across. Boil in salted water, if possible with charcoal tied in piece of muslin, until tender enough for the leaves to draw out easily, ¾–1 hour. Remove from water carefully with flat wire beater or small skimmer. Drain upside down; serve whole or in halves or quarters, with cream or egg cream sauce, drawn butter or sauce Amèricaine poured around; or on a napkin on hot platter or chop tray and pass sauce with them. Serve cold with French dressing.

It is a good plan to tie a strip of muslin around each artichoke before boiling to hold it in shape, and to put an inverted plate upon them while cooking to keep them down.

Artichokes—Jerusalem

Wash and boil artichokes with the skins on until tender, 30–40 m. If they boil too long they may become tough. Drain, peel, and serve in rich cream sauce. They may be peeled before boiling.

A still better way is to peel artichokes cut them into thick slices and boil 15–20 m., then drain thoroughly and serve in cream, cream of tomato or onion cream sauce.

Not containing any starch, Jerusalem artichokes are suitable for salads, either cooked in slices and dried on a towel after draining, or used raw in thin slices.

Asparagus

Select green asparagus for the table, the short bleached stalks are tough and often bitter. Take care also that asparagus is fresh. The tops of stale asparagus have the odor of spoiled flesh meat and are not fit to use.

If not just from the garden, asparagus should stand in cold water ½–1 hour before cooking. Wash thoroughly, dipping the heads up and down in a large quantity of water, shaking well to dislodge the sand.

As the different parts of the stalk vary in tenderness, the best way to prepare and cook asparagus is to lay a handful of stalks on a vegetable board and holding it with the left hand, with a large sharp knife cut off the tips about 1½ in. from the end, and if the next part is very tender, cut off 1 in. more to go with the tips. Then cut inch lengths of the next that is of about equal tenderness, and lastly, the remaining part of the stalk that is not tough. The tough part save to flavor soups or sauces, or, reject entirely.

To cook, throw the third lot, that nearest the tough part, into boiling salted water, boil for 10 m., add the second lot, boil 10 m., throw in the top part and boil 10–15 m., or until tips are just tender. By this method the asparagus is all nice and tender and the tips are whole.

When desiring to serve in longer pieces, lay on the board as before and cut 4 or 5 in. from the top (reserving the remaining part for soups or scallops). Tie into neat bundles with strips of muslin. Stand these bundles in rapidly boiling, salted water with the heads well out. Cook from 20 to 30 m., when the stalks will be tender and not decapitated.

Asparagus is one of the vegetables that will not admit of many combinations; such only as develop and preserve its characteristic flavor are suitable.

Asparagus—Cream or Butter

Cook in short pieces as directed; drain or leave the water on (there should be but little); add without stirring a little heavy cream; bring just to the boiling point, remove from the fire, add more salt if necessary, shaking gently to dissolve it, and serve in vegetable dish with or without points of toast around the edge.

Asparagus—Egg Cream Sauce

Lay cooked asparagus in small pieces on hot moistened toast of any desired shape, on tray or platter, and pour egg cream sauce, around. It may also be served the same with a nice rich cream sauce, or with either sauce in pastry crusts for Asparagus en Croustade.

Asparagus—Drawn Butter

On large, slightly moistened toast points on a platter, pile long pieces of asparagus cooked according to directions (enough for one serving on each piece of toast), the heads all one way, and put a generous spoonful of drawn butter on each. Or the sauce may be put on when serving.

Asparagus—Sauce Amèricaine and Spinach Leaves

Lay asparagus on hot platter with heads toward each end and stem ends just meeting in center; surround with border of salad leaves of spinach and place same across the asparagus where the stems meet. Serve leaves with asparagus, and pass sauce Amèricaine.

String Beans—Cream, Nut or Dairy

String beans should be gathered before the pods begin to show the shape of the bean much.

To prepare, break the blossom end back and pull off the string from that side, then break the stem the other way and remove the string from that side. Wash beans well and if they have not been crisped before stringing, let them lie in cold (ice, if possible) water a half hour or longer. Drain, take in handfuls on to the vegetable board and cut into ¾ in. lengths (cut diagonally instead of straight across when preferred). Throw into boiling salted water and boil until tender, 1–3 hours. Drain, saving the water for soups or to make drawn butter sometimes for the beans. Cover with cream, heat, remove from fire, add salt, serve.

Cream from raw nut butter may be added to the beans about ½ hour before they are done instead of using dairy cream.

Cream sauce of either nut or dairy milk may be served over beans on toast if desired.

Wax and stringless beans are prepared and cooked the same except that young stringless beans have no strings. Any of the varieties may be cooked in whole pods when desired but will require a longer time for cooking. Flowering or scarlet runner beans are used for string beans when the pods are very young.

String Beans—Nut and Tomato Bisque Sauce

Prepare beans as above and cover with sauce 5, made of either raw or roasted nut butter.

Shelled Green Beans

Wash beans before shelling and not after, cook in boiling salted water until tender, the time varying according to the variety. Allow plenty of time as beans are richer in flavor if simmered or kept hot for some time after they are tender.

They may be served with different sauces, but it seems too bad to spoil their delightful flavors with anything but salt, or a little cream or butter, nut or dairy.

Flowering Beans—Green

The large pole beans with red and white blossoms have the richest flavor of all shelled beans. After shelling, put beans into cold water, let them heat slowly to the boiling point and boil 5–10 m. Drain, let cold water run over them in the colander. Return to the fire with boiling salted water and cook until tender, considerably longer than other shelled beans. Serve plain, or with a little cream poured over and shaken (not stirred) into them a few minutes before removing from the fire. If one has the time to hull these and Lima beans, it may be done.

To Hull—Boil beans about half an hour (or until the skins are loosened) in unsalted water. Drain and slip the hulls off with the thumb and finger.

Cook after hulling in double boiler or very gently on back of stove, adding seasoning before they are quite tender which will be in a much shorter time than with the hulls on.

Beets

Beets should be fresh, plump and firm. If slightly withered, they may be freshened by standing in cold water over night. But if much withered do not waste time and fuel in trying to cook them, as they will be bitter and tough with any amount of cooking. Use care in handling beets before cooking so as not to break the skins. If the skins are broken the flavor and sweetness of the beet will be lost in the water. Press with thumb and finger to find when they are tender rather than to puncture with a knife or fork.

Put to cooking in perfectly boiling water. Boil steadily until tender, when remove at once from the fire as over-cooking toughens them, throw into cold water a moment and rub off the skins. Serve plain, whole if small, or cut into quarters if large; or, slice and pour over a hot mixture of lemon juice and sugar (part water and a trifle of salt may be used), or hot cream with salt, or salt and olive oil.

Small young beets, right from the garden, will cook in from 20 m. to 1 hr. Large, old ones in winter will require 3–5 hours.

Pickled Beets

Broccoli

This is a vegetable grown in cool climates, similar to cauliflower, more hardy but not so fine in quality. Follow directions for cooking and serving cauliflower, except that broccoli requires about 20 m. only for cooking.

Brussels Sprouts

Wash, pick off outside leaves, lay in cold water ½–1 hour, drain. Boil in salted water (in cheese cloth if convenient), 15–30 m., according to age; do not cook until soft. Drain carefully, pile in center of dish; serve with hot cream poured over, or with sauce 16, 19, 34, 57, olive oil or French dressing. May add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to each ½ cup of 34.

Cabbage—Plain Boiled

Trim cabbage and if not very crisp let stand in cold or ice water 1 hr. or over night. Drain, cut into sixths, eighths or any number of pieces 1–1½ in. across the broadest part. Lay in sufficient boiling salted water to cover; let come to the boiling point and set back on the stove where it will simmer gently ½–¾ of an hour, until tender only, and still perfectly white. Drain and lay on to hot dish with pieces overlapping. Serve at once.

Until one has tried it, he will not know how delightfully sweet this cabbage is, perfectly plain, eaten slowly with Brazil nuts, filberts, almonds or English walnuts. It may be served with olive oil or lemon juice, or with both together or with sauce 16, 34 or 57, or with the sour cream or sour milk salad dressing without cooling. Use two eggs in dressing when serving warm.

If cooked until it begins to turn dark, cabbage will have a strong flavor and will be indigestible.

To Parboil—Put at first into a large quantity of unsalted boiling water, cook 15 m., drain carefully, sprinkle with salt, pour boiling water over and proceed as above.

My Mother’s Cabbage, or Cabbage in Cream

Shave crisp cabbage fine, cook in boiling salted water 20–30 m., until just tender and still white. Drain, pour in cream, heat to almost boiling, serve.

For Sour Cabbage—Add a little lemon juice instead of or with cream and more salt if necessary.

★ Cabbage in Tomato

Prepare cabbage as in preceding recipe, cook for 20 m., drain, add stewed tomatoes (not too juicy, they may be strained if preferred) with salt and cook until cabbage is tender. This is an unusually fine combination and very suitable to accompany a hearty nut meat dish such as broiled trumese. A little cream may be added just before serving, but the dish is complete without it.

Cabbage and Corn

Heat together 2 parts of stewed cabbage and 1 part of corn with cream, nut or dairy.

Sweet Sour Cabbage

Cook cabbage in water 15–20 m., then add the other ingredients and simmer slowly until the cabbage is tender.

Cabbage with Nuts and Raisins

Season stewed cabbage with cream—cocoanut, almond or dairy, or with butter; add stewed raisins and sprinkle chopped nuts over just before serving. May garnish with halves of nuts.

Carrots

Carrots being among the most healthful vegetables should be used freely, and with a little care they may be made exceedingly palatable.

Unless very fresh, let carrots stand in cold water for some time before paring. When they are full grown, or late in the season, parboil them to remove the strong taste.

It will require from 20 m. to 1½ hr. to cook carrots tender, according to the age and the sizes into which they are cut. A little chopped parsley makes a pretty combination with most of the dishes.

Carrots—Minced

Scrape or pare carrots, cut into strips, grind in food cutter coarse or fine as preferred, cook in water until tender, add salt, boil, drain. Add a little cream, cream sauce, butter or oil, reheat, serve. Add a trifle of sugar to cream sauce or cream. Carrots may be ground or rubbed through colander after boiling.

Carrots—Stewed

Cut pared carrots into quarters, sixths or eighths, lengthwise, then across in quarter inch slices in the largest part and gradually thicker toward the small end; or if carrots are small and of uniform size they may be cut in whole round slices. Cook until tender, drain, and reheat with cream, or sauce 16 or 28, to each pint of which a teaspoonful of sugar has been added, or add butter and lemon juice, sauce 1, 2 or 34.

Carrots à la Washington

Cook all together in a small quantity of water until carrots are tender and well dried out.

Pickled Carrots

Pour sauce 79, over sliced cooked carrots, cover and let stand for several hours.

Carrots and Peas—Better than either alone

Mix 1 part stewed carrots and 2 parts cooked green peas. Add cream or cream sauce, heat and serve.

Or, the carrots may be cooked in slices, laid overlapping around edge of flat dish, with peas piled in center and sauce poured around.

Carrots and String Beans—Excellent

Equal quantities cooked string beans and carrots with cream or cream sauce. If preferred, the beans may be cooked whole and the carrots cut into strips.

Carrots and Onions

Carrots and Beets

Heat mixture for pickled carrots, add 1 part carrots and 2 parts beets; serve as soon as hot. Butter, lemon juice and salt may be used instead of the dressing.

Carrots and Corn—Delightful

To equal quantities of stewed carrots and corn add cream or thin rich cream sauce; heat, serve. If the corn is dried corn, especially dried yellow sweet corn, the dish is most delightful.

Carrots and Succotash

1 part each carrots and beans with 2 parts corn; season with cream or with milk and butter.

Cauliflower

While cauliflower is a delightfully delicate vegetable when properly cooked, it is easily rendered strong and disagreeable. It should be cooked until tender only, 15–25 m. in constantly boiling liquid, either slightly salted water, or milk and water (⅓ milk), salted. Tie loosely in cheese cloth or muslin to prevent any particles of scum from settling on it and to keep the flowerets whole, then drop into a sufficient quantity of rapidly boiling liquid to cover it.

It should not lose its snowy whiteness in cooking. 5 m. of over-cooking will ruin it. The milk helps to keep it white and gives it a richer flavor.

To serve whole, trim off the outside leaves, leaving the inside green leaves on, and cut the stalk close. When done, lay carefully in a round dish and pour sauce over or around it. If the head is a perfect one, do not cover its beauty with sauce.

Sauce 16, 18 or 75 or 34 plain or with lemon juice, are all suitable for the heads, and when broken into flowerets it is delightful with hot rich cream poured over it. Salt and oil, with or without lemon juice may also be used.

Nice perfect flowerets with Sauce Amèricaine or any suitable sauce may be used as a garnish for timbales and other true meat dishes.

Celery—Raw

Trim off the coarse outside stalks, leaving about an inch of the root stalk; then cut the whole stalk into quarters or sixths from the bottom up, and throw into ice water until well crisped. If there should be dirt between the stalks it will be necessary to cut them off and brush each one separately with a vegetable brush. Throw the tender inside stalks into water to be served raw, and reserve the outside ones for cooking.

It is said that wilted celery may be restored to crispness by dipping into hot water or laying a few minutes in warm water, then plunging into ice water.

Celery—Mint Sauce

Cut tender stalks of celery across as fine as possible, cover with cold fresh mint sauce and serve in dainty cups with suitable true meat dishes.

Celery—Stewed

Cut tender stalks of celery (not those that are fit for flavoring only) into half-inch lengths, by handfuls on board with large knife. Put into boiling salted water and boil 30–35 m., or until just tender. Drain (there should not be much water left), pour cream or sauce over, let stand over hot water 10–20 m. Serve by itself or on toast. Sauce 16, plain, with a few drops of lemon juice in it, or made with half water in which the celery was cooked, or 34, 57 or 31 (when using 31, of course it should not stand over hot water) are all enjoyable with it.

★ Celery in Tomato

Stew celery as above in just enough water to cook, for 25 m. and have very little water, if any, remaining; then add enough strained or unstrained stewed tomato to nearly cover, and simmer until celery is tender and tomato cooked away a little. The combination of the flavors of celery and tomato is unusually fine. The addition just before serving of a little heavy cream makes the dish still more delicious.

Chard—Swiss

Swiss Chard or Spinach Beet, affords two distinct dishes from the same plant at one time. Strip the leafy part of the foliage from the stalk and cook as greens. Cook and serve the stalks the same as asparagus. The leaves and stalks may be cooked together as greens.

Corn—Green

The earliest varieties of green corn are never very sweet. By far the richest and sweetest are the yellow kinds, though the dark purple or black almost equals them. There are also some medium or later varieties of white corn that are excellent.

Corn is at its best the day it is gathered. When not perfectly fresh, cook corn in almost any other way than on the cob. Never cook it in salted water as salt hardens it. Corn requires the least salt for seasoning of any vegetable.

Corn—On the Cob

Husk nice fresh corn and put it over the fire in cold water. When just at the boiling point, but not boiling, remove from the fire. Let it stand in the hot water where it will not boil until ready to serve.

Serve in a dish on a napkin covered with another napkin, or in a close covered dish, as a few moments’ exposure to the air toughens it. In eating, score each row with one tine of the fork so that the hulls will be left on the cob, unless you have a corn slitter.

Corn—Boiled

Put husked corn into boiling water and boil rapidly for 5–15 m., usually about 10 m., as that which requires 12–15 m. cooking is really too old to cook on the cob. Young, tender corn will cook in 5 m. Long boiling destroys the sweetness of corn and renders it tough.

Corn—Steamed

Hold the ear of corn with one hand and draw the slitter with slight pressure. Three or four strokes will slit every grain on the cob. It does not remove the corn from the cob but cuts the hull of every grain. The delicious corn is obtained with the slightest pressure of the teeth, leaving the hulls on the cob.

To Prepare Corn for Muffins, Oysters, etc.—Slit the grains as described above, then, holding the slitter in the same position but elevating the hand use the front of the slitter as a scoop and push the corn into a dish.

Corn—Baked, Boiled or Steamed in Husks

Select nice tender ears of uniform size. Open the husks and remove the silk, then tie the husks close in place. A few of the heavy outside husks should be removed. Bake the ears in a hot oven, separate from each other, 15–20 m., remove the husks quickly and serve covered.

Or prepare in the same way and after tying, cut off the stalk and point of the ear and boil rapidly for 10–12 m. or steam for 10–20 m. Serve in the husks on napkin. The husks give a sweet flavor to the corn and help to keep it warm when they are not removed before serving.

Corn—Roasted—Best of All

Place husked corn in wire broiler or large corn popper and hold close to bed of hot coals, or lay on gridiron over the coals, turning the ears as necessary. The ears may be laid on the coals when more convenient and turned often, or they may be roasted in a very hot oven.

Corn—Stewed

If corn is quite old, grate the outside of each ear on a coarse grater and scrape out the remaining pulp with the back of a knife. Cook carefully in oiled saucepan on ring or asbestos pad, in a small quantity of water 8–12 m.; add sugar, to give the sweetness of young corn, salt and a little cream, cream sauce or butter. Heat, serve.

When corn is not too old, the nicest way to prepare it is to draw a knife down each row of kernels, then with a large sharp knife cut a thin shaving from each two rows and scrape the pulp from the cob with the back of a knife. Cook the part cut off in boiling water for 5 m., then add the pulp and cook carefully 5–8 m. longer. Season as for grated corn, omitting the sugar if corn is sweet.

In Milk—Cook either way in milk in double boiler 20–30 m., and season as desired.

Corn—Baked

Prepare corn in either of the ways given for stewed corn; add salt, sugar if necessary, and enough rich milk to cover. Bake in hot oven 15–20 m.

Corn—Dried

Cover dried corn ½ in. (or more) deep with warm water, let stand over night. In the morning set in warm place and shortly before serving time increase the heat gradually until it is about at the boiling point, but not boiling. Season with a little cream, milk or butter, or with cream of raw or steamed nut butter and salt; heat, serve.

Or, cover with warm water 1½–2 hours before meal time and keep hot (covered) on the back of the stove. Just before serving, season and heat just to boiling.

Or, best of all, cover quite deep with cold milk, let stand in cold place over night, cook in double boiler 1 hr. or longer, season, serve.

Cucumbers

The fruit of the cucumber vine “serves to introduce a large quantity of water into the system and is a refreshing addition to richer foods, especially in hot weather, when its crisp, cool succulence is peculiarly acceptable.”—Church.

One unusually successful physician used to recommend cucumbers because they were “so crisp and easily digested.”

Cucumbers should be gathered in the early morning, laid in ice water for an hour or two, then kept in the ice box or on the cellar bottom until serving time. Or, when they come from the market, they should be put at once into ice water and kept in it until thoroughly refreshed. Cucumbers are nearly always left on the vines until they are too old. Many never know the delightful flavor of cucumbers in which the seeds are just formed but not developed.

Cucumbers au Naturel

Pare nice crisp cucumbers, cut in quarters lengthwise and serve on a flat dish, to be eaten with or without salt the same as celery. This is by far the most enjoyable way to serve cucumbers.

Sliced Cucumbers

Pare and slice cucumbers in not too thin slices. Pass lemon juice, salt and oil with them. Some prefer them with salt and oil only; others with lemon juice and salt.

If not thoroughly crisp, or if prepared some time before serving, lay in ice water without salt. Salt wilts and toughens them.

Stewed Cucumbers

Pare cucumbers, cut into halves lengthwise, crosswise also if long. If seeds are large, remove them, but younger fruit is better.

Lay the pieces cut side down in perfectly boiling unsalted water. When nearly tender 15–20 m., add a little salt to the water and finish cooking. They should be just tender, not soft when done. They will take about 20–25 m. cooking in all, never over 30 m. Drain thoroughly. Serve with sauce 75, 34, 28 or 29 or with 16 made of cocoanut or dairy milk. On toast, with egg cream sauce like asparagus, they are especially nice. Sprinkle chopped parsley in the sauce.

Egg Plant

Egg plant belongs to the family of the deadly night-shade, the same as the potato, tomato, peppers and tobacco, and contains an irritating principle which should be removed by thorough parboiling when used.

Egg Plant in Batter

Cut egg-plant into ½–¾ in. slices, put into a large quantity of cold water, heat to boiling and boil 5 m.; drain, repeat the process, add salt to the third water and boil until just tender; drain thoroughly.

Drop spoonfuls of the following batter on well oiled griddle or dripping pan, lay on slices of the egg plant and cover with the batter. Brown delicately on both sides on the griddle or bake in a quick oven to a delicate brown. Serve at once.

Heat oil (without browning), add flour, stir smooth, add water, stirring; when smooth, remove from fire, add beaten eggs, salt and crumbs.

Greens

One of the many advantages that the country dweller has over those who live in the city is the great variety of “greens,” as we call the edible weeds, nearly all of which are superior in flavor to the much prized spinach.

There is narrow or sour dock, easily distinguished from the broad-leaved (which is not edible) by its long, slender leaf curled on the edges; the dandelion, which should be gathered before the buds appear or at least when they are just peeping out, as the greens are bitter when the buds are well developed; milkweed, of which we use only the tips unless the stalks are small and tender: pigweed, red root, lamb’s quarters, purslane or “pusley,” with poke shoots, the garden turnip tops, cabbage sprouts, young beet tops and endive.

Some are better in combinations, such as milkweed and narrow dock, narrow dock and pigweed, milkweed and purslane and purslane and beet tops.

Do not try to wash greens in a small quantity of water. Put them when first gathered into a large vessel, a wash boiler, a tub or a deep sink in which the water will be deep enough to “swash” them up and down with the hands. When they are thoroughly revived lift them from the water (do not drain the water off), empty the vessel, rinse it well and take another quantity of water. Continue the washing, changing the water until no sand is found in the bottom of the vessel.

Dandelion and some other greens require trimming and looking over carefully after reviving before the final washing.

When ready to cook, throw greens into an abundance of boiling salted water and cook until tender.

The time required for cooking varies; narrow dock requires 20 m., purslane a little longer, pigweed 40 m., milkweed 2–3 hours, beet greens 2½–3 hours, and dandelions 3½–4 hours. It is a good plan to parboil dandelions.

When greens are perfectly tender, lift them carefully with a skimmer from the water into a colander and press with a plate until as dry as possible.

The water from all greens (except dandelion if at all bitter and too large a quantity of narrow dock) is invaluable for soup stock, so pour it off carefully from the sand that may be in the bottom of the kettle even after the most careful washing.

When the leaves are long and stringy it is well to cut across the mass of greens a few times before serving, but the flavor and character are much impaired by too fine chopping.

Pass oil, lemon juice or quarters of lemon, French or Improved Mayonnaise dressing, or Sauce Amèricaine with greens.

Poke Shoots—scoke—pigeon berry weed, and young, tender milkweed stalks may be prepared and served the same as asparagus. Do not use poke shoots after the leaves begin to unfold.

Canned greens make as valuable an addition to the winter supplies as canned corn or peas.

Kale—borecole, should not be used until after heavy frosts in the fall. Cook as other greens in boiling salted water 30–45 m. and serve the same. If desired, raw nut butter may be added to the water in which it is cooked; then lemon juice only will be required with it. It may also be cooked with tomato, the same as cabbage, by being chopped or cut fine before cooking. Onion and raw nut butter may be added to the tomato.

Okra—Stewed Whole

Use only young, tender pods, cut off the stems, wash well and cook in a small quantity of salted water (about 1 cup to each quart of okra) for 30 m. or until tender. Season with cream, dairy or almond, or with butter. Or, drain if any water remains, and pour over it a hot French dressing. Melted butter may be used in the dressing instead of oil.

Okra—Sliced, Stewed

Slice pods of okra across and cook with 1 cup of salted water to each pint of okra until tender, 25–30 m. Drain or not, according to what is to be added. Stewed tomatoes, strained or unstrained, almond or dairy cream, sauce 16, 18, 19, or 34, or hot French dressing may be poured over it. When strained tomatoes are used, the okra and tomato should simmer together about 10 m. Add a little heavy cream, butter or oil and salt just before serving.

Onions—Boiled

Select onions of about equal size. Peel them, then at the root end cut into the onion about ⅓ of the way at right angles. This causes the onion to cook tender at the heart. Let stand in cold water 20 m. to 1 hour. Put into boiling salted water and cook until tender, ¾–1½ hour. The water may be changed after 15 m. boiling. Drain, add cream, cream sauce or butter, heat a moment (do not boil with cream), serve. Some prefer onions plain with a little of the liquid in which they were boiled.

Drain young onions slightly when about half done, pour on milk and simmer until tender.

Onions—Stewed

Cut peeled onions into halves, then into quarters, and slice across in thin slices. Put into just enough boiling salted water to cook tender; dry out well and serve plain or add a little oil or melted butter, hot cream or cream sauce. Serve sometimes over plain boiled or mashed potatoes. Raw or steamed nut butter may be cooked with the onions.

Onions—Baked

Select large, perfect onions; peel, and boil until about half done; drain, put into a baking pan, sprinkle with salt and crumbs, pour a little oil or melted butter over and bake, covered part of the time, until tender.

Onions may be dried after boiling, wrapped in oiled paper, baked and served with melted butter or cream sauce.

Onions—Raw

Slice onions and let them lie in cold water (no salt) for an hour or more, changing the water occasionally. Drain, dry and serve with salt, salt and oil or lemon juice or with French dressing. If in a hurry to use them, dip sliced onions quickly into boiling water, then into cold water and serve as before. Sprigs of parsley are sometimes passed after dishes containing onions to destroy the odor in the breath.

Oyster Plant

Oyster plant—vegetable oyster—salsify, is one of the most delightful vegetables. It should not be used until after heavy frosts and is at its best in the spring after being in the ground all winter. Whatever is dug more than is to be used each time, should be kept in sand in a cool place.

To prepare for cooking, soak in cold water 3 or 4 hours, or over night. Scrape on a vegetable board with a knife and drop each root into a large quantity of cold water as soon as scraped to keep it from turning dark.

When very fresh, oyster plant will cook in 10 m., but late in the season it often requires a half hour. Cook until tender only, not soft.

The flavor of the oyster plant is in the water, so there should always be some liquid left to form part of the sauce.

Milk and a little butter may be used when cream is not obtainable. Raw or steamed nut butter may be used in place of either, and olive oil instead of butter gives an appropriate flavor.

If there should be dark spots through the oyster plant, be sure that every particle is removed, as one little piece with a dark spot in it will flavor the whole dish.

Stewed or Creamed Oyster Plant

Cut scraped roots into slices ¼–⅓ in. thick according to size, and drop into the water in which they are to be cooked, an equal quantity, usually. Boil without salt for 10–25 m. When nearly tender, add salt.

To the oyster plant liquor, add a little heavy cream, and when boiling, add flour blended with water to make of a creamy consistency; salt if necessary. Chopped parsley may sometimes be added, and a little celery salt occasionally, but oyster plant will not admit of the addition of many flavors. If to be served on toast or rice, or in a rice border, a little onion juice may be added.

Oyster Plant with Drawn Butter Sauce

Cook oyster plant in 2-in. lengths in a small quantity of water. Add sauce 40, heat, serve on toast or rice.

Oyster Plant with Celery or Corn

Any of these dishes may be served as a second course at dinner with beaten biscuit with or without ripe olives.

Parsley

When parsley is fresh, wash, shake and keep in a thick paper sack near the ice. When withered, put at once into ice water until refreshed.

To dry, pick off the leaves and stand in a warm place. It is better than not any when fresh is not obtainable.

Parsnips

The parsnip is another vegetable not good until after heavy frosts, and is much sweeter and richer in flavor when left in the ground until spring.

Boiled Parsnips

Scrape or pare parsnips, cut into halves or thirds in flat slices lengthwise; cook in boiling salted water until just tender, 20 m. to 1 hour according to age and size. Serve plain or with hot cream or butter poured over.

Stewed Parsnips

Cut parsnips into slices crosswise, ½–¾ in. thick, or if large, cut into quarters first, then slice. Cook in small quantity of water until just tender. Serve with cream, cream sauce, or egg cream or drawn butter sauce.

Browned Parsnips

Lay slices of boiled or steamed parsnips in baking pan, pour over a little cream, oil or melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Brown delicately in oven. Or, dip in oil or butter and flour and brown in quick oven.

Mashed Parsnips

Rub parsnips through the colander; season with salt only, or with salt and cream. Heat and serve.

Fricassee of Parsnips

Boil sliced parsnips in milk without salt. When tender add salt and thicken slightly with flour stirred smooth with milk. Serve on toast.

Peas

Green peas should be neither too old nor too young. When they are small and soft they have no character, but if too old they are hard and flavorless. To be at their best they should be cooked the day they are gathered.

Green Peas—Stewed

For fresh tender green peas, wash the pods, shell and put at once into boiling salted water. Washing after shelling takes away much of the sweetness. Cook until tender, 15–25 m. There should be very little water left when they are done. When nice and sweet they require no seasoning but salt. Serve plain, with just enough of the water in which they were cooked to moisten them. A little sweet cream, butter or cream sauce may be added.

Peas that have become withered should be shelled and allowed to stand in cold water for an hour before cooking.

When peas are a little old they require longer cooking, and should have a little sugar in the water in which they are cooked. A small sprig of mint improves the flavor of old peas, but the positive mint flavor should not be distinguishable.

Canned peas of an inferior quality drained and boiled in fresh water with sugar and mint are sometimes hardly distinguishable from fresh peas. A sprig of parsley may be stewed with peas instead of mint.

Peas—Parisian Style

Cook in boiling, salted water with parsley and onion; add sugar, and thicken the liquid a trifle.

Peas—German Way

Put a spoonful of butter in the saucepan, add peas, salt and a spoonful or two of water, cover close and cook until tender, about half an hour, perhaps.

Peas With Corn

Peas With New Potatoes

Cook peas and small new potatoes together. Cover with cream or thin cream sauce.

Melting Sugar Peas

This is the name of one variety of the edible podded peas. They have a delightful flavor peculiar to themselves. Wash and drain the pods and cut like string beans. Cook in a small quantity of boiling salted water until tender, about 30 m. Add cream, cream sauce or a little butter. Heat and serve.

Potatoes

There is great diversity of opinion in regard to the value of the potato as a food. Some, because of its belonging to the family of the deadly night shade, the same family as tobacco, think it should be used sparingly if at all, while others consider it (when baked, at least) one of the most wholesome foods. Its use is often prohibited by physicians in some forms of indigestion and for those rheumatically inclined.

The solid part of the potato is almost entirely starch, so it serves as bulk in combination with nitrogenous foods.

“Potatoes which have grown on the surface of the ground or which have been exposed to the light frequently turn green, and such tubers contain abnormal amounts of solanin, as do old and shriveled potatoes which have sprouted. It is best not to use such old potatoes, but if they are eaten the flesh around the sprouts should be cut away, as this portion is particularly liable to contain solanin.”—C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D. Farmers’ Bulletin, 295. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Solinine is a vegetable alkaloid which may produce serious results as it is of about the same nature as belladonna and other poisons of that class.

Soak new potatoes for a short time only in cold water before cooking, but old ones for at least 2–3 hours.

In paring potatoes, put them into cold water so that the dirt will not adhere to the flesh. Pare not too thick and throw at once into clear cold water.

When salt is sprinkled over potatoes after cooking it absorbs the moisture and renders them more mealy.

Baked Potatoes

No other way of preparing the potato renders it so mealy and digestible as proper baking. Wash and scrub the potatoes thoroughly without breaking the skins, lay them on the grate of a moderately hot oven without touching each other, so that there will be a free circulation of heat around each potato. When the oven is too hot, potatoes will be soggy and indigestible. Bake until just done; do not try with a fork but by pressing with the thumb and finger. When done, serve at once in an uncovered dish, or lay a napkin in a deep dish and fold over the potatoes.

The most perfect way to serve a baked potato is to work it between the folds of a towel in the hand without breaking the skin until soft and mealy all through. Lay each potato on the grate again until all are done. Potatoes may be broken apart in the center and a sprig of parsley laid in when serving on an invalid’s tray or to individuals, but all must be done quickly, as a few moments’ delay after the potato is done will spoil its lightness.

If for any reason baked potatoes must be kept waiting, wrap them in a thick towel and lay in a warm place.

When in a hurry for baked potatoes, pour boiling water over them just before laying them in the oven.

Some think potatoes are whiter and more mealy if boiled until nearly done and then finished in the oven.

Perhaps the most perfect way of baking potatoes is to lay them on a wire stand in a close covered kettle without any water, over a moderate fire.

Boiled Early Potatoes

Put pared potatoes into rapidly boiling, salted water. Do not allow water to stop boiling. When nearly done add ½–1 cup cold water. Drain as soon as done. Shake and dry uncovered, over fire. Serve in napkin. When obliged to stand for a few minutes, throw a clean towel over the uncovered kettle to absorb the steam.

Boiled Late or Winter Potatoes

Put potatoes into cold, slightly salted water. Bring to the boiling point as quickly as possible. When half done, drain, add cold water and boil again. Drain as soon as done, sprinkle with salt, shake over fire until dry. Serve in napkin or uncovered dish.

The Irish Way

Put potatoes in slightly salted cold water; when the water boils add a small quantity of cold water; repeat this process 2 or 3 times; when done, drain, shake until dry and send a few at a time to the table.

Potatoes in Jackets

Wash thoroughly, peel off a narrow strip around the potatoes the long way. When tender, drain, sprinkle with salt, shake, peel and serve, or serve without peeling. Taking off the strip around the potatoes causes them to burst and become mealy, and makes them easier to peel while still giving the flavor so much liked by many.

Steamed Potatoes

Cook, without paring or with a narrow strip only taken off, in steamer over hot water with a few sprigs of fresh mint. Dry in the oven.

Allow at least 10 m. more for steaming potatoes, either with or without their “coats,” than for boiling.

Small New Potatoes

Wash small new potatoes, boil or steam, sprinkle with salt, shake over fire until skins begin to crack, serve in napkin.

Or, rub the skins off with a coarse towel (coarse salt in the towel helps) or scrape the potatoes. After cooking and draining, crack each by pressing lightly with the back of a spoon. Lay in dish, pour hot cream or milk and butter over and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Creamed Stewed Potatoes

Cut potatoes into small pieces or slice not too thin; cook until almost tender; drain, put into cream sauce in double boiler and cook ½ hour longer. Whole small potatoes or large ones in quarters cooked until tender may be served in cream sauce the same.

Creamed Warmed-Over Potatoes

Cold baked potatoes are much the best for warming over. Slice baked or boiled potatoes or cut into small pieces and put into cream sauce, with or without celery salt or stalk or a little chopped onion, and simmer slowly 15 m. Sprinkle with parsley in serving.

Or, pour milk over potatoes, cover and heat slowly 15–20 m. If raw nut milk is used heat a half hour. A little onion may be added if desired.

Water Creamed Potatoes

Thicken boiling water slightly with flour, add salt, onion or celery if desired, and sliced potatoes. Simmer 15–20 m.

Or, put a little oil or butter into the saucepan, add flour, then boiling water and potatoes.

Hashed Creamed Potatoes

Chop cold potatoes, mix with cream sauce, put into baking dish, sprinkle with crumbs and brown in oven.

Hashed Browned Potatoes

Mix cream, oil or melted butter and salt with chopped potatoes. Spread evenly in well oiled frying pan, pour a very little water over if oil or butter are used, cover and heat slowly without stirring. When delicately browned on the bottom, fold or roll like an omelet and serve on a hot platter with celery tops or a sprig of parsley.

Or, pour brown sauce over potatoes in baking dish, sprinkle with oil and heat in oven. A little milk or consommé may be added.

Improved Parisian Potatoes

Cut balls out of large pared potatoes with vegetable scoop. Cook in boiling salted water until just or hardly tender. Drain, roll and shake in thin drawn butter or cream sauce, sprinkle with parsley, serve as border of timbales or as garnish for other meat dishes.

Mashed Potatoes

Very large, or irregularly shaped potatoes may be used for mashing. Have kettle, fine colander and masher hot, with hot milk or cream in the bottom of the kettle. Rub nicely boiled potatoes, a few at a time, through the colander into the kettle as soon as done. Beat very thoroughly until smooth and creamy. Add more hot milk if necessary but do not make too soft or the flavor of the potato will be lost. Mashed potatoes should be served at once, but if obliged to stand, make them a little softer, keep hot in double boiler and beat occasionally to restore the smoothness.

Potato Cakes

Shape cold mashed potato into cakes, brown on both sides on oiled griddle, or brush with cream, oil or melted butter and brown in oven. Serve as soon as done. When egg is added to potato cakes, they fall soon after removing from the fire and become solid and soggy; also the characteristic flavor of the potato is to some extent destroyed.

Browned Mashed Potato Slices

Cut mashed potato (which has been molded in a brick shaped or small round tin dipped in cold water) into rather thick slices. Dip in beaten egg, then in crumbs, and brown in quick oven. Serve with or without sauce. Slices may be served with a poached egg on each.

Potato Purée

Add rich milk to mashed potatoes to make like thick porridge, spread on hot platter as a foundation for cutlets, croquettes, slices of broiled nut meat or nicely poached eggs. Garnish with parsley or other green.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

Wash large sweet potatoes without breaking the skins, bake in a moderate oven until they will yield to pressure between the thumb and finger.

Or, boil until nearly tender and finish in the oven. Serve at once. Sweet potatoes will bake in a shorter time than Irish potatoes.

Boiled Sweet Potatoes

The most delightful boiled sweet potatoes I ever ate were prepared in the following manner; Cook pared potatoes in a small quantity of water until nearly tender, drain if necessary (but it ought not to be necessary), cover with a towel and let stand on the back of the stove for an hour or longer, shaking occasionally. Potatoes may be boiled until tender and laid on a tin in the oven a few moments to dry.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Prepare and season the same as mashed Irish potatoes. Serve with tomato cream sauce.

Mashed Pumpkin

Select a nice, rich, fine grained pumpkin, saw into halves, remove the seeds and fibre with a spoon and cut into small pieces without paring. Steam, or stew in a small quantity of water. Drain if watery in cheese cloth. When dry, mash and season with cream or butter and salt. Heat in double boiler or oven, stirring. Serve in mound on hot dish, or put into baking dish, sprinkle with crumbs and brown in oven.

Baked Pumpkin

Place halves of pumpkin from which the seeds have been removed, cut side down upon a tin. Bake until tender and dry. Scrape from the shell, mash, season and serve.

Baked Pumpkin—Individual

Cut pumpkin into not too small pieces and lay cut side down on waxed paper in baking tin. Serve as baked potatoes.

Radishes

Wash radishes well with brush, trim off all but the small green leaves, stand in ice water ½–1 hour. Serve on glass dish with cracked ice, or in a bed of shredded lettuce or of spinach leaves, or with a parsley border.

Pare winter radishes and cut into quarters. Serve sprinkled with parsley, or as other radishes.

Spinach

Wash spinach the same as other greens, p. 253. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, 10–30 m. Lift from the water with skimmer into a colander. (Save water for soups and sauces.) Press dry with a plate. Lay in hot pan and cut across a few times but do not chop; return to colander, pressing in firmly, to mold. Turn the dish in which it is to be served over the colander and unmold. Garnish with triangles of toast and hard boiled eggs. Pass oil, quarters of lemon or lemon juice, Sauce Amèricaine or French or Mayonnaise dressing with it. Many prefer it with salt and oil alone. It may also be served with cream sauce, or drawn butter with lemon juice.

Overcooking develops a strong flavor and causes spinach to lose its bright green color.

When spinach is young and sweet, it may be cooked without the addition of water by covering close and heating slowly at first; but when there is danger of its being bitter it should be cooked in plenty of water.

Spinach with Cream—Delicious

Spinach is sometimes rubbed through a colander after cooking and served with whipped cream, for luncheon or supper.

Summer Squash

Cut squash into inch thick pieces, steam, or stew in a small quantity of water; drain in cheese cloth. Mash, season, heat and serve.

If you ever use butter for seasoning in cooking, use it with summer squash; though a little heavy cream, almond or dairy, is very nice. Never use roasted peanut butter with squash.

Only those squashes which are young enough to cook with the skins and seeds are suitable for stewing, as the skins and seeds contain the flavor.

Baked Ripe Summer Squash

Bake whole; open, remove seeds, scrape pulp from skin, season and serve as above. This pulp makes very delicate squash cream pies.

Summer Squash with Corn

Add ½ cup stewed green corn to each pint of cooked summer squash. Season with salt and cream.

Winter Squash

Winter squashes vary so much in quality that no one way of cooking will do for all. There are some varieties from which the skin may be peeled like a tomato, after steaming; others are so hard that it is impossible to pare them; from these scrape out the pulp with a spoon after steaming; others still, are better to be pared before steaming. When soft and watery after cooking, dry in the oven before mashing, and again afterwards if necessary. Some watery squashes have a rich flavor when well dried out.

Mashed Winter Squash

Saw squash in halves, remove the seeds and fibre with a spoon, cut into quarters or eighths, pare or not according to the variety, lay inside down in the steamer and cook over boiling water until tender. Remove from the shell if not pared, mash through a fine colander, season if soft with butter or cream and salt, or with salt only; if dry and mealy like the “Delicious,” use plenty of milk and cream with salt. Beat well and serve.

Mashed Baked Squash

Bake halves of squash from which the seeds have been removed, cut side down until tender, 1–2 hours or longer. Scrape pulp clean from the shell, mash, add salt, beat well and serve. Baked squash is so sweet that it requires no seasoning but salt, though a little milk or cream may be added if it is very dry.

Baked Squash—Virginia Way

Bake pieces of desired size, the shell side up, on waxed paper in baking pan. Serve on platter, allowing each guest to season to taste, and eat from the natural dish.

Tomatoes

As the tomato, though a fruit, is prepared and served in so many ways as a vegetable, we will follow custom and consider it under that head; but it must be borne in mind that it should not be served or eaten in combinations unsuitable for other acid fruits.

The most desirable way to serve the tomato is uncooked when well ripened. When perfectly ripe the skin will peel off without any preparation, and it may sometimes be loosened by rubbing the tomato all over firmly with the back of a silver knife; but when more convenient to use the hot water method, the tomatoes do not need to be soft nor to have a cooked taste.

First—have a kettle with an abundance of perfectly boiling water, also a pail with plenty of the coldest water you can get, ice water if possible. Put a few tomatoes (not enough to cool the water much) into a wire basket. Plunge into the boiling water, let rest an instant if very ripe and a second longer if quite solid, then lift the basket and set quickly into the cold water, then turn the tomatoes out into the water and leave them there. Repeat the process, take care each time that the water is boiling before dipping the tomatoes into it and renew the cold water when necessary.

Tomatoes may be put into the boiling water and transferred quickly to the cold water with a skimmer. When thoroughly cooled, set without peeling into the ice box until ready to use.

Raw Tomatoes

Peel, slice into not too thin slices, or cut into quarters or sixths from the blossom end just deep enough for the pieces to spread apart without separating. Serve with salt or with some of the salad dressings as a garnish for meat dishes, or as fresh fruit with sugar or sugar and lemon juice. With sugar and heavy cream my grandfather used to think tomatoes were more delicious than peaches and cream.

Stewed Tomatoes

Slice tomatoes into sauce pan and bring to boiling point slowly, boil up well, only, season with salt and serve. Long boiling frees the acid of tomatoes and renders them less wholesome. Tomatoes require more salt for palatability than any other article of food.

Steamed Tomatoes

Put rather small tomatoes on pan in steamer, steam from 10–15 m., or until tender. Serve on hot toast or crackers or thin round slices of broiled nut meat with a dainty spray of parsley or chervil, for luncheon or supper; allowing each guest to season to taste. If desired, drawn butter, cream sauce or oil may be passed.

Broiled Tomatoes

Cut tomatoes in halves without peeling, dust with salt and fine cracker crumbs, broil over hot coals, skin side down, 15–20 m. Serve plain or with Sauce Amèricaine or any desired dressing with wafers or toast. Firm tomatoes may be cut into thick slices and broiled on both sides. They may be just browned and set in the oven to become tender.

Tomato Purée

Heat tomatoes, crushed celery and sugar for 15 m. Simmer onion in butter without browning, add flour, then tomato, boil up well, strain and add chopped parsley. Serve on toast or with boiled rice or with some meat dish. Very nice on toast with sliced hard boiled eggs.

Turnips

The later varieties of turnip are by far the best though some of the earlier varieties are sweet and tender. As they need to be grown quickly turnips are never good in a dry season but will be pithy and strong. Turnips require the greatest care in cooking. If they are over-cooked 5 m., they will begin to turn dark and will have a strong, disagreeable flavor. For that reason they are better to be cut into thin slices. They must be boiled rapidly.

Boiled Turnips

Wash, cut into quarters or sixths if large, pare very thick, cut into ½ in. slices, put into perfectly boiling water; boil rapidly for 25 m., or until just tender. Add salt at the end of 20 m. or when nearly tender, if at all; nice, sweet turnips are delicious without salt. Drain thoroughly, in cheese cloth if convenient. Serve plain, or with Chili sauce, Sauce Imperial or Sauce Amèricaine; or pour cream sauce over after draining; or pass oil, oil and lemon juice or French dressing with them.

Ruta-Bagas

There are white and yellow ruta-bagas or Swedish turnips, and both are richer in flavor and more nutritious than common turnips. The yellow ruta-bagas are especially sweet and rich. Prepare, cook and serve the same as turnips, except that the ruta-bagas require a little longer time for cooking. They are delightful served with Chili sauce, but are so rich and sweet of themselves that no sauce is necessary.

Mashed Turnips

Mash well drained boiled turnips with potato masher in hot pan. Do not put through colander. Season with salt and if not sweet a little sugar. Serve plain or with sauce 57, 58 or 75.

Vegetable Stew

Cook separately 1 pt. of string beans, 2 small potatoes and 2 small carrots cut into small pieces, and 1 pt. of green peas. When tender, drain, put all together, add salt and cream or a thin cream sauce.

STARCHLESS VEGETABLES

STARCHLESS AND SUGARLESS VEGETABLES

The proportion of sugar in nearly all of the other starchless vegetables is small.

CHESTNUTS

Since chestnuts are so largely composed of starch though they also contain a large proportion of albuminoids, from 8.5 to 14.6 according to different authorities, we allow them to follow vegetables while not classing them with them. One writer says “they might have been included among the bread stuffs.” London vegetarians often serve a tureen of plain boiled chestnuts in place of potatoes.

The recipes are for the large imported chestnuts. The smaller native ones require a longer time for cooking. The dried chestnuts which we sometimes find in the stores require 3 hours for boiling.

To Shell and Blanch Chestnuts

Boil whole chestnuts rapidly for 10 m. Leave in the hot water, shell and remove the brown covering while warm.

Boiled Chestnuts

Cook blanched chestnuts in salted water until just tender, 10–20 m., drain, serve plain or with sauce 14, 16 or 17. Or, boil whole for 25 m. and serve in the shells.

Chestnut Purée

Mash boiled chestnuts, add salt, and cream or milk and butter. Beat well, heat in double boiler, serve in center of platter surrounded by nut meat cutlets or croquettes which in turn are garnished with boiled small onions, Brussels sprouts or flowerets of cauliflower suitably seasoned; or purée may be served with globe artichokes, green peas, stewed cucumbers or mashed dry green peas.

Roasted Chestnuts

Make at right angles small incisions at the point of the chestnut. Bake 10–20 m. in a rather hot oven, stirring occasionally, or put into a corn popper and shake over the coals.

Chestnut and Banana Salad with Cream Dressing

Prepare bananas as suggested for salads, and cover with Cream Dressing—Sweet. Cut boiled chestnuts in quarters and mix lightly with bananas and dressing. Serve in cups or on dainty china plates garnished with flowers or leaves.

Chestnut Purée—Whipped Cream

Add sugar or honey with dairy or cocoanut cream and vanilla, to mashed chestnuts; heat, pile on dish with spoon in rocky form or force through vegetable press, and surround with whipped cream.

Vanilla or Raisin Chestnuts

Boil blanched, fresh or dried chestnuts until tender (fresh 15 m., dried, 3 hours). When almost tender, add sugar or honey to water and when the liquid is nearly boiled away, flavor with vanilla; finish in slow oven; serve as confection. Raisin pulp instead of vanilla is delightful.

SALADS

Since experience has taught us that the delicate machinery of the body requires oil to keep it running smoothly, salads as one of the most agreeable means of supplying this need, have been growing in favor.

In our recipes for salad dressings, we have endeavored to give sufficient variety in oils to suit all tastes and circumstances.

“Vinegar—acetic acid, is about ten times as strong as alcohol, and makes more trouble in the stomach than any other acid except oxalic.”—Dr. Rand.

“No acid should be taken into the mouth with starch as it will prevent the action of the saliva; but if starches have been properly masticated, and a proper amount of saliva mingled with them, lemon juice will not interfere with the digestion of starch in the stomach.”—Dr. Kress.

For the above reasons, we use no flour or cornstarch in dressings, use lemon juice as the acid, and exclude potato salad. Cold potatoes of themselves are difficult of digestion and combining them with an acid renders them still more so.

Secrets of Success

Use nuts as a garnish, or as an accompaniment to salads instead of mixed with them, as they become tough quickly after touching the dressing. Coarse chopped nuts may be sprinkled over the salad just as it goes to the table.

In beans, green or red French, Lima or California are best for salads since they do not cook to pieces easily.

The whites of hard boiled eggs are more digestible when ground fine, or pressed through a wire strainer. When desired for fancy shapes they may be poached separate from the yolks, p. 199.

Gather lettuce early in the morning, put it into a closed pail or a paper sack and leave in the refrigerator for a few hours; or if it comes from the market slightly wilted, cover it at once with ice water until revived. Never allow the wind to blow upon lettuce. Crisp, by allowing it to stand in ice water after washing until just before serving, then drain and shake in a wire basket or in mosquito netting, cheese cloth or a netted bag.

Celery, parsley, spinach, endive and dandelion may be kept fresh the same as lettuce and crisped in ice water before serving.

Always cut celery, never chop it. Wipe it dry before cutting and if possible, roll in a dry towel a moment after cutting.

In cooking carrots for salads, drain them when about half done and add boiling water to finish cooking.

The apple, grape fruit and tomato are the only fruits with which a French or Mayonnaise dressing is harmonious.

Dip ripe tomatoes quickly into perfectly boiling water, lift them out and drop into cold water, change the water two or three times if ice is not at hand, set them in a cold place, and peel just before serving.

Do not mix cut, colored fruits (like strawberries) with cream dressings. Lay the pieces between the layers and on top of the salad.

It is seldom suitable to serve fruit salads with lettuce; some glass dish with decorations of leaves, vines and flowers is prettiest.

As a rule, do not mix many kinds of fruit in one salad. One flavor often destroys another.

Cut oranges in about the middle of the section or just each side of the membrane, leaving that out if convenient; then cut into pieces crosswise.

Cut grape fruit in halves, then around the inside next to the skin, and after removing the pulp, carefully separate it from the membrane.

When juicy fruits are to be used with any but fruit juice dressings, they should be drained. The juices may be used for nectars, other salad dressings or for pudding sauces.

Soak currants or pitted sour cherries in syrup made of one part sugar and two parts water, for an hour or longer, then drain.

For most salads, bananas are better cut into quarters lengthwise, then sliced across.

Pare, quarter and core choice, fine flavored apples, one at a time, cut the quarters into not too thin lengthwise slices, place three or four of the slices together and cut across into small wedge-shaped pieces. Never chop apples for salad. Both apples and bananas should be prepared just as short a time before the meal as possible and should be cut right into the dressing. After being coated with the dressing they will not turn dark.

Shred fresh pineapple according to directions, p. 44. For nut and cream dressings cooked pineapple is preferable. After draining and drying canned sliced pineapple, lay two or three of the round slices together and cut into wedge-shaped pieces about ¼ inch across at the large end.

Keep orange, lemon, grape fruit or tangerine cups in cracked ice or ice water until just before serving, then drain and wipe dry.

The edges of the cups may be pointed or scalloped, and if cups are large the points may be cut deep, and then rolled down. Apple cups may be kept in the same way, or the cut surface may be coated with dressing.

We marinate or pickle some ingredients by mixing them with lemon juice, with or without salt, or with French dressing, a short time before serving. Drain if necessary, before adding the dressing.

A wooden spoon which is used for nothing else is best for stirring dressings while cooking. Dip in cold water and wipe it just before using and wash in cold water immediately after.

Sour cream may be substituted for sweet cream in all dressings; a little less lemon juice is required.

For uncooked dressings all the ingredients and utensils should be as nearly ice cold as possible.

The yolks of five eggs may be used in the place of three whole eggs in boiled dressings.

For salads with eggs, tomatoes or cabbage, a larger proportion of lemon juice and salt is required, and with tomatoes a little sugar is an improvement.

COOKED DRESSINGS

★ Improved Mayonnaise Dressing

Beat all the ingredients in the inner cup of a double boiler just enough to blend well. Put into the outer boiler containing warm (not hot) water, set over fire, stir with a wooden spoon continuously, taking the inner boiler out occasionally and stirring well if there is danger of cooking too rapidly. When the dressing begins to thicken, remove at once from the fire and set in a dish of cold water which was all ready, stirring until partially cooled. Strain through a wire strainer.

The recipe for this dressing (with some unhygienic adjuncts) was given to me in the early days of my work by a lady to whom a famous chef had given it as a special favor; and to my mind its value is unequalled. It has not an excess of oil like the regular mayonnaise, is easily and quickly made and will keep well in a cool place, covered. I sometimes use ½ cup of oil and ¼ cup of lemon juice, and sometimes just the reverse, according to what I am using it over and the tastes of the people for whom I am preparing it. Three eggs will do very well if one needs to economize in eggs. ¼ cup of cream, whipped, may be added just before serving for Cream Improved Mayonnaise.

Butter Dressing

★ Boiled Salad Dressing—Large quantity

No Oil Dressing

Beat yolks, add salt and lemon juice, cook over hot water, cool; add stiffly-beaten whites of eggs when ready to serve.

Sour Cream Dressing

Beat egg slightly, add cream, cook the same as boiled custard, cool, add water, salt and lemon juice. When desired, water and lemon juice may be flavored according to directions p. 28.

Sweet or Sour Milk Dressing

Substitute sweet or sour milk and 1 tablespn. of oil or butter for sour cream in preceding recipe. Omit water and use 2 eggs if desired very stiff.

★ Cream Dressing—Sweet

For fruits especially, but suitable for lettuce, cabbage, beets, celery or carrots.

Beat cream, sugar and eggs in inner cup of double boiler; cook as for custard, set dish in cold water; add the lemon juice gradually, stirring, then a trifle of salt, strain.

⅔ only of the cream may be cooked and the remainder whipped and added to cold dressing. In substituting sour cream for sweet, use 1–1½ tablespn. only of lemon juice.

★ Nut Dressing—no eggs

Rub butter smooth with water, cook just a moment, stirring. Remove from fire, add salt and lemon juice, cool.

Roasted peanut butter dressing and improved mayonnaise dressing may be combined with a very pleasing effect.

Use from ½–¾ cup strained stewed tomato in place of the water, and ¾ teaspn. of salt, for Nut Tomato Dressing.

★ Almond Butter Dressing

Add 2 tablespns. of sugar to the nut dressing made with almond butter and you have one of the most delightful fruit salad dressings.

Rhubarb Salad Dressing

While the liberal use of rhubarb is not to be recommended on account of the oxalic acid it contains, it affords variety in dressings and has the advantage of always being at hand in the country when one gets out of lemons.

Stew rhubarb without peeling, with not more than one tablespoon of water to the quart of rhubarb. Rub through a fine colander or sieve, mix in the proportions given, with the other ingredients and cook the same as improved mayonnaise dressing.

Green gooseberries prepared in the same way may be used in the place of rhubarb.

Olive Dressing

Make “No Oil” dressing with 1½ only, tablespn. lemon juice and just before serving sprinkle over it two tablespns. coarse chopped ripe olives.

Tomato Dressing

Excellent on apples, string beans, celery, cabbage and lettuce, on peas croquettes, and for decorating.

Drain juice from stewed tomatoes, rub pulp through strainer or fine colander, combine with other ingredients and cook as improved mayonnaise dressing.

Orange Dressing

Boil sugar and water to syrup; cool, add orange and lemon juice, strain. If desired, flavor with oil of orange.

Boiled Dressing with Cornstarch

I insert this dressing with many apologies for the cornstarch, which as we know, is entirely out of place in a salad dressing, and trust that it will be used in emergencies only when eggs are very scarce.

Boil salt and water, add the cornstarch which has been stirred smooth with cold water; boil up, add beaten eggs and lemon juice; beat well, cool.

UNCOOKED DRESSINGS

French Dressing

The proportions of lemon juice and oil in this dressing vary from 1 part of lemon juice to 4 parts of oil, to equal parts of each, and in extreme cases to the use of four or five times as much lemon juice as of oil according to the ingredients of the salad and individual taste, but the proportions most generally used are the following:

Mix salt and oil well, add lemon juice slowly, stirring, pour over salad, serve at once. If flavorings are used, mix them with the salt and oil before adding the lemon juice. My experience is that this method of combining the ingredients gives the best results. A bit of ice may be added while stirring, but if ingredients and utensils are ice cold it will not be necessary.

Orange French Dressing

Let orange juice stand for a few moments with thin shavings from the outside of the rind in it, strain and combine with the salt and oil as above, using equal quantities of oil and orange juice or only ½ as much of the juice. Serve over sliced apples or tomatoes.

Grape French Dressing

Equal quantities of grape and lemon juice with salt and a small proportion of oil. Delightful over apples, oranges, grape fruit, pears or peaches, or suitable combinations of the same.

Honey French Dressing

Use equal quantities of lemon juice and honey or three or four times as much lemon juice as of honey, with oil and a trifle of salt, over lettuce or suitable fruits. Honey and lemon juice without the oil may be used by those who prefer it.

Nut French Dressing

Add water to any preferred nut butter until of the desired consistency; then salt and lemon juice according to the ingredients of the salad. Butter from either Brazil, almond or pine nuts is good. Raw pine nuts have much the flavor of cheese. If unroasted peanut butter is used, the flavor of onion or garlic or both is an improvement.

Salad Entrée Dressing

English Salad Dressing

★ Lemonade Dressing

1 tablespn. each of lemon juice and water to each slightly rounded tablespn. of sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. For juicy fruits, use lemon juice and sugar only.

Tarragon Dressing

Orange Dressing

Cut thin slices from the yellow part of the rind; let stand with the other ingredients for 15 m. Strain and pour over fruit. Omit rind for strawberries, pineapple and such other fruits as it will not harmonize with.

Raspberry Juice Dressing

Add sugar flavored with oil of orange, with lemon juice, to rich red raspberry juice, the proportions depending upon the sweetness of the raspberry juice. Serve over apple or apple and orange.

★ Quick Cream Dressing—Sweet

Mix cream, sugar and salt, add lemon juice slowly, stirring until dressing is thick, and be sure to stop when it is thick.

★ Whipped Cream Dressing

Sour Cream Dressing

Whip cream until just thick, add lemon juice and salt which have been mixed. For lettuce or apples, use such flavorings as fresh mint, tarragon, onion, chives, celery salt or seed when desired.

For Sweet Dressing of Sour Cream—Add 1½ tablespn. of sugar to lemon juice in above recipe.

Sour Milk Dressing

Beat yolks with salt, add milk, then lemon juice gradually, stirring, then the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs. For a sweet dressing add 2 tablespns. of sugar to the whites of the eggs.

Mayonnaise Dressing

Use only 1 cup of oil unless a very thick dressing is required. Have all utensils and ingredients cold. In very hot weather only, set dish in which dressing is made on chopped ice or in ice water. Use a soup plate with a silver or wooden fork, or a bowl with revolving egg beater. Beat yolk of egg and salt, add ½–1 teaspn. lemon juice, mix well, then add oil, drop by drop at first, stirring constantly (one way, some say). After a little, oil may be added faster. When mixture becomes thick, stir in a little lemon juice. Do not allow it to get too thick before adding lemon juice. When done the dressing should drop, not pour, from a spoon.

If mixture shows signs of curdling, set dish on ice, continuing to stir, and if it does not become smooth then, add a teaspoon of cream or a little white of egg or a few drops of lemon juice, beating well. Or, take another yolk, begin again more carefully, and when well started add the curdled portion slowly.

If a hard boiled yolk is crushed and worked smooth with a spatula and mixed thoroughly with the raw yolk, the dressing is not so apt to curdle and the oil may be added a little more rapidly.

The tendency to curdling is very much lessened by adding the lemon juice to the yolk before any oil is added.

Cream Mayonnaise

Add ½ or an equal quantity of whipped cream, or ½ to 1 stiffly-beaten white of egg to mayonnaise at serving time.

Green Mayonnaise

Macerate with a spatula or in a mortar spinach, parsley or chervil, tarragon, chives or green tops of onions, using a little lemon juice if necessary. Express the juice and add to dressing.

Mayonnaise Cream

Whip ¼–½ cup of heavy cream, chop into it the beaten yolk of an egg, add salt and lemon juice to taste. Chopped parsley may be sprinkled through the dressing, or a little green or red vegetable coloring may be used in it.

TRUE MEAT SALADS

For these salads, rich in proteids, the nut dressings are not required. As a rule, lemon juice, lemon juice and salt, or the French dressing with suitable flavorings will be most appropriate. Use the different varieties of Mayonnaise with judgement.

★ ★ Trumese and Celery Mayonnaise

Take equal quantities (or any proportion desired) of diced trumese and slender crescent slices of celery with a little very fine chopped onion. Mix lightly with improved mayonnaise dressing. Pile in center of lettuce border. Serve. Trumese may have been marinated. Onion may be omitted. Nasturtiums, parsley, fringed celery or other garnishes may be used with or without the lettuce.

Hot Nut Meat Salad

Make a custard of the yolk of one or two eggs or one whole egg, and one cup of rich milk; add salt, a little grated or chopped onion, celery salt if desired and two cups of diced trumese which has been marinated with two tablespns. of oil, 1 or 2 tablespns. of lemon juice and a little salt. Heat without over-cooking the egg. Serve on toast or in the center of large wafers with stalks of fringed celery or with a sprinkling of sliced crisp celery.

Green French Bean and Cucumber Salad

In the center of a lettuce or spinach leaf border place stewed green French beans surrounded by a row of sliced cucumbers. Garnish with white, green or yellow mayonnaise.

The combination of the different shades of green is very pretty. The addition of nasturtiums gives a different effect.

Novel Legume Salads

Prepare different colored legumes according to directions for mashed lentils, p. 185, very dry. Mold in block shaped tins and when cold cut into cubes and serve in any desired border with improved mayonnaise dressing. A rail fence of cucumbers sliced lengthwise may constitute the border. The French dressing may be used, but there is nothing quite equal to a mayonnaise dressing for mashed legumes.

Legume Roses

While warm, press mashed green peas or other legumes (a little softer than for molding) through pastry tube in form of roses. Garnish with a delicate vine and lemon points, or with the yellow mayonnaise.

★ Helianthus (Sunflower) Mayonnaise

This salad is to be served on individual plates. When it is the principal dish for luncheon, use one egg to each plate, but with a variety of other dishes two eggs will be sufficient for three plates.

Make a deep border of shredded tender lettuce leaves around a gilt edged plate. In the center of the plate, pile as high as possible the yolk of a hard boiled egg which has been pressed through a wire strainer. Surround this with a border of the white which has also been vermicellied. Then drop with a teaspoon improved mayonnaise dressing at frequent regular intervals on the lettuce border. This salad gratifies the senses of both sight and taste.

Salad Marguerite

Cut hard boiled eggs in halves lengthwise. Lay the halves on the vegetable board, the flat side down, and cut each half carefully into four pieces. Remove yolk from pieces, rub through wire strainer, place in center of individual plates and surround with a wreath of shredded lettuce or of tender spinach leaves. Then place pieces of white inside down over the wreath, radiating from the center. Serve with French dressing, or with roses of yellow or green mayonnaise around the outside.

Cottage Cheese and Radish Salad

Surround a molded border of cottage cheese with radish lilies on lettuce, endive, parsley, chervil or spinach border and fill the center with green mayonnaise.

★ Cottage Cheese and Pear Salad

Pour French dressing in which drained canned pears whole or in halves, have been soaked for an hour or two, over a mound of creamy cottage cheese. Surround with the pears and garnish with geranium leaves or ferns. Serve with crackers or cocoanut crisps.

Additional Combinations

Baked or stewed California or red kidney or green French beans and string beans.

Halves or quarters of hard boiled eggs on lettuce—salad entrée or improved mayonnaise dressing.

Cottage cheese, apple and mint—English dressing, or with lemon juice and sugar.

Cottage cheese and dried or fresh apple sauce (quite dry)—cream dressing—sweet.

VEGETABLE SALADS

★ Snow Salad. Cabbage

Add just as it is going to the table, whipped cream dressing, to 1 pt. of chopped crisp white cabbage. Some of the whipped cream may be left out of the dressing and dropped by spoonfuls on top of the salad.

Lavender or Pink Salad

Use purple or red cabbage in the place of white in snow salad. For luncheon, the cream mayonnaise dressing may be used.

Pink Salad No. 2

Coarse chopped red beets with whipped cream dressing. ⅓ fine cut celery improves the flavor.

Hot Slaw

Beat eggs in the inner cup of a double boiler, pour slowly over them stirring, a boiling mixture of all the remaining ingredients except the cabbage; add the cabbage and cook until just creamy. Serve at once.

Cold Slaw

Cool hot slaw, and just before serving, add ¼ cup of cream, whipped. The slaw is excellent without the cream, however.

Cauliflower Salad

Serve flowerets of cauliflower, cooked according to directions, p. 246, masked with improved mayonnaise or with cream improved mayonnaise dressing on a bed of shredded lettuce in a border of lettuce leaves garnished with parsley or nasturtiums. Pass dressing.

★ Dominion or French Sam’s Salad

Skim from a pan of thick sour milk, equal quantities of cream and milk. Beat lightly together and mix with nice crisp shredded lettuce and salt. I wish I could tell you how highly I prize this recipe. Try it.

English Salad

Tear in pieces with the fingers, nice crisp lettuce, mix with it a few leaves of shredded fresh mint, and pour English salad dressing over. Serve at once.

Spinach Leaf Salad

Select the tender inside leaves of spinach, wash well and serve with French or mayonnaise dressing or in almost any way that lettuce is used, the flavor of which they almost excel.

Salad à la Russe, or Russian Salad

Combine as great a variety of starchless vegetables in different colors as convenient. Celery, onions, carrots, beets, green peas, red and green French beans and string beans make a good combination. Turnips, asparagus, cauliflower, chives and parsley may be used also, and some like a flavoring of celery seed.

Cut the larger vegetables into small pieces or dice, or into fancy shapes with vegetable cutters (the pieces left after cutting out the shapes with vegetable cutters may be chopped and used as the base of the salad, or for another salad or for soup); cut the string beans into diamond shapes and chop the onion very fine. Pile the lightly mixed vegetables in the center of a border of lettuce or spinach leaves; lay some of the brightest pieces on the top and pour French dressing over all.

Beet and Olive Salad

In the center of a platter with a lettuce or variegated beet leaf border, place marinated sliced or chopped beets. Surround the beets with roses of cream mayonnaise or mayonnaise cream with stoned ripe olives between.

Cucumber and Onion Salad

Cut short crisp cucumbers in halves lengthwise, hollow out the center to within a half inch of the rind, pare shells carefully and drop into ice water. Slice or chop the centers, mix with fine cut raw onion, salt and French or improved mayonnaise dressing. Drain and thoroughly dry shells, fill with mixture, lay on leaves of lettuce, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. Cut long cucumbers into two-inch lengths, remove centers, set rings upright on lettuce and fill. Pass dressing if more is desired.

Asparagus Mayonnaise

Place six-inch stalks of cooked asparagus in rail fence style just inside a lettuce or endive border on a platter, with lemon cups of mayonnaise (one for each person to be served) in the center.

★ String Bean and Celery Salad

Cut tender celery into eighth-inch crescents, pour over it lemonade dressing without the water in the proportion of one cup of dressing to each half cup of celery. Stand in a cool place for an hour or longer, then serve over young string beans which have been cooked in salted water until tender. Canned stringless or string beans may be used.

Stuffed Tomato Salad

Fill hollowed out tomatoes with a mixture of drained, salted, grated cucumbers, fine chopped onion and improved mayonnaise or French dressing. Serve in nest of lettuce with dressing.

Or, use celery with improved mayonnaise dressing, in place of cucumber and onion, with border of nuts.

Additional Combinations

Cabbage and onion—nut dressing without egg, of roasted or unroasted peanut butter.

Carrots—cooked, sliced or chopped, with French, nut or improved mayonnaise dressing in green border; nasturtiums sometimes.

Ring of fresh grated cocoanut around mound of grated or fine ground raw carrot with cooked cream or whipped cream or mayonnaise dressing in lettuce border.

Carrot cups of the large end of boiled carrots. Filling of carrot and onion or celery—French or mayonnaise dressing—row of green peas around inside edge of cup.

★ Peas and onion—nut dressing—no eggs, of roasted peanut butter. May be served in lemon cups with a half nut meat on top.

Molds of chopped cooked spinach on slices of nut meat, or cold boiled beets or turnips—mayonnaise, improved mayonnaise or French dressing.

FRUIT SALADS

★ Apple and Pineapple Salad with Cream Dressing

Prepare apples and pineapple, equal quantities, or ⅓ only of pineapple, according to directions on p. 275. Just at serving time, combine with cream dressing—sweet, and serve in dainty glasses or cups (individual), each on a small plate with a doily and a cut flower or leaf or a spray of some delicate vine. This is a sample of what may be done with any of the followings combinations and many others:

Apple with orange or strawberries, red raspberries, canned cherries, cherries and celery, or celery.

Banana with apple or strawberries, red raspberries, pineapple, orange or celery.

Fresh ripe peaches, seeded sweet grapes with solid flesh, and sweet apples are among the suitable fruits for salads.

Pear and apple or apple or pineapple alone with the almond dressing are especially delightful. The whipped cream dressing may be used when more convenient.

★ Currant and Red Raspberry Salad

1 pt. each red raspberries and very ripe currants, 1 or 2 teaspns. of fine chopped tarragon, basil or sassafras leaves, with lemonade dressing of 1½ tablespn. each of lemon juice and water and two tablespns. of sugar. Serve in glasses or cups with suitable decoration. The flavorings may be omitted.

Pineapple with either the currants or raspberries without the flavorings is excellent. Orange and red raspberries; grape fruit and strawberries; apple and strawberries; apple, grape fruit and strawberries or orange; apple, banana and strawberries and other combinations of juicy fruits will suggest themselves from the preceding. When a sweeter fruit than currants is used the proportion of sugar in the regular lemonade dressing is sufficient.

★ Mint Fruit Salads

Oranges or grape fruit or apples with shredded mint and lemonade dressing (water omitted in first two) are the most delightfully refreshing of salads.

Nut and Banana Salad

Roll small peeled bananas in any of the sweetened cream dressings, then in chopped nuts. Serve on individual plates with a spoonful of dressing, with orange points and candied cranberries or cherries, or frosted currants for garnish.

Apple and Cranberry Salad

Grind ripe cranberries fine and mix with a liberal supply of one of the sweetened cream dressings. Prepare apple also with the dressing and place the two in high alternating diagonal rows on a platter with lettuce border; or prepared apples may be placed on the platter and spoonfuls of the cranberry dropped on top. Whole berries may dot the lettuce border.

Sweet Fruit and Cocoanut Salads

Fresh grated cocoanut in center of dish, border of black or red raspberries, blueberries, sliced or halved peaches or bananas, cream dressing—sweet or whipped cream dressing. No lettuce.

Oriental Salad

Grape fruit and oranges—mayonnaise. The dressing sometimes tinted delicately with pink and green or green only.

Peach Salad

Sprinkle shredded basil, tarragon or sassafras leaves over sliced or halved pared peaches and cover with lemon juice and sugar. Garnish or serve, with blanched almonds.

Or, serve peaches with cream dressing—sweet or whipped cream dressing in cups, with nuts.

Cooked Apple Salad

Dry, fresh or dried apple sauce, or baked whole or quarters of apples (all without sugar) cream dressing—sweet, nut, whipped sweet or sour cream, French or mayonnaise dressing. Serve decorated to taste.

Love Apple Salad

Whole peeled tomatoes in nests of lettuce, or with some leaf or flower garnish, with a cream, French or mayonnaise dressing.

Or, cut tomatoes into quarters or sixths from the blossom end just deep enough for the pieces to spread apart without separating.

Grape Fruit and Celery

Equal quantities of grape fruit and fine sliced celery with mayonnaise or improved mayonnaise dressing in grape fruit cups with edges cut in deep points and rolled down. Some green garnish.

Additional Combinations

Apple and onion—roasted peanut, improved mayonnaise, French or whipped sour cream dressing.

Apples, celery and a few raisins—one of the sweet dressings, garnish with blanched almonds.

Celery with apples or tomatoes or pineapple or apple and tomato, à la string bean and celery salad.

DESSERTS AND PUDDINGS WITHOUT EGGS

★ Apple Dumpling—Baked

Peel, quarter and core nice tart apples, lay inside down, in flat pudding dish or pan, cover and set in gentle heat so that the apples will become just warm all through.

Crust—Make universal crust with ½ to 1 cup of liquid according to the quantity required. Roll ½–¾ in. thick, cut with biscuit cutter, lay close together on warm apples. Cover with a pan that will allow the crust to rise underneath it, set in warm place and let crust get very light.

Start the dumplings early enough to give plenty of time at each stage. When crust is light, bake uncovered at first, in moderate oven ¾–1 hr., or until apples are well cooked and crust thoroughly baked. Serve with creamy, or hard sauce, or with sugar and nut or sterilized dairy, cream. Do not put any sugar, butter, salt or water on the apples. Leave them plain to contrast the apple flavor with the sauce. A pastry crust may be used with the apples, but is not so satisfying. A crust of boiled rice laid over the apples and baked covered, is very nice with them.

★ Apple Dumpling—Steamed

Place the apples in the bottom of an oiled kettle (aluminum preferably), the same as in the pudding dish for baking. Pour warm water over to one-third or one-half cover, or just enough to cook them without scorching. Cover apples with crust as in baked dumpling. Let crust rise very light, cover the kettle close (put a weight on the cover), and set in moderately hot place over the fire. When boiling well, carefully move the kettle back where it will boil slowly but steadily. Place an asbestos pad under it if necessary. Cook without removing the cover 25–30 m. from the time it begins to boil. Serve with any sauce suitable for baked dumplings.

Peach Dumplings

Cut universal dough into rounds as large as a saucer, pile halves of peaches in center, press edges firmly together around peaches, lay in deep pan and bake when crust is light. Serve with almond or dairy cream or any suitable sauce. Or, cut rounds smaller, lay peaches on one and cover with another. Wet edges and press together.

★ Fruit Tarts or Dumplings

Put blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, cranberries or any desired fruit in the bottom of a pudding dish; mix sugar, a little flour and salt together and add to berries. (Blueberries will require a little water.) Warm, and cover with crust as for baked apple dumpling. Bake when crust is light and serve without sauce.

Cranberries and gooseberries may be baked with very little if any sugar and served with hard sauce.

★ Blueberry Pot Pie—Delicious

Put blueberries with sugar in bottom of preserving kettle, pour water over, cover with crust, let rise and cook the same as steamed apple dumpling. No sauce.

Cranberry and gooseberry pot pie may be made in the same way and served with hard or creamy sauce.

Orange Roly-Poly

Peel all white from oranges. Divide into unbroken sections. Make universal crust of 1 cup of milk with a large measure of oil. When light, add salt with flour to make a dough stiff enough to roll; roll in oblong sheet, spread with orange sections, sprinkle with sugar, roll close and carefully, moisten the edges at the ends and pinch well together. Bake in moderate oven 35–45 m., or steam 1½ hour. Serve with lemon, hard, or foamy white sauce, or with cream.

Dutch Apple Cake

Spread a thin layer of universal crust on shallow baking pan; press warm eighths of apples, sharp edge down, into crust, sprinkle with sugar, let rise, bake, covered part of the time if necessary to cook the apples; serve as “tea-cake,” or with sauce as pudding. Let dough extend up the sides of the pan a little to keep the juice from running off.

Short Cakes

Bake universal crust in flat square or round tins. Split, spread with butter or not, and cover lower half with a generous layer of fruit. Turn the upper half over so that the cut side is up, and cover that, too, with fruit.

A meringue or fluff may be used sometimes for ornamentation, but if fruit is properly prepared and freely used, cream will not be required; it would better be saved for some more necessary place.

Two very thin crusts may be used, but the fruit flavor does not penetrate them as it does the split crust. Make the crust stiff enough to give a fine grain but not so stiff as to be hard. It may be baked in not too thick biscuit for individual serving.

Crusts may be baked several days beforehand and kept closely covered. To serve, dip in cold water, slip in paper bag, set in hot oven for about 10 m. and use as fresh baked crust.

One in writing of strawberry short cake says: “It must be remembered that the fruit must be served on a genuine shortcake not the sweet cake of the restaurant and of too many households, but the plain, unsweetened cake that was the delight of our fathers, and which is still the joy of those who have been so fortunate as to have made the acquaintance of the blessings of the tasty and nutritious cookery of the olden times.”

Some unsweetened, flaked, cereal preparations, crisped in the oven, make delightful shortcakes by sprinkling a few flakes on a plate, covering them with prepared fruit, then sprinkling the fruit generously with flakes. They must be served as soon as prepared.

Shortcake Fillings

Strawberries—Leave out a few small berries or cut some of the smaller ones in halves or quarters and set one side. Save also some of the largest and cut into halves, or leave whole with the stems on. Put a little butter into a granite pan, add berries with not too much sugar and a little salt. Crush over the fire with wire potato masher just enough to make juicy. Mix well with butter, stir carefully until just warm. Add small berries, spread crusts, place whole berries, or cut halves cut side up, on top. Serve shortcake at once on dessert tray or platter with a cluster of ferns or geranium or other green leaves at the side.

Or, cut berries in small pieces just before serving, sprinkle crust with sugar mixed with a trifle of salt. Cover with berries and sprinkle with sugar, lay on upper crust and cover the same.

Or, chop not crush berries with sugar and serve with sweetened juice of berries or with crushed strawberries sweetened, to be dipped over each slice as served.

Blueberries—Stew berries with sugar and water, add a little lemon juice, a trifle of salt and thicken a little, hardly enough to know they are thickened, with corn starch.

Peaches—Cut into eighths or slice, fresh ripe peaches just before serving. Lay them over thin crusts and sprinkle with sugar. Arrange pieces around the outside edge of the top crust and serve with nut or dairy cream.

Or, stew halves of peaches in syrup, thicken syrup a little with corn starch and add a bit of butter, lay peaches inside up, on crusts and pour juice over. Juice may be delicately flavored with almond. A little lemon juice may be added.

Apricots—dried—Soak over night, add 1–1½ cup sugar to 1 lb. of fruit, heat slowly, just boil, remove fruit and spread over cakes, leaving 1 qt. of juice. To this add ½ cup of sugar and thicken with 4 level tablespns. corn starch. Add 1 tablespn. lemon juice and if desired, 2 tablespns. butter. Pour over shortcake, or preferably serve with it.

Prunes—Stew prunes with a little sugar, stone, cut into small pieces and spread on crust; thicken juice a trifle and turn over all. Prune shortcake is delicious served with almond cream or covered with whipped cream. A little lemon juice may be added to the prunes.

Maple—Cook maple syrup and butter or cream together and serve warm over crust.

Canned fruits of nearly all kinds may be used in the winter for shortcakes by thickening the juice a little with corn starch.

Steamed Blueberry or Other Fruit Pudding

Make ingredients for universal crust into stiff batter or soft dough, according to the juiciness of the fruit to be used with it; mix and beat well, let rise; add dried or fresh blueberries (huckleberries), cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, fresh or dried or drained canned, cherries, or any convenient fruit; put into well oiled mold, cover or not and steam 1–1½ hour. Serve with cream and sugar, or with foamy, hard or cocoanut sauce.

Or, make a dough stiff enough to knead, shape into biscuit, fold and press berries in while shaping, lay balls on pie pan, let rise and steam. Or, make into one large loaf, and steam. Figs or dates cut with shears into small pieces may be used and the pudding served with orange or any of the sauces already given.

★ Plain Steamed Pudding

Steam sweetened or unsweetened universal crust in large or individual molds ¾–1 hour; serve with molasses, maple, berry, foamy or creamy sauce.

★ Dutch Boiled or Steamed Pudding

Make universal crust with only ¼ cup of oil to the cup of liquid and mix as stiff as bread dough. Put into a well buttered double cheese cloth, let rise, drop into perfectly boiling water and boil 30–40 m. Remove from cloth, split and lay on dessert tray, spread with butter, cover with nice flavored molasses and serve hot. Try it before you condemn it. The crust may be steamed instead of boiled, but it is beautifully light when boiled. Molasses, or maple or brown sugar syrup may be heated with a little butter and served over pudding as sauce.

Cottage Pudding

Bake rather stiff, slightly sweetened universal crust and serve with Annie’s Strawberry (“o” of Hard Sauce Variations) or any preferred sauce. Add fine cut, drained stewed prunes to pudding occasionally before baking and serve with a sauce made of the juice.

Pear Cobbler

Sprinkle mixed sugar, flour and salt over pears in pudding dish, pour water over and cover with universal crust. Bake when crust is well risen. 1¼ cup of sugar and 1½ tablespn. of lemon juice give character to the filling.

Mother’s Peach Cobbler—Billy’s Favorite

Line pudding dish with pie paste. Fill with pared, whole peaches. Mix sugar, a little butter and flour together; pour boiling water over, stirring. Boil up well, cool, pour over peaches, cover with crust, bake in moderate oven until peaches are soft.

Apple Scallop

Mix together sugar, flour and butter in the proportion of 1 tablespoon of flour and 2 of butter to each cup of sugar with a little salt and sprinkle between layers of eighths of apples in pudding dish; cover dish and bake slowly until apples are tender, then uncover for a time. If apples are dry, a few spoonfuls of water may be put in the dish. Bake about 1 hour in all.

Mary’s Scalloped Apple Pudding

Put a layer of quartered apples, sugar and a trifle of salt in the bottom of a pudding dish, then a sprinkling of dry bread crumbs; continue layers to fill the dish, leave crumbs on top, pour over all water to cook slowly for several hours until apples are a rich red color. Serve with or without cream or other sauce. If preferred the pudding may be baked with less water for a shorter time. Use cracker crumbs instead of bread and you have a different pudding.

Scalloped Raspberries, Blueberries or Peaches

Put fruit and crumbs or very thin slices of bread in layers in pudding dish, sprinkle each layer with sugar and have crumbs on top. Cover and bake about ½ hr., uncover to brown, serve hot or cold with cream—nut or dairy. Leave out sugar and serve with cream sauce.

Bread and Currant Pudding

Put small pieces of dry bread in pudding pan, sprinkle with English currants, pour enough hot, slightly salted water over to moisten well, bake in moderate oven 1–2 hours. Serve with any desired sauce or nut or dairy cream.

Or, sprinkle sugar over bread before adding water and serve plain or with unsweetened sauce. The currants give the pudding a nice flavor if it is otherwise plain.

Bread and Milk Pudding

Steamed Fig Pudding

Mix all together; use a trifle less milk if crumbs are quite moist, steam 2–3 hours; serve as soon as taken from the steamer, with creamy, orange or cream sauce, or with cream whipped or plain; never with lemon sauce.

★ Plum Pudding of Crumbs

Steam, covered, 4–5 hours. Stand out of steamer for 10–15 m. before unmolding. The quantity of milk will depend on the kind of crumbs. Serve with vanilla flavored orange syrup sauce, plain pudding sauce or almond cream sauce.

The combined flavors of vanilla and orange in sauces are especially suitable for plum puddings.

Raised cake with fruit, baked or steamed, may be served for plum pudding. Keep wrapped in oiled paper.

American Plum Pudding

Plum Pudding

Mix crumbs, almonds, browned flour and salt and add apples. Pour boiling liquid gradually over dried fruits, mixing, until they are separated; then combine all ingredients. Turn into well buttered molds, cover and steam 3–4 hours. Serve with orange syrup sauce or with hard sauce flavored with vanilla and oil of orange, or with egg cream sauce.

½ to 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 or 2 tablespoons lemon juice may be used in the pudding. The quantity of liquid will vary with the conditions, but a moderately soft batter is required.

★ Steamed Whole Wheat Pudding

Mix all ingredients but flour, agitate liquid with batter whip until full of bubbles, sprinkle flour in slowly with the left hand, keeping up the agitating motion with the right. When the flour is all in and the batter foamy, put into well oiled mold, let stand in a cold place ½ hour or longer, then set in steamer and steam 3 or 4 hrs. Serve hot with creamy, foamy, hard or other sauce. 2¼ cups of bread flour may be used.

Tapioca Puddings—Granular Tapioca

Any of the granular preparations—minute tapioca, cassava, manioc or manioca may be used.

Apple—Prepare syrup in flat bottomed granite or porcelain lined pan. When boiling, drop in, inside down, quarters of 6 medium sized, juicy apples. Cook until nearly tender, add soaked tapioca, pressing it down into the syrup, cover dish and simmer slowly until tapioca is transparent, 5–15 m. Serve warm (not hot) or cold, plain or with orange egg cream or custard sauce if cold; or orange or cocoanut flavored hard sauce if warm; or with nut or whipped dairy cream.

Peach—Make the same as Apple Tapioca, using twice as many peaches, in halves.

Strawberry, Raspberry and Other Berries—Cook soaked tapioca in the syrup and pour over the berries; mix carefully and pour into a pudding or fancy dish. Serve cold. A fluff of the fruit may be used for the sauce, if any.

Stewed or Canned Fruit—Cook soaked tapioca in the syrup and pour over drained canned fruit. Serve warm, with the juice of the fruit (to which a little lemon juice and sugar have been added if needed), thickened a trifle with corn starch or arrowroot; or, cold with whipped cream, custard or other sauce.

Fig—Steam figs until tender (30–35 m.), cut in pieces with shears and stir into tapioca cooked in the syrup. Serve warm or cold with orange egg cream sauce.

Prune—Cook tapioca in syrup with a little lemon juice if desired, and add quartered, slightly sweetened stewed prunes. Serve with rich juice of prunes, cream or whipped cream.

Apple Tapioca Pudding—Pearl or Flake Tapioca

Soak ½ cup pearl or flake tapioca in 5 cups of warm water for 3 hours or over night. Pour over whole pared cored apples in pudding dish. Cover dish and bake until apples are tender and tapioca transparent. Serve warm with hard, foamy or creamy sauce, or cold with sweetened whipped cream.

If preferred, ¾–1 cup of sugar may be added to the soaked tapioca and the pudding served plain or with unsweetened custard sauce or cream. When the pudding is to be served at the table, it may be covered with a meringue while hot and delicately browned in the oven. Use with other fruits the same as granular tapioca.

★ Sister Bramhall’s Tapioca Cream

Put all together in pudding dish, soak for 1 hour, stirring; then set in oven and bake slowly, stirring, until tapioca is transparent; brown over top at last; serve warm or cold.

May bake without stirring for 2 hrs. The pudding may be cooked entirely in a double boiler. 1 cup of raisins may be used for variety.

Sago Cream—instead of Ice Cream

Soak sago in warm water 1–3 hrs., add to cream and sugar in double boiler, cook, stirring, till sago is transparent; remove from fire, add a pinch of salt and the vanilla. Serve cold in glasses with two halves of a candied cherry or a bit of bright jelly on top. Strawberries cut in quarters, or red raspberries, may be placed in layers with the cream and a few berries laid on top.

★ Cream of Rice Pudding

Mix all together in pudding dish, set on top of stove or in oven and let come slowly to the boiling point, stirring often. When boiling, set in oven and bake slowly until rice is soft (2 hrs. or longer); stir occasionally to keep the top stirred in and to break the rice so that it will be smooth and creamy when done. If pudding becomes too thick while baking, add hot water; it should be quite thin when warm as it thickens in cooling. Brown the top delicately just before removing from the oven. Serve very cold the next day after making. In serving be sure to dip from the top to the bottom for each plate.

If you are using the ordinary polished rice, boil it for 5 m. in a pint of water, drain and rinse in cold water before adding it to the milk. When more convenient, cook the pudding in a double boiler until the rice is smooth and creamy, then turn into pudding dish and brown in oven, stirring the top in two or three times.

Rice Pudding—Raisins

Add 1 cup of raisins to preceding recipe before or during cooking. For a delicious change the raisins may be ground and added when the pudding is half done. English currants, fine cut dates, figs or citron may be variously added. Servings of pudding may be garnished with blanched almonds.

Cocoanut Rice Pudding

Nut Cream of Rice Pudding

Cook, stirring often, in oven or on top of stove until creamy, then brown. May flavor just before it is done.

“Indian” Rice Pudding

★ Emeline’s Indian Pudding

Mix salt, sugar, molasses and flour together in pudding dish and pour over them stirring 3 pts. of the milk boiling. Set dish in oven, pour the remaining pint of milk, cold, into the pudding without stirring; cover and bake very slowly for 3 or 4 hrs. Cool pudding before dipping into it, to allow the jelly to set. Serve another day warm or cold, plain, or with cream whipped or plain.

The pudding may be baked for an hour before the cold milk is poured in. Add 1 qt. rich sweet apples, in eighths, or stoned dates with or without grated cocoanut, sometimes.

Mrs. Hinsdale’s Indian Pudding

Stir meal gradually, with wire batter whip, into rapidly boiling, salted water, add the raisins, turn into well oiled mold, cover and steam 3–5 hrs; serve hot with maple syrup, cream and sugar, or hard sauce. In early days it was served with molasses.

The pudding may be sweetened and served with cream only. It should be stiff enough to slice well.

Graham Porridge Pudding

Take ½ or ¾ milk and ½ or ¼ water, add sugar and salt, stir in gradually graham flour till thick, cook in double boiler 1 hr. or longer; serve warm with cream, nut or dairy, or mold and serve cold with sweet fruit sauce or cream. Omit sugar and serve with honey, maple syrup or molasses or with molasses sauce.

Blanc Mange

Heat milk to boiling, add corn starch, boil half a minute, mold, serve with cold cream sauce, sub-acid fruit sauce, with custard or with nut or dairy cream. Fine cut dates may be added to blanc mange sometimes.

Rice Flour Blanc Mange

Blend flour with part of the milk, heat remainder of milk with sugar and salt to boiling, stir in flour, beat smooth, cook 15 m., pour into molds which have been dipped in cold water. Serve with sauces for blanc mange.

★ Caramel Jelly

Tie 2 to 4 tablespns. cereal coffee in double cheese cloth and steep in 1 qt. of milk in double boiler for 20 m.; squeeze the milk all out of the cloth, add enough more milk to make a full quart and proceed as in blanc mange. Serve with custard sauce or sometimes with plain or whipped cream flavored with vanilla. Pudding may be flavored and the cream plain.

¼ cup of strong cereal coffee may be used with ¾ qt. of milk when more convenient.

Raspberry Jelly

Blend corn starch with part of the milk and stir into remainder of milk when boiling; add sugar and mashed berries, turn into mold, cool. Unmold on to dessert plate and surround with whipped cream roses, or with spoonfuls of cream with a whole berry here and there.

★ Farina Banana Cream

Heat milk and cream with sugar in double boiler, stir in dry farina, cook 1 hr. Spread in layers with sliced bananas. Serve cold in cups or glasses the day it is made. The farina will be very thin when done, but will thicken to the consistency of cream by cooling, and if it is thicker than that it is not good.

Omit bananas, flavor cream with vanilla and serve cold in glasses for Farina Cream.

Almond “Custard”

Rub 2 tablespns. almond butter smooth with 1 cup of water; add 1 or 2 tablespns. sugar and ¼ level teaspn. salt; boil up well; serve warm or cold in cups or glasses with cake, wafers or buns. Flavor with vanilla or with vanilla and almond if desired.

★ Imperial Raspberry Cream

Dissolve sugar in juice, add to boiling cream, boil, stirring, until of the consistency of thin cream. It will be much thicker when cold. Serve in glasses with cookies, sticks or wafers. May be used as a sauce for cottage or other puddings; especially suitable for Irish moss or gelatine blanc mange. Grape and other fruit juices may be used.

Steamed Apples—Cream

While hot, sprinkle nicely steamed apples with sugar in individual dishes. Serve cold with suitable nut or whipped dairy cream.

Clabber—for summer only

Put fresh warm milk into an individual bowl for each member of the family. When it has turned and become a smooth, blanc mange-like cake, serve in the bowls with sugar sprinkled over, for dessert or supper.

Green Corn Pudding

Grate mature corn; mix with milk and sugar in pudding dish; bake in moderate oven 1–1½ hr. Serve plain or with cream or butter.

Irish or Sea Moss Blanc Mange

Sea or Irish moss is so desirable as a food that it should be used more generally. It can be bought at groceries or drug stores at from 25 cts. per lb. upward, according to where it is bought. Do not confound it with Iceland moss.

It is useless to try to follow any exact rule either by weight or measure for the proportion of moss to the milk, yet the preparation is simple. Take up a little in the fingers, what might be called a small handful, wash it in several cold waters until all the sand is removed. Drop it into the milk cold or warm. (It is very convenient to have it tied loose in 2 or 3 thicknesses of netting, cheese cloth is too fine.) Cook in the inner cup of a double boiler, or in a pail set in hot water, lifting the netting up and down occasionally, until the milk is of a creamy consistency; then remove moss if it is in the netting, if not, strain through a fine wire or hair strainer. Sweeten, and flavor with vanilla or rose, or leave plain. (Some prefer the seaweed flavor.) Turn into a large pudding mold or individual cups or molds which have been dipped in cold water. It will harden very quickly in a cool place. Serve with fruit juice, stewed fruit or cream. Pineapple sauce is very suitable.

DESSERTS AND PUDDINGS WITH EGGS

“Far too much sugar is used in food. Cakes, sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams are active causes of indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs and sugar are the chief ingredients.

Desserts made of tart fruits and bread should be avoided by those with a tendency to acid stomach.

Elizabeth’s Indian Pudding—Superior

Mix meal and flour, pour 1 qt. boiling milk over, stirring; boil well, add butter; combine egg, molasses, sugar, salt and the remaining quart of milk and add to the corn meal mixture; bake for 2 hrs., stirring occasionally. Serve warm or cold, plain or with cream, nut or dairy.

★ Corn Cake Pudding

Use 2 eggs and 3 tablespns. sugar to each quart rich milk and turn over crumbs, dice or small pieces of corn cake; sprinkle top with sugar and bake in moderate oven until eggs are set. May use currants and raisins.

★ Brown Bread Pudding

Add stiffly-beaten whites of eggs last; bake in pan of hot water or in slow oven, covered part of the time; serve warm with hard sauce or cold with whipped cream.

Victoria Dessert—Impromptu

Cut slices of bread into desired shape and size; soak in mixture of milk, eggs and sugar until moistened, not soft; lay in hot buttered pan and brown delicately in quick oven; serve at once with fresh fruit, jelly, marmalade or suitable fruit or pudding sauce.

2 whites of the 3 eggs may be left out and beaten stiff with sugar and some fruit marmalade or jelly and used as a sauce. Drained canned peaches or apricots, rubbed through a colander and beaten well make a nice sauce, especially with a little whipped cream. Even nicely stewed apples are good.

★ Steamed Crumb Pudding

If bread was very light, the larger quantity of crumbs will be required. Pour milk over crumbs, add sugar, cool; add beaten eggs and vanilla. Steam in large or small molds 1–1½ hr. Unmold, serve with orange, hard, jelly, foamy, plain or any desired sauce. Vanilla may be omitted. Fine cut raisins or citron, dried blueberries, English currants or any desired fruit (about ½ cup) may be added to the pudding sometimes; also fresh red or black raspberries, blueberries or blackberries.

Steamed Cabinet Pudding

Beat eggs, add sugar, salt, milk, pour over crumbs, let stand 1 hr. Use 1 tablespn. of softened butter in oiling a three-pint mold; sprinkle mold with fruit, pour in batter, steam in vessel of hot water in oven for 2 hrs. Serve with creamy sauce.

Plain Boiled or Baked Custard

Beat eggs with sugar just enough to blend whites and yolks, add milk, stir until sugar is dissolved; cook, stirring over hot water until the custard thinly coats the spoon; remove quickly from fire, add flavoring if desired and strain into pitcher or glass sauce dish; serve cold.

Or, pour hot milk slowly stirring, over beaten eggs and sugar, strain and pour into buttered custard cups, set in pan of hot water, bake slowly until creamy all through, or till a silver knife will come out clean when run into custard. Do not allow the water around the cups to boil at any time. Cool as rapidly as possible. The straining of custards has much to do with their smoothness and lightness. If the boiled custard should curdle from too long cooking, beating with the dish in cold water may restore the smoothness, but not the flavor.

In making a large quantity of custard, set as soon as creamy into cold water and stir until below the coagulating point or the custard will become curdled by its own heat.

Custard of Yolks of Eggs

Follow directions for boiled custard. The custard may be served with an uncooked meringue of the whites of the eggs, sprinkled with chopped candied cherries or dotted with jelly.

★ White Custard

The white of 1 egg with ⅔ to 1 tablespn. of sugar and a trifle of salt, to every ⅔ or 1 cup of milk. (Good with either quantity of milk.) Bake in pan of hot water in very slow oven for 40 m. to 1 hour, according to heat of oven and shape and size of dish.

Corn Starch Custard

Blend corn starch with a little of the cold milk and pour slowly into remainder of milk heated to boiling with the sugar; boil up well, or cook in double boiler 10 m., add a little to the beaten egg, and when smooth, turn egg all at once into hot mixture; stir well, remove from fire, add salt and flavoring and strain.

Cocoanut Banana Dessert

Add grated cocoanut to corn starch custard. Fill deep glass dish with layers of custard and bananas, and sprinkle cocoanut over the top. Serve cold.

Lemon Water Custard

Beat eggs and sugar together, pour hot lemon juice over, stirring; cook, strain, turn into dish or glasses. Just before serving drop on sweetened beaten white of egg and dot with squares or diamonds of jelly.

Coffee Custard

Steep 2 tablespns. cocoanut in coffee and strain out if convenient. Boil or bake. Serve with whipped cream.

★ Floating Island

Beat whites of eggs stiff with half the sugar, flavor, drop by spoonsfuls on to hot (not boiling) milk; when puffed a little, turn with silver fork, remove with skimmer or wire spoon when well heated through. Turn milk into double boiler, add yolks and sugar, cook, strain, cool. When cold, flavor and turn into large dish or several glasses; lay puffs on top and dot with jelly or some confection, or sprinkle with chopped candied cherries. A few fresh rose leaves scattered over are not unsuitable.

★ Floating Island No. 2

Make boiled custard of yolks, sugar and milk; when cold, flavor or not and turn into glass dish. Beat whites of eggs to stiff froth and beat in any desired jam or jelly. Beat until very firm, drop on to custard. Serve with cake or wafers.

Raspberry jelly or jam with 1 tablespn. currant jelly makes a nice combination for flavor. The dish may be lined with lady fingers or slices of sponge cake before custard is poured in. Water may be used instead of milk for the custard.

Custard Apple Pudding—Good Sabbath Dessert

Cook without paring 3 medium sized apples in as little water as possible; press through sieve, add 2 tablespns. butter, ¼–½ cup sugar and the yolks of 3 eggs beaten with ¼ cup sugar, with 1 pt. of milk and ½ teaspn. of vanilla or a few drops of lemon extract; bake in moderate oven until creamy, cover with meringue of whites of eggs beaten with 1 tablespn. of sugar; dust with powdered or granulated sugar and brown delicately. Serve cold.

Orange Pudding

Heat ¾ of milk with ⅓ of sugar to boiling and stir in slowly corn starch which has been blended with the remaining cup of milk, boil up well and cook in double boiler for 10 m., then add yolks of eggs which have been beaten with ⅓ the cup of sugar; when well heated through, remove from fire and cool. Grate rind from one orange and mix with a little of the remaining sugar; prepare orange pulp according to directions on p. 42, and put into glass dish or individual glasses and sprinkle with remaining sugar; when custard is cold turn it over the oranges, and just the last thing before serving sprinkle the peel over the custard and pile on it in spoonfuls (or put on with pastry tube) the whites of the eggs beaten stiff with a speck of salt and the powdered sugar; Serve at once.

Sprinkle meringue with cocoanut sometimes, or decorate with leaves of angelica or diamonds of citron. The custard may be delicately flavored with vanilla. Other fruits may be used.

Banana Pudding

Same as orange pudding, using 3 tablespns. cornstarch only. Pour unflavored custard over sliced bananas warm, so that the custard will be flavored with the banana.

Hattie’s Prune Dessert

Stew 1 lb. nice large California prunes in as little water as possible; drain, remove the stones and chop the prunes, not too fine. Beat the whites of 3 eggs to a stiff froth with a little salt and ¼ cup of sugar. (Be sure to use the sugar in the eggs instead of in the prunes.) Chop prunes in lightly, bake in pudding dish or brick shaped granite pan in slow oven until egg is set, about 20 m. Serve cold with plain or whipped cream. Almond cream flavored with vanilla is nice.

Prune Soufflé

Stew 28 prunes in as little water as possible; drain, rub through colander. Add the whites of 4 eggs stiffly-beaten with 4 to 6 tablespns. sugar, set in pan of water, bake slowly until set. Serve with egg cream or custard sauce or whipped cream.

Fruit Whips

Dried Apple—2 cups sifted, stewed, dried apples (stewed in small quantity of water), ½–1 cup sugar, 1 tablespn. lemon juice if 1 cup of sugar is used, whites of 2–4 eggs. Beat all together until light and spongy, heap in glass dish. Serve cold with or without custard sauce or cream. Dried peaches, apricots and prunes may be used the same.

Banana—White of 1 egg, ¼ cup sugar, 1 teaspn. lemon juice, 1 cup banana pulp. Nice on cake.

Whips must be beaten until they hold their shape. They are nice served on bread puddings, custards and other desserts, instead of a meringue or a sauce.

The rule for fruit whips is, 1 cup of fresh or stewed fruit pulp to the white of each egg, sugar to suit the fruit, and a little lemon juice with sweet fruits; but the proportion of fruit often needs to be varied.

Fresh pears and peaches may be used by rubbing through the colander or mashing well.

★ Jelly Whips, or Mary’s Desserts

Quince—1 glass of quince jelly, whites of 3 eggs; beat jelly a little, and whites very stiff and dry; combine the two and beat together until stiff. Make custard of 1 pt. of milk, yolks of 3 eggs, 2 tablespns. sugar; when cold put into glasses with whip on top. Sterilized cream may be used instead of custard, or whip may be put into glass first and whipped cream piled on top of that. Serve with crackers or cake.

Brother Fulton’s Strawberry Fluff

Mash berries with sugar and add to unbeaten whites in deep cake bowl; beat with egg or batter whip until the mixture will stand alone, very light and fluffy. Serve in glasses with cake or wafers, or as meringue, garnish, or sauce for other desserts. Strawberry fluff makes a nice garnish for strawberry shortcake. Raspberries and other fruits may be used.

Strawberries and Cream Whip

Add sugar and berries to cream, whip as for whipped cream and serve in sherbet glasses.

Apple Cream

Pare, quarter, core and steam 12 tart apples, rub through colander, cool, add 1 cup sugar and whites of 2 eggs, beat until white and foamy; heap in cold glass dish. Garnish with chopped candied cherries, bits of jelly or with citron or angelica. Serve very cold.

Rose Apple Cream

Steam red skinned apples without paring for above recipe. Pile on glass dessert plate and surround with whipped cream roses flavored delicately with extract of rose.

Lemon Snow Pudding

Heat sugar and water to boiling, stir in the corn starch blended with water, boil up, add lemon juice and pour gradually, beating, over the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Beat well and pour into molds or cups, cool. Serve with custard or red sauce or cream.

Birds’ Nest Pudding

Pare and core 6 or 8 tart apples. Steam until nearly tender. Set in oiled pudding dish and cover with the following

Cream butter and flour, pour boiling milk over, cook 5 m.; remove from fire and add yolks of eggs. When cold, chop in the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs, turn over apples and bake in a slow or moderate oven about ½ hour or until done. The success of the pudding depends upon the slow baking. Serve at once with hard, creamy or any suitable sauce, or with sweetened sterilized cream. Do not sweeten the apples or batter. With some flours and some measurements, ½–1 tablespn. more of flour will be required.

Sponge Apple Pudding

Fill pudding dish half full of quartered sour apples that have been steamed until tender. Fill dish with a sponge cake batter and bake until well done. Serve with custard, almond, cream or other sauce. May use peaches sprinkled with sugar instead of apples, with thin meringue on cake and no sauce.

Lemon Soufflé Pudding—Unequaled

Cream butter and flour and pour the boiling milk over; cook until thick; add lemon juice and rind and yolks of eggs beaten with the sugar; cool a little, chop in whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth with salt; bake in buttered mold in pan of water in moderate oven until egg is set, about 30 m. Serve with foamy or fruit Sabayon sauce, fruit syrup or egg cream sauce.—Boston Cooking School Magazine.

Cream Sponge Pudding

Thicken boiling milk and sugar (if used) with corn starch stirred smooth with some of the cold milk, boil 3–5 m.; add beaten yolks of eggs, beat well and pour over stiffly-beaten whites, turn into wet molds or cups. Serve with fruit or other sauce if not sweetened, or if sweet with cream.

Fruit Juice Mold

Heat juice, sugar, salt and water to boiling; stir in corn starch blended with cold water; boil well, pour over stiff whites of eggs, beating; mold. Serve with custard or whipped cream flavored with strawberry, orange, lemon or vanilla or not flavored at all, as suitable.

Snow Blanc Mange—No Milk

Thicken boiling water and sugar with corn starch blended with cold water; boil well, pour over the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs, beating, add flavoring and turn into wet mold. Serve with custard of yolks of eggs flavored with vanilla or a few drops of lemon extract.

Flour Blanc Mange

Stir flour blended with part of the milk into remainder of milk when boiling; cook 10–20 m. in double boiler; add egg slightly beaten, heat a moment and turn into cups dipped in cold water; serve cold with any desired dressing. In making a larger quantity, use a slightly larger proportion of flour.

Rice Flour Pudding

Add sugar to boiling milk and stir in the flour blended with the cold milk; boil 5 m.; add butter, beaten eggs and salt; bake 20 m. or until firm. Serve with strawberry or blueberry sauce or with cream. Butter may be omitted.

Corn Starch Meringue

Heat milk and 4 tablespns. of sugar to boiling; stir in corn starch blended with cold milk; boil; add the yolks of eggs, flavor, turn into serving dish; cover at once with whites of eggs beaten with 2 tablespns. of sugar; tint delicately on top grate of oven. Serve cold. The meringue may be sprinkled with grated cocoanut while warm. May use 1 tablespn. more of corn starch and lay drained canned peaches on top of pudding before putting on meringue. Other fruits, jellies or jams may be used.

Sea Foam—Sea Moss

Pour hot Irish Moss Blanc Mange, p. 308, over stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Flavor with almond, orange flower water or other flavoring. Mold. Serve with anything suitable for Irish Moss Blanc Mange.

Eva’s Tapioca Cream—none better

Soak tapioca in water (pearl or flake 2 hrs., minute or manioca 10 m.) and cook with milk and sugar in double boiler until transparent; add beaten yolks, stir for a moment, remove from fire, add vanilla and pour into serving dish, cover with the whites of eggs beaten with 1–1½ tablespn. sugar. Tint on top grate of oven. Serve cold.

Tapioca Cream—in glasses

Soak tapioca in water, cook in the milk with half the sugar in double boiler until clear; add beaten yolks of eggs, remove from fire and while hot or when nearly cold pour over whites which have been beaten with the remaining sugar; flavor and serve in glasses.

Beaten whites may be chopped into cold custard just before serving, or, they may be served on top of it.

Water Tapioca Pudding—Excellent

Soak tapioca in 1 cup of the water, cook in remainder with sugar until transparent, add beaten yolks (it is better to reserve a spoonful of sugar to beat with the yolks), flavor and pour into pudding dish. Meringue with whites of eggs beaten with 1–2 tablespns. of sugar, flavored or not. Lemon juice or other fruit juices may replace some of the water for variety. Stewed or steamed raisins may be sprinkled over the pudding before the meringue is put on, but the plain pudding is good enough.

Molded Tapioca Pudding—Fine

Pour a good quantity of warm water over tapioca, soak 10 m., drain and put to cooking with milk, water and sugar; cook until perfectly transparent, stir in beaten yolks of eggs, remove from fire, add flavoring, chop in the whites of eggs beaten with 1 tablespn. of sugar; turn into wet mold or cups. Serve plain, garnished with nuts or jelly, or with nut or dairy cream, custard, or some fruit whip or egg cream.

★ Cottage Pudding—Eggs

Take 1 egg and ½ cup of sugar to each cup of milk in universal crust. Bake in any desired shape and serve with lemon or other sauce.

The sugar may be omitted for some sauces. A different pudding may be made by steaming instead of baking.

Steamed Fruit Pudding

To ingredients for universal crust add 1 or 2 tablespns. of sugar (white or brown) and 1 or 2 eggs for each cup of liquid—milk or water, and flour for a thick batter. When light, mix in carefully floured fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries, cherries or sliced peaches; dried blueberries, cherries, raisins or currants; or drained canned cherries. Steam in well oiled molds or cups—cups ¾ hour, mold 1 hour. Serve with sauce suitable for the fruit.

★ Quaker Pudding

Batter Pudding

Beat eggs for 3 m.; add the milk and pour on to flour gradually, beating. Turn into well oiled mold with cover and steam or boil 1½ hr. Serve with suitable sauce.

Cocoanut Rice Pudding

Cook rice in milk until very soft, cool; beat 2 whole eggs and the yolks of the other 2 with the sugar, cocoanut and salt and add with the vanilla to the rice. Turn into pudding dish and bake in moderate oven until eggs are set. Cover with a meringue of the remaining whites of eggs and 1 or 2 tablespns. of sugar. Tint delicately in oven. Serve warm or cold.

Grind desiccated cocoanut when using that instead of fresh. 1–1¼ cup of cold boiled rice may be used. Vanilla maybe omitted.

Rice Custard Pudding

Same as above with cocoanut omitted. 1 cup of raisins, whole or chopped, may be cooked with the rice sometimes.

Rice Pudding—Lemon Meringue

Pour hot milk over rice in pudding dish. Beat yolks of eggs with ⅓ of the sugar flavored with oil of lemon, as on p. 27, and add to rice and milk. Bake in slow oven until creamy; beat whites of eggs stiff, add sugar and lemon juice, drop by spoonfuls on pudding and brown delicately.

Sweet Potato Mold

Boil and mash potatoes, add butter while warm, beat well; beat eggs with sugar and add to mixture; then flavoring, Vanilla or lemon, and cream. Bake in pudding mold in moderate oven. Serve with sauce or cream.

Dainty Dessert

Bake rose flavored sponge cake in flat pan, cut in squares and serve with Imperial Raspberry Cream, p. 307.

Cottage Cheese and Cake

Spread creamy, unseasoned, sweetened cottage cheese over sponge cake, cut into squares and serve with whipped cream. Molasses or Washington cake may be used.

Molasses Cake with Whipped Cream

Serve fresh, warm, molasses cake with sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla.

Molded Apples

Grind (not too fine) tart apples, put at once into boiling syrup of equal quantities of sugar and water, just enough to cook apples and leave dry. Do not stir. When thick, turn into mold to cool; unmold and serve with boiled custard or with unsweetened whipped cream.

Apple Dessert

Stew nice, tart apples in quarters, in just enough water without sugar to cook them, or, steam them; serve cold with plain sweetened egg cream or boiled custard. Apples may be pared, cored and steamed.

PUDDING SAUCES

“The pudding is nice and the sauce is nice, but the tart of the lemon destroys the flavor of the fig,” was the kindly criticism which my fig pudding with lemon sauce received from one of the ladies of the class in the junior days of my public work.

To combine desserts and sauces properly requires true artistic skill. As a rule, a rich sauce should be served with a plain pudding and a simpler or neutral sauce with a richer pudding, or with one having a characteristic or delicate flavor. Cream—almond, Brazil nut, cocoanut or dairy is the only thing that will develop the flavor of some desserts, while some puddings are too good to be spoiled with any sauce.

★ Creamy (Apple Dumpling) Sauce

Cream butter and sugar, add milk gradually, stirring; set over hot water and stir until just smooth, no longer. The sauce is not intended to be hot. Add vanilla and serve at once.

If the sauce should stand and separate, heat carefully again before serving. Water may be used in place of milk, or lemon juice and water in equal quantities, with lemon flavor, or fruit juices for cottage or plain steamed puddings. Orange juice with the flavor of the rind and vanilla makes a pleasing combination. The sauce is sometimes made with cream and sometimes with ¼ cup each of cream and fruit juice.

Strawberry or Raspberry Sauce

Add 1 cup mashed, drained, canned or fresh strawberries or raspberries to above sauce just before serving.

★ Foamy Sauce

Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla and fruit juice. Just before serving, add gradually the boiling water, and pour over the stiffly-beaten white of egg; beat until foamy. Vanilla may be omitted. Grape juice gives a lavender color.

Hard Sauce

Cream butter, add sugar gradually. When sauce is smooth and creamy, add flavoring. Pile on glass or other pretty dish, set in cold place to harden.

Variations of Hard Sauce

★ Variegated Hard Sauce

Cream butter and sugar, add beaten white of egg, divide into 3 parts, flavor one part with vanilla, add yolk of egg to another with 2 or 3 drops of lemon extract and put the fruit color with a drop or two of rose into the third part; oil a brick shaped mold and press the sauce into it in layers, set in a cold place to harden. When firm, dip mold quickly into hot water, turn sauce on a platter or flat dish and let stand in a cold place until the outside is again hardened. Cut in slices with hot knife and lay a slice on each serving of pudding.

Saffron may be used to color yellow, green and other colors may be used, and strawberry flavoring instead of rose sometimes. Maple hard sauce might be used for one layer.

Hard Sauce of Cooking Oil

Beat oil sugar and salt together until light and creamy; add flavoring and stiffly-beaten white of egg, set in cool place to harden.

Plain Lemon Sauce

Heat sugar and water to boiling, add corn starch blended with cold water, boil, remove from fire, add lemon juice and a trifle of salt.

Lemon Sauce—Egg

Boil sugar and water, thicken with corn starch blended with water, boil, add yolk, stir well but do not boil; add lemon juice and salt. One yolk is sufficient for twice the quantity of sauce.

Starchless Lemon Sauce

Beat sugar, eggs and lemon juice together; add hot, not boiling, water gradually, cook stirring in double boiler till creamy. Set at once into cold water. Add a trifle of salt.

Cream Lemon Sauce

Add, beating well, 2–4 tablespns. of cream—sweet or sour, to each cup of liquid in any of the recipes for lemon sauce. When sweet cream is used it may be cooked with the other ingredients.

Orange Sauce

The same as lemon sauce with egg, using 4 tablespns. orange and ½ tablespn. lemon juice with a scant cup of water. Add cream for Cream Orange Sauce.

★ Orange Syrup Sauce

Flavor 1 cup of granulated sugar with the lightly scored rind of 4 or 5 oranges, add the juice of the oranges (1 cupful) and let the syrup just boil up; strain and add a trifle of salt. For plum pudding add also ½–1 teaspn. vanilla.

Lemon Raisin Sauce

Cook raisins 20 m.; drain and measure the water for the sauce. Mix molasses, water and raisins and heat to boiling; stir in corn starch blended with milk; boil up well, add butter and lemon juice and serve.

Raisin Sauce

Stew raisins ½ hr. or until tender, add sugar and cook to a thin syrup. Serve over boiled rice with cream. If desired, nut or dairy cream or butter may be added to the sauce.

Fig Sauce

Grind figs fine through food cutter, simmer in small quantity of water ½ hr. or until soft, add a little sugar and simmer again, leave just a little liquid. Nut or dairy cream or butter may be added, or the cereal or dessert may be served with both fig sauce and cream.

Date Sauce

Stew dates 10 m. in small quantity of water, rub through colander; serve rather thick. The date may be flavored delicately with anise.

Cream, with vanilla, lemon, rose or almond flavor, coriander or anise may be added to the date pulp.

Prune Sauce

Rich prune juice is nice with blanc mange, cottage pudding and similar desserts. Stewed prunes may be rubbed through the colander and their juice added for sauce, with or without orange or vanilla flavoring. The thick pulp may be added to whipped cream, a little at a time, beating, for Prune Whipped Cream Sauce.

Peach Sauce

Mix ¼ cup sugar and a level tablespn. corn starch. Pour on gradually 1 cup boiling water; boil 5 m., stirring; add 1 tablespn. lemon juice, 1 of butter and a cup of peaches which have been pared, mashed and rubbed through a fine sieve; bring just to boiling point and serve.

Nice with cottage pudding and popovers. Canned or dried peaches may be used with the thin juice of the peach instead of water; then no additional sugar will be required.

Pineapple Sauce

Beat whites of 2 eggs, add powdered sugar till creamy; then add 3 tablespns. cream and 1 cup grated pineapple; serve with Irish moss or gelatine blanc mange.

Cranberry Sauce

Boil ½–¾ cup sugar and ½ cup water 5 m., add 1 cup cranberry juice and boil again. Thicken with 1 teaspn. corn starch, add a few drops lemon extract and 1 teaspn. melted butter. Strawberry or rose extract may be used instead of lemon.

Fruit Sabayon Sauce

Heat juice, the first sugar and lemon juice nearly to boiling; pour, stirring, over egg (in double boiler) which has been beaten with the last sugar. Cook, stirring, a moment or two, to just thicken but not to curdle the egg; serve hot or beat until cold. ¼ cup cream—whipped, may be added.

★ Jelly Meringue Sauce

Beat white of egg stiff, then beat in gradually any desired jelly. 1–1½ tablespn. powdered sugar may be added to the egg before the jelly, and 2 tablespns. cream, plain or whipped. This sauce will keep on ice for several hours.

Cream, White, and Foamy White Sauces

Mix flour and sugar, pour boiling water over stirring, boil up well, add cream and a trifle of salt, remove from fire and stir in vanilla. For pineapple sago or tapioca, flavor sauce delicately with rose.

White—Use milk in place of water. Serve plain, or flavor with orange, almond or lemon, and vanilla.

2 tablespns. of butter or the yolk of an egg may be used with a half cup more of milk instead of the ½ cup of cream.

Foamy White—Pour hot white sauce slowly, stirring, over whites of 2 eggs, stiffly-beaten with half the sugar.

Cocoanut Sauce

Steep, not boil, 2 tablespns. cocoanut in 1 pt. of milk for 20 m., strain and use milk in white or foamy white sauce.

Banana Cream Sauce

Heat cream and sugar nearly to boiling in double boiler. Remove from fire, add fine diced bananas and serve at once. A little vanilla may be added. Serve over popovers, molded farina, rice or plain tapioca pudding.

Cold Cream Sauce

Whipped Cream Sauce

Whip cream until quite stiff, add sugar and vanilla, finish whipping, chop in stiffly-beaten white of egg. May beat fresh fruit or fruit jelly into white before adding to cream.

Strawberry Cream Sauce

Whip cream, add half the sugar, berries, and white of egg stiffly-beaten with remainder of sugar.

Creamy Sauce of Cooking Oil

Beat the oil and sugar to a thick cream; when very light add cream a little at a time, stir over boiling water if necessary to make the sauce smooth and creamy, add lemon and serve.

Lemon Cream Sauce—Sour Cream

Sauce Antique—Sour Cream

Egg Cream or Emergency Sauce

Beat whites stiff with a trifle of salt, add sugar, beat until smooth; chop in lightly, yolks, cream and flavoring. Do not let stand. Nice for plum and other puddings.

Orange Egg Cream Sauce

Beat whites of eggs stiff, add orange flavored sugar, or use grated rind of orange, beat; then chop in yolks, orange juice and whipped cream.

Almond Cream Sauce

Blend butter, sugar and salt; add water slowly, boil up well, remove from fire and add flavoring. Serve hot or cold. 1 teaspn. flour and a little more water may be used.

Grape and Almond Sauce

Blend almond butter and water, add sugar, bring to boiling point, remove from fire and add lemon and grape juice.

Almond Whipped Cream

Rub 2 tablespns. almond butter smooth with 3 tablespns. water and chop lightly into the white of an egg that has been beaten to a stiff froth with 1 tablespn. of sugar.

Almond Cream for Puddings or Cereals

Heat 1 cup of water to boiling and thicken with the flour blended with cold water; rub almond butter smooth with salt and distilled water; add the thickened water, beat well, serve cold.

Custard Sauce

Cook all together in inner cup of double boiler until mixture will coat the back of a spoon. Remove at once from fire and set in pan of cold water.

Maple Syrup Sauce

Boil ½ cup maple syrup with ¼ cup water (or if syrup is thin, ¾ cup syrup and no water) until it threads. Add gradually, beating, the stiffly-beaten whites of 2 eggs and ½ cup cream.

Maple Sugar Sauce

½ lb. of grated maple sugar, 1 cup milk or thin cream, salt. Simmer together a few minutes, stirring often.

Molasses Sauces

Cream—1 cup molasses, ½ cup cream. Whip cream, heat molasses and pour over it, beating. Serve at once.

Molasses sauces are nice with rice, bread and puff omelets and steamed or cottage puddings.

★ Plain Pudding Sauce

Rub to a cream ¼ cup butter (1 tablespn. would do) and 1 cup brown or granulated sugar; add 1 tablespn. flour, pour on gradually 1¼ cup boiling water; boil 5 m., stirring; flavor with vanilla, or add 1 tablespn. lemon juice.

Rose Sauce

Boil to a thin syrup 1 pt. of water and 1½ cup of sugar, add a very little salt, a trifle of red fruit color and 1–3 drops of extract of rose with or without 1 or 2 tablespns. of lemon juice.

For Red Sauce, slice a rich red beet into the water, let stand 15–20 m. in a hot place without boiling, strain, add sugar and at the last, lemon or vanilla flavoring or both, with lemon juice.

VEGETABLE GELATINE

In the seaweed, Agar Agar, which comes from the rocky coasts of the East India islands, we have a most delightful vegetable gelatine. Besides being clean and pure and sweet, it is inexpensive. An ounce of Agar Agar will solidify from two to four times as much liquid as an ounce of animal gelatine. The method of its use is very simple.

Directions

Pour water that feels quite hot to the finger over the gelatine and let it stand covered in a warm place for an hour or longer. When ready to use, drain and to the hot water drained off add sufficient boiling water to make 4 cups (1 qt.) for each ounce of gelatine. Pour over gelatine and cook (taking care that it does not boil over) in covered vessel until clear, which will be in not over 2 or three minutes if the gelatine was well soaked.

For fruit juices and nearly all liquids, 1 oz. is sufficient for 16 cups (4 qts.), including the water in which it was boiled. The exceptions will be noted in the recipes. This proportion makes that delicate, quaking jelly always so desirable.

In warm weather a little more gelatine may be required, and the proportions vary slightly with different qualities of gelatine.

Secrets of Success

Keep cooked gelatine warm by setting dish in hot water (may be cooked in inner cup of double boiler, then set into outer boiler) until ready to use.

Leave molds quite wet. Set in cold room or on ice or in ice water. When cold surroundings are not obtainable, use a smaller proportion of liquid. Do not unmold until just before serving time.

If for any reason gelatine becomes solidified or partly so after boiling, before molding, boil it up again as nothing less than boiling heat will make it smooth.

When the gelatine is to be cooked in stock or milk, do not have water for soaking quite so hot.

Unless a very transparent jelly is desired, straining after cooking is unnecessary with a good quality of gelatine. The very cheapest quality may require several strainings but I question the economy of its use. Strain, if at all, through a double thickness of cheese cloth (wrung out of hot water) into a hot vessel.

Pour cooked gelatine into liquid all at once, stir just enough to mix well, and turn immediately into molds. Do not stir while cooling.

To unmold jelly, run a thin bladed knife around the edge carefully, when necessary; turn the dish on which it is to be served over it and invert quickly; shake gently. If the mold was not drained too much, there will be no necessity for using a warm, wet cloth or warm water to loosen jelly.

When whipped cream is used, add all or a part of the sugar to it before mixing it with the other ingredients.

The whites of the eggs must be beaten with all or nearly all of the sugar of the recipe to combine well.

If directions are followed carefully, vegetable gelatine desserts will be found among the easiest to prepare, as well as very delightful.

In each recipe, the quantity of water in which the gelatine is to be cooked immediately follows it.

Fruit Jellies

The simplest and most desirable of gelatine desserts are the molds made of fruit juices, either of one variety alone, or of harmonious combinations such as red raspberry and currant, strawberry and currant, strawberry and pineapple, and grape and peach (¼ grape and ¾ peach). Cherry, cranberry, gooseberry, apricot and orange are among the many juices suitable for jellies.

The fruit itself cut fine may sometimes be used in connection with the juice, pineapple especially.

The addition of lemon juice gives character to nearly all fruits. Add water and sugar to make not too rich.

Jellies may be served plain, with fruit juices, or with whipped cream or custard; or with egg or whipped cream sauce.

When obtainable, the fruit and leaves of the fruit used in the jelly make suitable decorations.

The water is that in which the gelatine is to be cooked. Prepare the juice, cook the gelatine (after soaking) and pour it, all at once, into the juice. Stir just enough to mix well and pour into molds. This quantity will make about 12 good sized individual molds.

Delicate Lemon Jelly

Fruit and Mint Jelly

Make delicate lemon jelly with 1 cup of sugar. Pour some of it into the bottom of a mold, keeping the remainder hot. When cold, but hardly beginning to set, drop small pieces of grape fruit pulp into it and sprinkle with shredded fresh mint. Cover with more jelly. Next, place a layer of slices of red skinned apples around the edge with another sprinkling of mint. Have the next layer of green skinned apples, and finally cover with jelly. Follow general directions for cooling and unmolding. Other fruits may be used.

Beets in Jelly

Layers of sliced or diced boiled red beets may be molded with lemon jelly with pleasing effect.

Orange Jelly

Heat sugar and water together until sugar is dissolved. The orange pulp need not be strained out of the juice.

Orange or Lemon Jelly with Strawberries

Press ripe whole, or pieces of strawberries into jelly quickly when just cold and beginning to set slightly. Serve with whipped cream garnished with slices of berries. Red raspberries may be used instead of strawberries.

Jelly in Orange Cups

Orange jelly with or without fruit may be molded in cups the size of orange cups, transferred to them at serving time and finished with a meringue or a fluff or with whipped cream.

★ Wedding Breakfast Salad

Heat the sugar and water together, remove from fire, add the lemon and pineapple juice and gelatine; then the fruit which has been cut into small pieces. Put into molds and set on ice. Use the day it is made. Serve plain or with whipped cream.

I once saw this salad served with two orange cups tied together with baby ribbon the color of the bride’s dress, having the whipped cream piled in one cup and the jelly cut into cubes in the other.

Red Jelly with Fruit

Stew berries in an equal quantity of water and strain for juice. Pour half of liquid into mold. Let it set slightly, keeping the remaining half hot. Cover with shredded or cut fruit (oranges, bananas, pineapple, well drained canned pears or peaches) and pour remainder of liquid over. Allow jelly to become very firm. Serve with garnish of whipped cream or rich meringue flavored with lemon or rose. Dark red cherry and lemon juice make a most delightful jelly without the flavorings.

★ Orange Garnish for Salad or Cold Entrée

Cut a small hole in one end of as many oranges as desired. Carefully scoop out the pulp, leaving the rinds whole. Soak in cold water an hour or more. Drain and wipe dry on the inside, then leave in cold place until well dried.

When nearly cold, carefully fill cups, harden, and at serving time cut the oranges in sixths or eighths, rind and all.

Orange, lemon and other fruit jellies may be used by taking only 1¾ cup of liquid besides the water in the gelatine.

Apple Sauce Molds—very nice

Serve with egg sauce, custard or whipped cream, or with blueberry or grape juice.

Orange Cream

Add lemon and orange juice to cooked gelatine, and sugar to cream, then pour gelatine into cream, mixing carefully if cream is whipped. Mold.

Prune Cream Mold

Pineapple Sponge

Beat whites of eggs stiff, add sugar and beat, chop in the lemon juice, then the cream and the pineapple juice, carefully, and lastly add the gelatine, not too warm, and put at once into molds. Some of the fruit cut fine may be used with the juice.

Lemon Snow

Beat whites of eggs stiff, add the sugar, beating well, then the lemon juice and water, slowly, chopping in lightly, then add the gelatine, not very warm.

May serve with border of grated or shredded pineapple. Make pineapple, gooseberry, grape and other fruit snows in the same way.

Sponge Pudding

Beat yolks of eggs in inner cup of double boiler and pour slowly over them the lemon juice and 5 tablespns. of sugar, hot, not boiling; cook like custard, cool; chop into whites of eggs which have been stiffly beaten with the 6 tablespns. of sugar, and add the gelatine, not very warm. Serve with unflavored, whipped cream or with grape juice.

★ Gelatine Blanc Mange

Soak gelatine in warm water, drain and cook in part of the milk in the inner cup of a double boiler (let stand in the outer boiler until well heated, then boil carefully over the fire). When the gelatine is dissolved, remove from the fire, add sugar, then the cold milk and lastly, the vanilla. Mold. Serve with cream or any desired sauce.

Cocoanut Blanc Mange

Flavor milk with cocoanut and proceed as in gelatine blanc mange. Serve with rich blueberry juice, or with cream or custard.

★ Rice Charlotte

After boiling rice in salted water 20 m. to ½ hr. drain and cook in milk in double boiler 1 hr. Add water to that drained from the rice to make ½ cup, which add with sugar, flavoring and gelatine to rice when partly cooled. Lastly, mix whipped cream in lightly and mold. Serve alone or with cream, plain or whipped, with orange egg cream sauce or fruit sauce and halves of nuts. When serving with fruit sauces omit flavorings.

If desired richer, 1 cup only of milk may be used for cooking rice, and 1 cup cream, whipped, added. A garnish of small molds of orange or other fruit jelly around the charlotte is very pretty.

★ Whipped Cream Jelly—Miss Hughes

Whip cream, not too much, add sugar, then gelatine. Tint delicately with pink or green when desired, and flavor with vanilla or rose or both or with orange and vanilla sometimes; but as a rule, it is preferred without flavoring. May be served with cake or wafers and berries.

★ Maple Cream

Jellied Café au Lait

Coffee Bavarian

Strain coffee through cloth, mix with milk, sugar and eggs; cook like custard. Cool partly before adding vanilla; add gelatine and mold. Serve with unsweetened cream with cake or wafers.

Coffee Bavarian and Blanc Mange or Jellied Custard

May be molded in layers and served with a sweetened and vanilla flavored meringue or with whipped cream in roses.

★ Jellied Custard

Cook custard, flavor if desired, add gelatine, mold. Serve with blueberry, grape or any suitable fruit juice, or with unsweetened cream, plain or whipped. Or, cook milk and yolks of eggs together, cool, add gelatine, and pour into whites beaten with sugar, chopping quickly together. Or, use ½ cup cream, whipped, instead of whites of eggs and 2½ cups of milk only.

Jellied Custard with Meringue

Cook custard and cool; add vanilla and gelatine, mold. Just before serving, beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth with 2 or 3 tablespns. of sugar (powdered preferable). Add 1½–2½ tablespns. lemon juice, and heap by spoonfuls around the base of the mold. Serve at once. If preferred, 1 cup of milk may be used to cook the gelatine in after soaking, instead of water.

Marshmallow Pudding

Beat whites of eggs very stiff, add sugar gradually, beating, then vanilla, lastly the warm gelatine, chopping in quickly. Mold in shallow pan. Just before serving unmold and with hot, dry knife cut into cubes. Serve with cream, custard or fruit juice or use as garnish for other dishes.

Cream of Tomato and Carrot Jelly

Soak gelatine in warm water, drain, cook in milk; add the tomato, sugar and salt with cooked carrot which has been rubbed through a fine colander, mold. Serve garnished with spinach or chervil as a cold entrée, with nuts and wafers. Or, mold in small molds and use as a garnish for other dishes. May flavor milk with onion or onion and garlic, straining them out after cooking gelatine.

★ Tomato Jelly

Simmer all ingredients (except gelatine and parsley) together for 20 m., strain, add parsley and cooked gelatine and pour into mold. Individual molds may be served on lettuce, spinach or endive with or without improved mayonnaise dressing.

★ Tomato Aspic

Drain juice from stewed tomatoes without pressing the pulp through; add other ingredients. Simmer all together 10–15 m.; strain, add water to make 3 cups, mix with cooked gelatine and mold.

Green peas, sprays of parsley, sliced celery, or trumese or nutmese in dice (singly or in combinations) may be put in with jelly, in layers, the same as fruit, in fruit and mint jelly. Serve garnished as a cold entrée for luncheon or for supper or for one course at dinner. Mold in small molds sometimes and use as a garnish.

Aspic—Light

If preferred pour hot stock over 2 yolks of eggs and cook and add to gelatine. May be molded in small molds for garnishing.

A mold of jellied bouillon or stock surrounded with halves of nuts or delicate wafers or both, may be served in place of soup.

Bouillon for Jelly

Mix browned flour, salt, nut butter and tomato, add water, onion and garlic. Cook ½–1 hour and strain. Add water for 3 pts. If cleared (p. 77), there will be 1 qt. only. Use in proportion of 4 cups to the ¼ oz. of gelatine.

Light Stock for Jelly

Simmer ½–1 hour, strain and clear (p. 77). 3½–4 cups after clearing. Use in proportion of 3¾ cups to the ¼ oz. of gelatine.

Dark Stock for Jelly

Mix dry ingredients, add tomato with nut butter which has been stirred smooth with water, then onion, garlic and water. Cook ½–1 hour; strain and add water for 3 pts. This may be used uncleared, but if cleared (p. 77) there will be 1 qt. only. Use in proportion of 4 cups to the ¼ oz. of gelatine.

Aspic for Garnishing

Pour into shallow mold to desired depth. Unmold and cut with hot dry knife into dice or fancy shapes just before serving.

Jellied Broth—Dark

Mold in small cups and serve in soup plates or on small plates, surrounded with soup crackers and halves of nuts with fringed celery.

Gelatine of Trumese

Cut trumese (some nutmese also if wished) into ½–¾ in. dice. Mold with light aspic, using sprays of parsley and small button mushrooms if wished.

Jellied Cream Trumese (Salad if Desired)

Add minced trumese to gelatine cooked in broth and when partly cooled, chop into whipped cream. Mold in large or small molds. Mold may be garnished with celery tops and served with wafers and stalks of celery, or garnished with fringed celery or ripe olives and parsley, the celery or olives with wafers to be served with mold.

Or, the one or individual molds may be served with improved or cream mayonnaise dressing with ripe olives or celery and wafers.

The Medical Use of Agar Agar

Quite recently the use of agar agar as a remedy for constipation has been discovered. “Life and Health” says: “Agar Agar, a vegetable gelatine prepared from East Indian seaweeds, has been given an official recommendation by the Council of Pharmacy as a remedy for constipation.”

One physician suggests cutting it into small pieces and eating it with cream as a porridge. It may also be served with fruit juices and other liquids.

The liquid should be poured over it a few minutes before serving, to moisten it sufficiently for mastication. A druggist said, however, that it might be chewed dry.

PIES

Pies are not necessarily unwholesome articles of diet. They may be just good rich unleavened bread and fruit. Perhaps the greatest objection to pies occasionally, is the length of time it takes to make them, for paste that will make a tender crust cannot be rolled out in a hurry. It is better to have something else for dessert when one has not time to make a good pie.

Suggestions

Always use pastry flour (winter wheat) for pie crust. Bread flour requires more shortening, creeps together when rolled and does not make a nice, tender crust when you have done your best with it.

Always use pastry (never bread) flour for thickening cream or lemon pies. If cream pies are not to be used the day they are baked less flour will be required. Lemon pies should be used the day they are baked.

Apple and all fruit pies require a little flour in the filling, for the flavor as well as to absorb the juice. A little salt develops the flavors of fruits. Mix the flour, sugar and salt together and put enough of it over the under crust to cover it well in order to prevent the crust from soaking and to allow the sugar to cook up through the fruit.

Berry pies may have most of the sugar mixture stirred with them before putting into the crust. A little browned flour may sometimes be added to the mixture for apple pies.

To keep the juice from running out, wet strips of pliable cloth 2 or 3 in. wide (bias better) and wrap around the edge of pies where the crusts join, so that half is on the top crust and half under the edge, and press close all around. Milk or hot or cold water may be used; leave the strips quite wet; remove from pies while hot; they may be used several times.

Another method is to make a small opening in the upper crust and insert a little roll of paper, like a chimney, to allow the steam to escape.

It is a good plan, also, to put the upper crust on to the pie as loose as possible; lift it and make wrinkles in it all around, back from the edge of the pie, before pressing the two crusts together; this will keep the steam and juice in the pie instead of forcing them out.

One way to make the edges stay together is to wet the edge of the lower crust and sprinkle flour over it (shaking off what does not adhere) just before filling and putting on the upper crust.

If with all your care the juice begins to run out, either at the edge or through the openings in the crust, remove the pie at once from the oven and let it stand on the hearth or table until it stops boiling. (If necessary, put a little dry flour in the space). Return to the oven and by slow cooking it may not run out again; if it does, take it out again, but do not leave it out until the fruit is perfectly cooked. It would be too bad to waste all the labor of making a pie by serving it underdone.

Make pies without under crust when preferred. Put a strip of paste around the edge of a shallow pudding dish or deep pie pan, fill dish with prepared fruit, sugar and flour, cover with a lid of paste, press on to the strip and bake.

Fillings of squash, pumpkin or sweet potato pies may be baked on pie pans, in custard cups or in pudding dishes, without a crust, and with or without a meringue.

Serve fruit pies the day they are baked. Those that are unavoidably left over, put into the oven and just heat through before serving, to make like fresh pies.

Apple pies may be put together at night, kept in the ice box and baked the next morning.

For custard or other deep pies, cut the crust with the shears about ½ inch larger than the pan, moisten the under side of the edge slightly and pinch it up with floured thumb and finger so that it will stand up above the edge of the pan. The crust may be pinched up before trimming and cut around the edge of the pan with a knife. It is a good plan to set the prepared crust in the ice box long enough to become firm before filling.

Crust may be put on to several pans when making pies one day and baked when desired.

To bake before filling without blistering, put pastry on to one pan, set another of the same size into it and bake between the two.

Another way is to cover the pastry with paraffine paper and fill to the depth of ½ in. with flour. The partially browned flour may be used in soups and gravies afterwards.

Fill pastry-lined patty pans with raw rice, cover with an upper crust and bake when baked patty cases are desired. The rice will not be injured and the crusts will keep their shape.

Sometimes with two-crust pies, sprinkle sugar over the top of the crust when done and leave in the oven for two minutes.

Lattice work of strips of crust put on in diamonds or squares makes an attractive finish for such lemon and orange pies as will hold the strips up, as well as for cranberry and mince pies.

Beat whites of eggs for meringue with woven wire spoon or silver fork until stiff; add ½–1 tablespn. of sugar to each white and beat till very stiff, add flavoring, pile in rocky form on to hot pie, bringing meringue well out over the crust; brown delicately on top grate of moderate oven. As soon as the tips are tinted the meringue is done. Overbaking makes it tough and causes it to draw away from the edges. Having the pie hot when the meringue is put on helps to cook it more evenly and keeps it from becoming watery next to the pie.

When but one white is to be used for a meringue, do not beat it quite so stiff and use a little more sugar so that it will spread over the top of the pie well.

Tiny dots of beaten jelly may be placed with a pastry tube in the depressions of the meringue of lemon pies, after baking.

In cutting pies with a meringue, cut just through the meringue first with a thin bladed knife dipped in cold water; afterwards cut to the bottom.

Pies should always be left so that a current of air will pass under them while cooling to keep the crust from soaking.

★ Pastry for one Large Pie

Have all ingredients as nearly ice cold as possible. Dip the flour lightly into the cup with a spoon, do not shake it down. Mix salt with flour; pour oil over and chop it in with a spoon; do not mix much. Put the lemon juice in a cup, add water to make ¼ of a cup, and pour over the flour and oil mixture, adding enough more water to make a rather soft dough; chop all together with a spoon, press into a mass without kneading, roll out without mixing on a well floured board, with a well floured rolling pin. A little more oil will be required when lemon juice is not used.

Nut or olive oil may be substituted for cooking oil, with a slightly smaller proportion of olive oil. Olive oil does not, of course, harmonize as well in flavor with all fillings as the others.

In mixing crust for several pies at once, not quite so large a quantity will be required for each.

Keep crust that is left each time well covered in a cool place and when making pies again, chop or grind it and mix it with the flour before adding the oil. It will make the new crust more flaky.

“Pie Flakes”

Mix flour, salt and oil for a quantity of pies. Put into a large, close covered jar (or tin pail lined with waxed paper) and set in cold place. To make a pie, take out about 2⅓ cupfuls, add water and mix and roll as usual.

Hot Water Crust

Mix together equal quantities of oil and boiling water and pour over flour which has been mixed with salt.

This crust rolls out more easily than ice water crust but is not as tender and flaky. A slightly larger proportion of oil may be used, but if too rich, the crust cannot be handled at all.

★ Cream Pastry

Mix flour and salt and pour enough thick sweet or sour cream over to roll out well. The thicker the cream, the better the crust will be. Sour cream makes more crisp and tender crust than sweet and has not the least sour taste when baked.

Butter Crust

Rub together ½ cup (¼ lb.) butter and 2 cups (½ lb.) flour; wet with ice water to make of a rollable consistency, press into a mass and set in the ice box. When thoroughly chilled, roll ⅓–½ inch thick; spread with butter, sprinkle lightly with flour, roll up, cut across the roll and roll pieces out thin for the pie. Butter pastry is not tender even when much pains is taken with it and the flavor is not agreeable.

Bread Pie Crust

Dip slices of bread in boiling milk, cool, add oil, salt, and flour to roll. This makes two under crusts.

Nut Meal Crust

Mix flour, meal and salt, pour enough moderately rich cream over to make a paste to roll out. A little oil may be added to the meal and flour, and water used in place of cream.

★ Granella Crust

For one good sized pie take about ½ cup of granella (less if fine, more if coarse, but it is better not to be too coarse nor too very fine). Mix a little salt with it and pour over it quickly, enough rich milk or thin cream to moisten it slightly, about ¼ cup, perhaps. (If too moist, the crust will be soggy.) Turn immediately on to the pan and spread and press it evenly with a spoon over the bottom and sides, dipping the spoon often into cold water. A teaspoon is best for the sides, and holding the forefinger of the left hand above the edge of the pan as you are pressing with the spoon makes the edge of the crust firmer and smoother. Do not let the crust come over the edge of the pan, because only that part which adheres to the filling will come out with the pieces of pie when served; the remainder will drop off and be wasted. For that reason the crust should be just as thin as it is possible to pat it out on the pan. Be careful to make the crust in the angle between the bottom and sides of the pan no thicker than in any other part. The novice usually fills that in rounding. A positive pressure of the teaspoon in pressing the paste up on the edge of the pan will remove the extra portion there.

In baking these crusts before filling, watch them that they do not get too brown, and handle them carefully.

I have been thus explicit because this is of all pie pastes the most important hygienically and in point of time. It is very quickly and easily made, in fact, it must be made quickly. If the crust stands long after the liquid is added, it does not spread well.

In making a large number of pies, mix each crust separately; you will save time. Zwieback crumbs may be used instead of granella and almond or cocoanut cream in place of dairy. The cream must be thin or the crust will not spread well.

Granella Crust No. 2

Allow scant ⅔ cup of granella to each pie. Measure up the quantity required. Mix the salt with it and pour oil over in the proportion of ½ tablespn. of oil to each pie. (¾ tablespn. melted butter may be used and no salt.) Rub all well together with the hands, take out enough for each pie at a time, wet with cold water and proceed as in the preceding recipe. This mixture will need to be quite wet to spread.

Fillings for Granella Pies

The pulp of stewed prunes, peaches, apricots or dried apples, or other not too juicy materials, with or without a meringue or whipped cream, or a sprinkling of dry granella on the top.

If you have not a pie knife, use two broad flat knives in serving a pie with granella crust.

★ Apple Pie

Prepare apples according to directions for apple sauce, p. 47, cut the quarters in two if large, then in halves crosswise. This will give irregular shaped pieces which when placed in the crust will allow spaces for the steam to come in contact with the fruit and cook it more quickly and thoroughly than when packed in slices.

Mix the sugar, flour and salt for each pie in a bowl by itself. When the bottom crust is on the pan, spread about half the sugar mixture over it, put in a generous quantity of apples so that when baked the pie will be level, not depressed, and sprinkle the remainder of the mixture over, taking pains to have a little more at the edges because of not having any underneath there. It is very disappointing to find the last mouthfuls of pie near the crust less sweet than the first from the center.

Be sure that the edge of the under crust is moistened, lay on the upper crust as directed, press the edges down well, trim off the extra crust (unless you fold it under the bottom crust), and with the thumb and forefinger press the edges well together.

Make incisions in the crust with a sharp pointed knife for the steam to escape, bind the edges with strips of cloth and bake in a moderate oven, turning occasionally, for ¾–1 hour. To be sure that the apples are tender try them with a broom splint through the spaces in the crust.

Brown sugar or molasses may be used to sweeten apple pies once in a while as some people are very fond of those sweets. The nice dried greening apples that we get sometimes may be soaked over night and used the same as fresh apples.

Other Fruit Pies

Apple and Elder-berry—1½ pt. apple prepared as for apple pie, 1 pt. elder-berries, ¾ cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, 2 teaspns. lemon juice, salt. Lemon juice may be omitted. A smaller proportion of elder-berries maybe used and the pie still be delicious.

Dutch Apple—Fill a buttered pie plate with apples without sugar, dot with bits of butter, cover with a rather thick crust and bake. Invert on dessert plate, sprinkle with sugar (mixed with coriander if liked) and serve hot.

Phoebe’s, Delicious—Nearly fill the crust with dry, nicely seasoned, fresh apple sauce; cover with a ⅓ inch layer of raspberry jam which has been beaten so as to spread well; bake. The jam may be put on after the pie is baked, or both apple and jam may be put into a baked crust. The pie may have a meringue, but Phoebe’s didn’t.—It may also be baked with two crusts.

Rhubarb and Apple—1¼ qt. rhubarb, ⅓–½ cup thick, slightly sweetened, strained apple sauce, 1½ cup sugar, 2½ tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt. Mix apple sauce with rhubarb and proceed as in apple pie.

Blueberry—Scant 1 qt. berries, 1 tablespn. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt. A little water if berries are dry.

Mock Cherry—1½ cup cranberries, ¾ cup seeded raisins, ¾ cup sugar, 1½ tablespn. flour, a pinch of salt, 1¼ cup boiling water. Mix sugar, flour and salt; pour boiling water over and boil up. Cut cranberries in halves and raisins in small pieces with the shears and add to syrup. 2 crusts.

Cranberry and Raisin—1 cup ground cranberries (2 cups before grinding), 1 cup ground raisins (1½ cup before grinding), 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, 1¼ cup water, salt. Mix sugar, flour and salt; pour boiling water over, stirring, boil up, add cranberries and raisins. 2 crusts, or strips of pastry across top.

Cranberry—1 lb. (4⅔ cups) whole berries, 1½ cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, ¼–½ cup water, 2 crusts.

Stewed Cranberry—Fill crust with thick, strained, stewed cranberries, sweetened. Put strips of crust across the top in squares or diamonds.

Currant—1 qt. ripe red currants, 1¼ cup sugar, 3 or 4 tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt, 2 crusts. Bake well.

Black Currant—Black currants with sugar, flour, salt and water make a delicious pie. They should not be laid too thick in the plate. A layer of thin slices of apple with the currants is good.

Currant and Raspberry—About ⅓ raspberries to ⅔ currants, sugar, flour, salt.

Currant and Raisin—2½ cups red currants, 1 cup chopped raisins, ¾ cup sugar, 2 tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt.

Elder-berry—To each pint of elder-berries use 1 tablespn. lemon juice, ½–1 cup sugar, ½–1 tablespn. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt.

Fig—Mrs. Webster—1 lb. figs, 1 cup sugar, 3 cups water, 1½–2 tablespns. lemon juice, salt. Wash and grind or chop the figs, pour the water over them warm and let stand over night; add grated rind of ½ the lemon with other ingredients. 2 crusts.

Green Gooseberry—1 qt. berries, 1¼ cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, ½ teaspn. salt.

★ Mince Filling

Grind raisins through medium cutter, then the apples which have been pared, quartered and cored; mix all the ingredients and heat to boiling; put into jars and seal, or keep in cool place in stone jar. Add a little water if necessary when making pies and do not fill crusts too nearly full. Make a lattice-work top of strips of pastry sometimes, instead of a top crust. Serve warm as a rule. Follow this recipe exactly.

Green Tomato Mince-meat

Chop or grind the tomatoes, drain, measure the juice and add an equal quantity of water in its place. Grind the raisins rather coarse, combine all ingredients except lemon juice, cook 30 m., or until done, add lemon juice, boil up, put into jars and seal if intending to keep for some time.

Crumb Mince-meat

Mix, boil, put into crusts. Grape juice may be used for part of the water with or without the coriander seed.

Sour Cream Mince—Annie Carter—1 cup sour cream, 1 tablespn. flour, 1 egg, ¾ cup sugar, 1 cup seedless raisins, steamed; two crusts. Bake just long enough to set the egg and bake the crust. The crust need not be quite as rich as for fruit pies. One tablespn. of lemon juice may be used. May use chopped seeded raisins or English currants in place of seedless raisins. The sugar may be flavored with oil of lemon.

Fresh Peach—Put sliced ripe peaches in baked crust; sprinkle with sugar and cover with whipped cream or an uncooked meringue. Serve at once. Cut pie before covering with cream or meringue. Mellow bananas may be substituted for peaches and a very delicate sprinkling of sugar used.

Prune—Pitted stewed prunes in quarters, flour, salt and a little sugar. Do not make filling too thick as it is solid. Two crusts. Delicious.

Prune—Thick prune pulp, slightly sweetened or not, one crust, strips of pastry over top if convenient. May have meringue with or without grated lemon rind, or may be covered with whipped cream after cutting.

Raisin—1 cup chopped raisins, 1 cup water, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 tablespn. flour. Mix sugar and flour, pour boiling water over, boil up well, add raisins, cool, bake between two crusts. Vanilla or lemon flavoring may be used.

Raisin Meringue—Add yolks of 2 eggs to filling of raisin pie with or without 1 tablespn. of butter a moment before removing from the fire; when heated, add vanilla, turn into baked crust and meringue with the 2 whites of eggs. Milk may be used instead of water and white sugar instead of brown.

Raisin Lemon

Mix sugar and flour, pour boiling water over, add butter and raisins, cook; when raisins look plump, remove from fire, add remaining ingredients and bake between 2 crusts. The raisins may be chopped.

Rhubarb—1–1¼ qt. rhubarb, in ¾ in. pieces, 1½ cup sugar, 2½ tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt.

Rhubarb and Pineapple

Elizabeth’s Rhubarb—1 cup chopped rhubarb, ½ cup molasses, ½ cup chopped or ground raisins. 2 crusts.

Rhubarb and Strawberry

Canned Rhubarb

Strawberry Meringue—Put thin layer of universal crust in shallow pudding dish or deep pie pan; when light bake; fill with berries, sprinkle with sugar, and meringue with the whites of 2 or 3 eggs, and 1½ tablespn. sugar.

Green Tomato—Harriet

Select tomatoes that are just going to turn, or that may be a little white, or that may have a trifle of red on one side, not those that are at all ripe, yet not very green ones. Make pie in pudding dish or shallow granite basin and do not have the crust come quite to the top. Bake very slowly, after the first 10 m., for 2 hours. The pie is not good unless baked slowly for a long time.

LEMON PIES

Lemon Pie—Granella Crust

Flavor sugar with oil of lemons (p. 27), add flour, mixing well, and pour the perfectly boiling water over, stirring until smooth; boil, add the slightly beaten yolks, lemon juice and salt; heat just enough to set the egg. Turn the filling into the baked granella crust and spread quickly around the edges so as to touch the top of the crust.

Meringue—Whites of 2 eggs, ½ tablespn. lemon juice, 2–3 tablespns. sugar. Beat whites with a little salt to moderately stiff froth, add lemon juice and beat stiff; fold in the sugar and drop by spoonfuls on the hot pie; brown delicately on top grate of oven. This filling may be used in any baked crust.

★ Lemon Cake or Sponge Pie

Mix sugar, salt and flour; add milk gradually, stirring until smooth; pour over beaten yolks of eggs, add lemon juice and rind and lastly, stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Bake in slow oven 30 m., or until just done.

Lemon Cream Pie, large

Mix flour, sugar and salt, pour boiling milk over, stirring, boil till very thick; add lemon juice and yolks of eggs, stir until well mixed and eggs cooked; spread in baked granella or pastry crust and cover with the meringue.

Ma’s Lemon Pie

Starchless Lemon Pie

Lemon Pie—Cornstarch

Mix corn starch, the ½ cup of sugar and butter, pour boiling water over, cook; remove from fire, add the 1 cup of sugar, the lemon juice, grated rind and beaten yolks of eggs; bake in 1 crust, meringue with whites of eggs and sprinkle sugar over the top. Butter may be omitted.

Lemon Pie without eggs or milk

Mix sugar and corn starch in double boiler, pour boiling water over and cook until thick, add butter and beat, then add lemon juice and grated rind. Two crusts.

Mrs. Hance’s Lemon Pie—Pare 1 lemon thick enough to remove all the white part, cut in thin slices and remove the seeds. Add 1 egg and ¾ cup of sugar, beat well and turn on gradually 1 cup of cold water. Two crusts.

Lemon Pie that will keep several days

Grate the rind and as much of the lemon as possible, remove seeds, squeeze out the juice and chop pulp and skin very fine; beat the egg, mix all the ingredients and bake between 2 crusts.

Lemon Pie with Bread

The slices should be from a medium sized, brick shaped loaf of bread. Cut off the crusts and pour boiling water over; add butter and beat with a fork until the bread is smooth; then combine with the rind and juice of the lemon, the sugar and beaten yolks. Bake in 1 crust and meringue with whites of eggs.

Lemon Custard Pie

Leave out 2 whites of eggs and beat the remainder with sugar, add lemon juice and flavoring, salt and milk. Bake slowly until just set, no longer. Meringue.

Orange Pie

Orange Custard Pie

CREAM PIES

Cream—Par excellence—1½ pt. rich milk, ⅔ cup flour laid lightly in cup, scant cup of sugar, 2 eggs, salt, 1 teaspn. vanilla. Mix flour, salt and sugar, put into oiled saucepan, pour boiling milk over, stirring until smooth, boil, add yolks of eggs, just heat, add vanilla, turn into baked granella or pastry crust. Meringue. With some brands of pastry flour, a scant measure only will be required. Thin slices of banana may be laid on the baked crust before the filling is put in, for banana flavor.

Cocoanut Cream—Famous—Same as cream pie with ¾ cup sugar only and about ¾ cup desiccated cocoanut. (If cocoanut is fresh grated, use 1 cup sugar.) Add cocoanut just before putting filling into crust, reserving enough to sprinkle the top of the meringue before baking. Do not brown the meringue, just heat it until it puffs up and possibly tints the tips of the cocoanut.

Nut Cream—Use chopped hickory or other nuts in place of cocoanut in Cocoanut Cream Pie.

★ Farina Cream—Scant pt. rich milk, 1 tablespn. Hecker’s, 1½ tablespn. Am. Cereal Co’s farina, ⅓ cup sugar, 2 eggs (3 eggs enough for 2 pies), 1 teaspn. vanilla. Heat milk and sugar to boiling, sift in farina and cook for ¾–1 hour in double boiler; add slightly beaten yolks of eggs, just heat through, remove from fire, add flavoring, turn into baked granella or pastry crust. Meringue. Thin slices of banana may be used to flavor this pie also but it is delicious with no flavoring. Farina may be cooked 45 m. only, yolks and flavoring added and the filling be baked in the crust.

Cream of Rice

Cook all together until thick and creamy. Turn into baked crust, brown delicately over the top, cool.

Caramel Cream—Steep ¼–⅓ cup cereal coffee in milk of cream pie, in double boiler for 15 m., strain through 2 thicknesses of cheese cloth, add milk or cream to make 1½ pt. Finish the same as cream pie. Flavor with vanilla.

The pie may be made with not very rich milk and covered, after cutting, with flavored, sweetened, whipped cream instead of being meringued.

Tomato Cream—Fine

Mix sugar and flour, pour boiling milk over, then boiling tomato, boil up, add salt and yolks of eggs, cook, add vanilla and put in baked crust. Meringue. Use a little more flour when pie is to be eaten the day it is made.

My Mother’s

Mix and bake in 1 crust; serve in very small pieces. No flavoring but that of the cream is required and no meringue is necessary as the cream gives a beautiful finish to the top of the pie.

Parched Corn Cream

Soak corn meal in milk 1 hour, cook until thickened; add salt, and eggs beaten with sugar. Put into crust and bake. One white may be beaten to stiff froth and stirred in last, and if wished, a little sugar may be sprinkled over the top.

Cream—Sour

Mix flour, sugar and salt; turn beaten egg over and stir in cream gradually; add vanilla and turn into crust; bake in moderate oven. If preferred, 1 more egg may be used, the white beaten to a stiff froth and stirred in last.

Sour Cream

Bring cream just to boiling and pour over sugar and flour which have been mixed together; boil up, add yolks of eggs, heat to thicken but do not boil; add flavoring, turn into baked crust. Meringue with whites of eggs.

White Cream

Beat whites with sugar, add other ingredients which have been mixed together; bake in 1 crust.

Custard Pie—2½ cups rich milk, ⅓ cup sugar, 3 eggs, salt. Dusting of coriander or anise, or any suitable flavoring.

Custard Pie that Makes Its Own Crust—1½ pt. rich milk (or scant 1½ pt. skimmed milk and 1½ tablespn. of butter), ⅓–½ cup sugar, 3 eggs, 4 tablespns. flour, salt; almond, lemon or coriander flavoring. Mix ingredients, stirring flour with milk and pour into an oiled pie pan. Bake very slowly.

Use 1 more egg, mix ingredients with 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks more, then add the 2 whites stiffly-beaten, at the last. This makes a more attractive pie.

Custard Pie Without Milk—4 eggs, 3 or 4 tablespns. sugar, salt, 1 pt. boiling water, flavoring. Beat 2 whole eggs and 2 more yolks with sugar and salt, pour boiling water over gradually, stirring, pour into crust, dust with coriander, bake; meringue with whites of 2 eggs. Vanilla, lemon or orange flavoring may be used in the pie. The whites may be beaten stiff and stirred into the filling before baking instead of adding the meringue.

Rice Pie

Dust with coriander sometimes. May beat eggs separate and add whites last. One crust.

Crumb Pie

Line the pan with crust, put into it a large pint of rather dry bread crumbs (cracker crumbs may be used) and turn over them sweetened, thin cream to fill the crust. Bake. Serve warm or cold. Any desired flavor may be used.

★ Crumb Pie No. 2

Mix crumbs, sugar and flour, add milk to beaten egg and pour over dry ingredients, stirring, turn into crust, dust with coriander, bake in moderate oven. Lemon or vanilla flavoring may be used in the pie but they do not compare with the dusting of ground coriander seed.

Buttermilk Pie. Excellent

Mix lemon flavored sugar with flour, heat buttermilk quickly in double boiler and pour over the mixture, boil up well, add yolks of eggs, heat to cook eggs but do not boil, add salt, turn into baked crust, cover with meringue flavored with rose.

Buttermilk Pie No. 2

Sour Milk Pie—Mock Lemon

Sour Milk Pie with Raisins

Sweet Potato Pie

Mix all with beaten yolks of eggs, bake slowly, flavor meringue of whites of eggs with vanilla.

Squash Pies. Two large

Mix sugar, flour and salt and stir into squash. Break eggs in and beat a little, add milk gradually, then flavoring, bake in moderate oven.

With 3 cups of squash use a little less flour. For variety, flavor with lemon or vanilla only, or with neither and stir in a little cocoanut, sprinkling a little over the top.

Bro. Cornforth’s Squash and Sweet Potato Pie

2 eggs, ½ cup sugar, 1 pt. dry mashed squash and sweet potato (½ potato, ⅔ squash), 1 qt. milk, salt. No other flavor.

Lemon Squash Pie

Mix as usual, reserving the lemon extract and white of 1 egg for the meringue. Bake in moderate oven and meringue with the white of egg beaten not very stiff with 1–1½ tablespn. sugar and the lemon extract. (A thick meringue seems out of place on a squash pie.) If preferred, 1 or 2 of the whites may be beaten stiff, flavored and stirred into the pie before it is baked. ½–¾ cup soup cracker crumbs may be used instead of eggs.

Pumpkin Pies

Suggestions—Select a dark, rich-colored pumpkin with deep indentations and thick meat. Some of the small sugar pumpkins are very nice.

Baked pumpkin makes richer pies than stewed, with less work. To bake, cut or saw a pumpkin into halves, and if large, cut into quarters; place on a large tin and turn another over it; bake until tender.

To boil, cut in strips, remove fibrous portion from center, cut in pieces and put over the fire in some thick-bottomed utensil, either copper, re-tinned, or iron; add just enough water to keep it from burning and simmer slowly, stirring often, for several hours until the pumpkin becomes a rich brown and is well dried out. Rub through colander while hot.

The question of peeling is an open one; many claim that the rind gives a richer flavor to the pies as well as a darker color, while others fear it may give a strong flavor.

“The real genuine old-fashioned golden-brown pumpkin pie our great-grandmothers prided themselves on” is made without eggs.

The addition of ¼ cup of date pulp (½ cup of dates steamed and rubbed through the colander) to the filling for each pie gives a more old-fashioned flavor, without harmful condiments.

Pumpkin Pies Without Eggs—3 pies

Bake in not too rich crust in moderate oven 1½ hour. Use 1 cupful more of pumpkin if not dry, and if necessary, 1½ level tablespn. of white flour.

Pumpkin Pies with Eggs—3 very large pies

Beat whites and yolks of eggs separate; bake slowly until firm in center. Use 1¼ qt. of pumpkin if not dry, and 1¾ qt. only of milk. May use a little less pumpkin when adding dates.

★ One Pumpkin Pie

One recipe says ¼ teaspn. ground coriander seed. Some of the best pies have no added flavoring.

1 teaspn. of butter or 1 or 2 tablespns. of thick cream in the filling will give a gloss to the surface.

Some prefer flour, a little granella or a few zwieback crumbs to eggs, for thickening when the pumpkin is not very thick.

Grated Pumpkin Pie

Grate pumpkin without peeling. If moist, put into a piece of cheese cloth and squeeze out the water; for each pie take:

Carrot Pie

Or, use 3 tablespns. only of carrot, omit browned flour and flavor with lemon or vanilla.

Turnip Pie

CAKES

The fact that soda and cream of tartar are the ingredients of the best baking powders is well understood.

Dr. Lillis Wood Starr says: “Cream of tartar belongs to the same class with soda. Soda is bi-carbonate of sodium; cream of tartar is bi-tartrate of potassium. Sodium, potassium and calcium (lime) all belong to the same group of metals and are injurious to the tissues of our bodies.”

Dr. Lauretta Kress—“Cream of tartar or Potassium Bi-tartrate is a gastro-intestinal irritant like soda. By combining cream of tartar and soda, we have Rochelle salts. If needed as a cathartic, they are better given as such on an empty stomach; then the system quickly gets rid of them. If taken in food they are retained longer and become more irritating.”

Cake at its best is not to be recommended, but for those who have not yet discarded it, we give a variety of recipes for cakes without baking powder or soda: there are some, also, without eggs.

When a few more eggs are used in a cake than would be required with chemicals, remember that less of the nitrogenous is necessary in other dishes: also, that the health of your family is of the first importance and it would be better not to give them any cake at all than that which will poison their systems.

Suggestions

Use pastry flour for all cakes; and since different brands even of pastry flour differ, it is best to use the same brand when you find a good one and become accustomed to it.

Sift flour once before measuring; and from 3–5 times for angel and other sponge cakes after measuring. The best way to sift flour several times is to lay down two pieces of large letter or Manila paper and to sift the flour first on to one and then on to the other.

All measurements have the sifted flour laid lightly into the cup with a spoon. If the cup is shaken or knocked on the side with the spoon there will be too much flour.

Skimmed milk and oil may be used in cakes and the cream saved for other purposes.

At great altitude, more flour and less shortening and sugar will be required in cakes.

In recipes calling for cream of tarter, use lemon juice in the proportion of 1 tablespn. or more to each teaspoon of cream of tartar. A larger quantity of lemon juice makes the cake more tender.

2 whites of eggs are said to equal 1 rounded teaspn. of baking powder, for lightness.

Half oil instead of all butter may be used in nearly all cakes, and in some cases, all oil is better. Use salt with oil.

It is usually thought important to cream butter and sugar well together, but one professional cake-maker told me that cakes were lighter when the butter and sugar were just mixed.

Always add a little of the flour for cakes to the creamed butter or sugar and butter, before adding eggs, milk or other liquids.

Saffron is used for both color and flavor: a very small quantity only, is required of the imported for a deep color.

For variety, thin slices of sweet prunes or dates are nice in place of other fruits in cakes.

Round tube pans bake cake the most evenly, Turk’s head molds being the best of all.

For cakes with shortening, oil the tins and sprinkle flour over, shaking off all flour that is loose; or, line tins with well oiled paper.

Some recommend dipping angel cake pans into cold water and filling while wet; then the cake falls out white when cold, leaving the crust sticking to the mold.

Always beat whites of eggs on a platter or in a large cake bowl or “bombe” with a whip, not with a revolving beater.

Have all ingredients and utensils for sponge cake cold, and if possible, put it together in a cold room.

For sponge cakes, follow directions for putting nut and citron cake together, or the hot water way following sponge layer cake.

Bake sponge cakes very slowly and evenly in an oven that bakes well from the bottom. They will retain their lightness better if carefully inverted in the tin after baking and left in that position until cool.

Cool all cakes slowly. One colored cook told me that she always set her cakes on the stove hearth for a little while after taking them out of the oven. Of course they should be handled carefully.

Set warm layer and other cakes on a cloth wrung out of cold water and they will quickly loosen from the pan.

3 or 4 rose geranium leaves laid in the bottom of the tin before the batter is poured in will flavor cake with rose, or the leaves may be laid between layers after baking, while cooling. If the loaf is one that will bear removing from the tin while warm, lay it on some of the leaves.

Cakes may be steamed instead of baked—sponge cakes 1 hour, fruit cakes longer. One recipe for fruit cake says, steam 4 hours and bake 1 hour. Use your judgment.

Sponge cakes—angel and others, are supposed to be broken apart with 2 forks, not cut.

If loaves of cake that are to be covered with whipped cream are cut before the cream is put on, the cake will look smooth and nice and the pieces will come out more neatly.

Cakes made with yeast require to be kept a little warmer than bread (unless you keep bread too warm), and flour, fruit and all ingredients should be warm when added.

★ Nut and Citron Cake

Have all the ingredients as nearly ice cold as possible; sift the sugar, sift the flour twice and leave it in the sifter; beat the yolks of the eggs in a cake bowl with a revolving egg-beater (a large one if you have it), adding sugar gradually. When stiff, add part of the water and more sugar; beat, add more water, sugar and half the lemon juice, beating, until all the sugar is in.

Stir into this mixture half the nut meal, a pinch of salt and the citron. Rest the egg beater on a quart measure (or some dish of the required height) by the side of the bowl, and let it drain into the bowl while beating the whites of the eggs. It will drain much cleaner than it could be scraped, besides saving the time. Beat the whites of the eggs to a moderately stiff froth, add the remaining half tablespn. of lemon juice and whip till dry and feathery; let them stand a moment, then slide onto the yolk mixture; sprinkle part of the nut meal over them and sift on a little flour; chop in lightly, dipping from the bottom with a large thin spoon three times; add more meal and flour; chop; continue this until the flour is all in. Take care not to mix too much; the mixture must not get soft. Put into pan at once and bake slowly until the cake stops singing, or does not stick to a broom splint. Bake 1½ hours, according to the heat of the oven. The fine particles of citron give an unusually delightful flavor to the cake. Preserved orange peel, ground, may be used sometimes; or fine cut raisins or dried blueberries.

★ Julia’s Birthday Cake

Cream butter and sugar; add flavoring and a little of the flour, then the beaten yolks; beat well. Slide the stiffly-beaten whites on to this mixture, sift flour over gradually and chop together as for nut and citron cake; bake in moderate oven in 3 medium sized layers; sift a little sugar over one layer before baking, sometimes, to make a crust for the top. If possible, set in ice box for an hour before baking.

Patty Cakes

Use ⅓–½ cup of milk and 2½–2¾ cups of flour in preceding recipe, and bake in patty pans.

Cocoanut Loaf or Layer Cake

Put together the same as “Julia’s Birthday Cake,” let stand on ice for 2 hours, or bake at once in loaf or layers.

Rich Loaf Cake

Cream butter, add sugar and work very light; add 1 egg at a time and stir only until no yolk can be seen; mix in flour, turn into paper-lined pan and set in ice box for 2 hours. Bake in slow oven about an hour, or until the cake stops singing.

Rice Flour Cake

Cream butter, add sugar, a little of the flour and beaten yolks with half the juice and all the rind of lemon.

Beat whites of eggs with a little salt, adding the remainder of the lemon juice when half beaten; slip on to cake batter, sift flour over gradually, and fold all lightly together. Put into pan to depth of not over 2 in. Bake in moderate oven.

Fruit and Nut Cake. Unsurpassed

Mix fruit with part of the flour, add nuts; cream butter with a little of the flour; beat together the sugar and yolks of eggs until very light and add with extract to creamed butter; beat well; whip whites of eggs with pinch of salt to stiff froth, add fruit and nuts to yolk mixture, chop in beaten whites and remainder of flour; bake in well oiled tin 1½–2½ hrs. in moderate and slow oven; cover when necessary.

This cake will keep a long time with care and is unusually desirable. 3 times the quantity given will make 4 medium sized loaves.

Corn Starch Cake

Beat yolks with half the sugar and cream butter with the other half; mix, beat. (Part of the flour and corn starch may be added to the butter and sugar.) Beat whites of eggs stiff, slide on to the mixture, add flour and corn starch (which have been sifted together) gradually, chopping and folding in with the whites; bake in moderate oven. Two thick round layers.

★ Silver Cake

Cream butter and sugar, add flavoring, beaten whites and flour, lay slices of fruit in and on top of cake. One very large square, or two rather small round loaves.

★ Scotch Short Bread—no eggs

Cream butter, add sugar and flour mixed, seeds also if used. A little of the flour may be saved for rolling.

Roll to about 1 in. thick, of the shape to fit your tin; crinkle the edges, press them with a fork or cut with pastry jagger, slide on to tin, prick lightly with fork and bake in a slow oven for 1 hour; or, roll ½ in. thick and bake ½ hour only. The cake is sometimes creased in squares before baking, or the dough may be cut in round cakes and the edges crinkled.

The cake is better with oil and ¼ teaspn. of salt in place of butter. One cup of sugar is sometimes used with ½ cup of butter or oil, and again, 1 cup of butter or oil with ½ cup of sugar, but the cake is very nice with the proportions given. By some, brown sugar is considered most suitable.

German Light Cake

Cream butter with a little flour, add eggs, one at a time, beating, add sugar (except a little for the top), rind and flour; spread thin in oiled pans, sprinkle with almonds, coriander and sugar, bake in moderate oven, cut in squares while hot, leave in pan to cool.

★ Sister Elliott’s Plain Loaf Cake and Cookies

Cream oil and sugar, add a little flour, yolks of eggs, salt and flavoring, then milk and flour alternately; beat well and fold in the stiff whites of eggs. Chill, or bake at once thoroughly, in 1 large or 2 small loaves in moderate oven that bakes well from the bottom.

Molasses Cake

Beat eggs and lemon juice in bowl set in boiling water, add sugar, then boiling molasses, with butter and orange peel, and lastly the flour.

Molasses Sugar Cakes

Mix butter and sugar and add to beaten yolks, beating well; slide on to this the whites beaten with salt and lemon juice, then sift over gradually the two flours mixed, chopping and folding them in with the whites. Bake in small cakes in moderate oven 15–20 m. Use grated maple sugar for maple cakes.

★ Molasses Bread or Hard Molasses Cake—no eggs

Cream butter and sugar, add anise and molasses, beat well and add flour; turn mixture out on floured board, mold up and put into flat tins about 1 in. deep, wash over with milk and bake in a very slow oven.

When done, wrap or cover with damp cloths and keep at least 4 days before using. If necessary, moisten the cloths again, and perhaps again. The cakes will be hard and dry when taken from the oven, but keeping them for a few days in damp (not wet) cloths makes them nice and tender. Grated orange peel and vanilla, together or separate, may be used for flavoring; but the delicate flavor of anise is especially agreeable.

By weight, the ingredients are 1½ lb. pastry flour, ½ lb. butter, ½ lb. brown sugar, ⅞ lb. molasses.

YEAST CAKES

A good liquid yeast gives better results in cake, but compressed yeast may be used.

★ Saffron Cake—no eggs

⅔–1 cake compressed yeast dissolved in a very little water, with sugar, may be used instead of soft yeast, and 1 extra tablespn. of water added to the sponge.

Make a sponge at night of the milk (just warm), yeast and 4½ cups of flour, and in the morning add the cup of warm saffron water. Cream the butter and sugar with a little flour, add the sponge gradually, mixing and beating, then the remainder of the flour warm (except a little which has been used to dust the fruit), beat well, add the extract and warmed, floured fruit, mix and pour into 3 good sized paper lined cake pans. Let stand until bubbles appear in the batter, usually 2–3 hrs. with soft yeast; not so long, perhaps, with compressed; when light, put into a slow oven; let cakes come up slowly and bake very moderately until they stop singing, 1½–2 hrs., depending upon the heat of the oven, but they must bake slowly.

When cake is started in the morning, 6 tablespns. of soft, or a whole cake of compressed yeast may be used. The quantity of flour may need to be varied a little according to the brand.

Citron and Cocoanut Cakes—no eggs

Prepare as in preceding recipe (of which it is just half) and at the last divide into 2 parts, add the citron and rose to one, and the cocoanut and vanilla to the other. The loaves will not be very large.

White Fruit Cake—no eggs

The whole of the above recipe, using only ¾ cup of butter, with ¾–1 cup of citron, 1 cup of cocoanut and ⅔ cup of almonds, all ground.

★ Dried Apple Cake—yeast

Cut 2 cups dried apples into small pieces with shears, soak over night in 1½ cup water, then cook in ¾ cup molasses until transparent.

When light, add ⅔ cup butter (or half oil) and ½ cup sugar creamed together, the dried apples, grated rind of orange or lemon, 2 beaten eggs and 2 cups flour.

★ Washington Cake—no eggs

Washington Pie—no eggs

Bake Washington cake in rather thin, flat loaf, split and put the following cream between and around, or put cream over and around cake without splitting.

Heat oil, add flour, then hot milk, salt and sugar, stirring smooth at different stages. Steep a trifle of saffron in the milk. Add vanilla when cold.

Elizabeth’s Raised Cake

When light, add the butter, well creamed with the sugar, and beaten eggs. Beat all very thoroughly and put into the tins. When partly risen, stick the fruit in all over the top; let rise about 1½ hr., or until bubbles may be seen; bake 1 hr. in moderate oven. The cake is excellent without fruit.

German Almond Loaf

Beat yolks with sugar and add to butter which has been creamed with part of the flour; then add the flavoring, the sponge, the milk and the flour alternating, beating until the flour is all in. Butter tube mold or other pans thick with cold butter and stick almonds to sides in regular rows. Do not put any in the bottom. Half fill pan with batter and let rise until pan is nearly full; bake 1 hr., or until cake stops singing, in moderate and slow oven so as not to burn nuts.

Cake Without Chemicals

Beat eggs and sugar, add oil, then the sponge, lastly fold in the flour; put into 3 layer cake pans and let stand for 2 or 3 hours in a not very warm place. Bake in moderate oven.

Filling—Beat the white of egg stiff, add 1 tablespn. sugar and 2 tablespns. thick cream, or, make a cream sauce of the yolk.

Maple Loaf Cake

Cream the butter, add the sugar and beaten egg and mix all thoroughly with the dough; add a little flour, turn into tin and let rise ½ hr. or longer before baking.

Raised Molasses Cake—no eggs or two whites

When light—2 cups (1 lb.) butter, 2 cups molasses which has been boiled and cooled to lukewarm, 3 cups (not too fine) nuts, raisins, citron or cocoanut or combinations of same, 4–4½ cups flour, part for fruit. The whites of 2 eggs may be used with the 4 cups of flour.

German Coffee Cake—no eggs

Let rise, knead, spread on flat tin with floured hand, ¾–1 in. thick, spread with butter, sprinkle with sugar and ground coriander seed; or, spread with an egg beaten with a teaspn. of sugar, sprinkle with sugar and chopped or split blanched almonds; let rise; bake in moderate oven.

★ Royal Sponge Cake

Put together and bake same as nut and citron cake except for the nut meal. This makes 1 loaf or 2 small layers. 3 times the quantity makes 2 large square loaves, or 4 large layers.

May use 1½ tablespn. of orange juice with yolks of eggs and ½ tablespn. lemon juice with whites in place of the water and lemon juice. Flavor sugar with oil of orange and add ½ teaspn. vanilla to the cake. Finished with royal filling and icing, this makes a cake suitable for a royal occasion.

Variations of Royal Sponge Cake

(1) Use 2 tablespns. of cream in cake instead of lemon juice and water, with or without 1 teaspn. of lemon juice in whites of eggs.

(2) Use ⅔ cup of molasses in place of the sugar, no water, 1 teaspn. only, of lemon juice in the whites of eggs, 1 cup of flour and 1–2 teaspns. ground coriander seed.

★ Sponge Layer Cake

Boil sugar and water till syrup will thread, pour hot syrup slowly over beaten yolks; beat until cool, chop in stiffly-beaten whites and flour; flavor if desired. 2 small layers.

The sponge layer cake and all sponge cakes containing the yolks of eggs may be put together as follows: Break the eggs into a cake bowl, set the bowl into a pan of boiling water on the table and beat until light; add hot water (if any) and the sugar (or the hot syrup) gradually, beating. When light, remove from water, add flavoring and fold in flour lightly.

★ Old Friend Sponge Cake

Pour cold water over sugar, heat and boil slowly until perfectly clear; cool, beat yolks of eggs, add syrup and half the lemon juice and beat very light; slide whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth with the remainder of the lemon juice on to mixture, sift flour over, a little at a time, and chop in with whites until all the flour is in. Bake ¾–1 hr. in slow oven until just done, no longer. 1 large loaf in deep square tin.

Cocoanut Sponge Cake. 1846

Put together as nut and citron cake, or beat eggs in dish set in hot water, add sugar, cocoanut and flavoring, then flour. Put mixture 1½ in. deep in pans lined with buttered paper.

Rice Flour Sponge Cake. 1846

Beat eggs in dish set in hot water, add sugar, flavoring and rice and pastry flour mixed. Bake in moderate oven.

Angel Cake

Sift 2 or 3 cups of sugar twice; measure out 1 cup; sift a sifter of flour 4 times; measure out 1 cup and mix it with the cup of sugar; put both in the sifter and sift once, return to the sifter and set in cold place; separate the eggs, putting the whites into the dish in which they are to be beaten and set them in a cold place for 15–20 m.; when cool, add the salt to the eggs and begin beating with a long slow stroke, gradually increasing the velocity until the eggs begin to stiffen, then pour the lemon juice over and beat more rapidly for a time; continue beating until whites are stiff and feathery, then add flavoring; sift flour and sugar mixture over gradually, chopping and folding it in carefully; when all is in, drop by spoonfuls evenly into the pan and bake in slow oven 35–50 m., testing with broom straw. When done, turn the pan upside down with the sides resting on two saucers (unless you have the pans with projections for that purpose), so that a current of air will pass under and over the cake.

Tri-Colored Layer Cake

Angel cake—½ white flavored with vanilla; ½ pink flavored with rose, 3 or 4 large layers. Other layers, of sponge layer cake lemon flavored, or some nice light brown cake such as molasses sugar cake or sponge layer cake with part browned flour. Filling of raisin dressing.

Miss Lubey’s Cream Puffs. 1 doz.

Add dry flour all at once to boiling water and butter; stir quickly over the fire until mixture forms a ball which leaves the pan; remove from fire and stir till partly cool; add beaten yolks of eggs, part at a time, beating well, then slightly beaten whites; beat; set in cold place, covered, for 1 hr. or more; drop by spoonfuls about 2 in. apart on oiled and floured tin, flatten with brush or fingers dipped in milk (may leave without shaping); have oven rather quick at first, then slower until there is no “singing”. Puffs are light weight when done. They will keep for several days. Reheat before filling. To fill, cut open at the side with shears.

The butter and flour may be creamed together first, and the boiling water poured over, then the whole cooked as before.

Mix sugar and flour, pour boiling milk over, boil up well; pour over beaten eggs, return to fire until just creamy, not boiling, cool; add salt and flavoring.

If cream is preferred thicker, use ½ cup of flour and cook in double boiler 15 m. before adding the eggs.

Whipped cream may be used for the filling, but does not harmonize as well with the shells.

These shells are sometimes used for trumese and celery salad, or for creamed meat dishes.

Dainty little puffs filled with different creams may be used for garnishes for desserts, or piled on fancy plates for cakes.

Additions to Cookies and Small Cakes

Caraway or anise seeds, ground coriander or anise seed; chopped shelled nuts; grated or shredded cocoanut; grated orange or lemon rind; English currants; fine cut or ground raisins, citron, figs and dates; sometimes a raisin or half a blanched almond or half of a pecan or hickory nut meat in the center of each.

Suggestive Combinations

Coriander, English currants and English walnuts; raisins in molasses cookies; almonds chopped without blanching, and raisins; almonds same, and caraway or ground coriander seed.

Graham flour cookies with English currants; 1 part raisins and ⅓ part each of nuts, cocoanut and citron, with or without vanilla or lemon.

All cooky dough should be set in a cold place for 2 hrs. or longer before rolling out. Roll out in cool room on well floured board. Cut the cakes all out, put on tins and set in cold place before beginning to bake them as the baking will require all one’s attention.

Very thin dough may be cut oblong, round or in any desired shape and some of the following fillings placed between each two pieces before they are baked—

Ground or mashed dates or figs rolled thin and cut with the same cutter that the dough was cut with; raspberry or other fruit jams and jellies or orange marmalade, also some of the suitable cake fillings.

It may sometimes be more convenient to cut the dough into strips 4 in. wide, spread half the width with the fruit, fold the other half over, pinch down the edge and cut into 3 in. lengths.

Tops of cookies may sometimes be brushed with white of egg and water or with syrup of ½ cup each sugar and water boiled together; or, sprinkled with sugar, coriander, chopped nuts or suitable fruits.

Instead of sprinkling cookies with different materials, brush the tops with milk and turn them on to any preparation or mixture desired.

Grated and sifted maple sugar may be used in place of other sugar in cookies by using a somewhat smaller quantity.

It is a good plan to bake cookies on the bottom of inverted dripping pans. This prevents them from burning on the bottom and it is easier to remove them from the tins.

★ Rich Small Cakes—Cookies

Cream butter, add sugar, beaten eggs, flavoring and flour; let stand in cold place until thoroughly cold; roll ⅜–½ in. thick. Bake in oven which is moderately hot at first, so cakes will not spread. Be careful not to burn.

A little more flour may be used if preferred, also half oil instead of all butter, and brown sugar instead of granulated.

For Jumbles, break off pieces of dough the size of a walnut and make into rings by rolling out rolls as large as the finger and joining the ends; or, cut in rings; dust with sugar.

Yolk Jumbles

Poach yolks of eggs dry and mealy; rub them smooth and add butter gradually, creaming; add sugar and flavoring, then flour, a little at a time; cool, roll thin, cut with doughnut cutter, dust with sugar, bake.

★ Cream Cookies

Cream butter and sugar, stir in a little flour, add beaten yolks, beat well, then add the cream gradually with the flavoring, and lastly, all of the flour. Handle after mixing the same as rich small cakes. Fruits, nuts or seeds maybe added. These cookies will keep almost indefinitely.

Lunch Cakes

Take ½ the sugar and a little more flour in rich small cakes, or cream cookies, and roll to ½ or 1 in. in thickness. Cut of the size to fit tins, crinkle edges or press with fork, crease in squares and bake in moderate oven. Caraway or other flavoring may be used. Chopped nuts, a little sugar and ground or shredded citron may be mixed on a board or flat pan and one side of the cakes pressed into the mixture before baking. Set in cold place before rolling out.

Anise Wafers, or German Christmas Cakes

Cream butter, add sugar and a little flour, with seeds, then the yolks of the eggs, one at a time, and the stiffly-beaten whites, with flour, folding together lightly; knead in flour for soft dough, cover and set in cold place; roll rather thin, cut cakes about the size of a half dollar.

Sour Cream Cookies—no soda

Honey Wafers

Cream butter with a little flour, add beaten egg and honey, then remainder of flour.

Molasses Cookies

Heat molasses to boiling and pour slowly, stirring, over well beaten eggs; cool; cream butter and sugar, stir in browned flour mixed with a little of the white flour, add flavoring with eggs and molasses, then the remainder of the flour or enough to make a not too soft dough. Set in cold place and roll out the same as small cakes. Care must be taken in baking, as molasses burns easily.

Or, boil and cool molasses, cream butter and sugar, add beaten eggs, a little flour, then molasses gradually, beating well, and finally, the flour.

★ Molasses Cakes—no eggs

Cream butter with a little flour, add molasses which has been boiled and cooled, with flavoring, and flour for stiff dough, about 2¼ qts. Mix as little as possible, cover and set in cold place for several hours. Shape into small thick cakes, or, roll about ½ in. thick, prick with fork or crease and cut into small cakes. Bake in moderate oven. Remove from tins as soon as baked.

With nice flavored molasses, no other flavoring is necessary. More shortening may be used.

★ Molasses Snaps—no eggs

Cream butter, sugar and the 2 cups of flour, pour hot molasses over, add flavoring and flour for stiff dough, perhaps about 6 cups; press together lightly, set in cold place for several hours; roll thin, bake in moderately quick oven and remove from tins at once. These cakes will be brittle when first made and will grow softer with time. One cup of butter may be used for richer cakes.

Nut Wafers

Beat eggs, add sugar gradually, beating well; then add flour, salt and nuts. Mix, spread as thin as possible on buttered pans, set in cold place, bake in quick oven. When nearly cold, cut into squares.

Nut Cakes—Bro. Hurdon

Mix, drop on well oiled tins some distance apart, bake. Remove from tins when taken from the oven.

Hard Sponge Cakes

Cream together ¼ cup butter and 1 cup sugar, add 1 well beaten egg and 1 cup of flour to which has been added a pinch of salt; stir in 1 cup chopped nut meats; drop in spoonfuls on buttered tins and flatten or shape a little; bake in moderate oven.

Risen Doughnuts—Baked

Beat oil and sugar together with a little flour, add flavoring, salt and light sponge, gradually, beating; then enough flour for a moderately stiff dough; knead a little and let rise. When well risen, roll ½ or ¾ in. thick, cut with doughnut cutter and place on floured, oiled tins some distance apart. Let rise, bake.

Roll in sugar with or without ground coriander seed or chopped nuts before laying on tins, if desired, or moisten with sugar syrup or white of egg and water and roll in sugar after baking.

Another half-spoon of oil may be added to sponge, with 1 white and 2 yolks of eggs well beaten, but eggs are not necessary. If a yellow color is desired, use a little saffron. Mix softer when eggs are used.

Risen Doughnuts

Proceed as in baked doughnuts, lay on floured board, cover; when very light, fry in cooking or olive oil, hot enough for the cakes to rise to the top almost instantly. Turn at once with a fork. ⅓ of a cup of oil may be used in the cakes and 1 whole well beaten egg.

Sometimes roll the dough thin, cut with biscuit cutter and put a teaspoonful of some jelly or jam on one side, fold the other side over, having moistened the edges, press well together, fry when light, roll in sugar. Baked doughnuts may be prepared the same.

Crullers

Mix, chill, roll thin, cut in strips 3½ in. long and 2 in. wade; cut 2 slits in each piece and give each strip of dough a twist. Fry in oil or bake in oven. When to be fried, use the smaller quantity of butter and sugar.

Crullers may have 4 incisions made lengthwise to within ⅓ of an in. of each end. To fry, take up the second and fourth strips and let the others separate in the middle from those in the hand as you drop them into the hot oil. For baking, it is better to twist the strips.

Fried Cakes

Add sugar and yolks of eggs to cold milk, agitate with wire batter whip until full of bubbles, sprinkle flour in gradually, keeping up the agitating motion. When the batter is quite stiff, beat in the oil gradually, and chop in the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Add flour for rather stiff dough and set in cold place for 2 hrs. or longer. Shape and fry the same as risen doughnuts.

ICINGS AND FILLINGS FOR CAKES

Starch, which is changed into sugar in the process of digestion, and cane sugar, form so large a part of all cakes as to furnish in themselves an excess of that element; so why should we put a coating of almost solid sugar over the outside? Certainly not for hygienic reasons. If a cake is well baked, the icing only hides its beauty, and the excessive sweetness destroys the flavors of the finest cake. Let us not use it. Protest and recipes are both given.

Instead of icing, sometimes sift granulated, brown or powdered sugar over the top of the loaf of cake, or over one layer to be used for the top, before baking.

Glaze the top of molasses cookies or cakes before baking with a mixture of 1 yolk of egg and 2 tablespns. of milk.

Sprinkle half a cup of chopped or ground blanched almonds or other nuts over the top of the cake just before it goes into the oven, and cover the cake until nearly done to prevent browning the nuts.

The tops of cakes may be brushed after baking with equal parts of molasses and milk mixed.

Water Icing

The simplest of icings is granulated, powdered or xxxx confectioner’s sugar formed into a paste so that it will run just smooth, by the addition of hot or cold water. That made from granulated sugar must be made with hot water and be pretty stiff. It takes longer to dry and is more likely to run; that from powdered sugar is also quite likely to run. The icing made from confectioner’s sugar is the most satisfactory. It is usually made with cold water, but one authority recommends hot water very positively.

Fruit Juice Icing

Stir rolled and sifted confectioner’s sugar into any desired fruit juice until of the right consistency to spread; use a knife dipped in cold water to smooth the icing; 1–1½ tablespn. of liquid will be enough for the top of a medium sized loaf of cake.

If you have never made such an icing, you will be surprised to see how much sugar a little liquid will take. More icing is quickly made if you do not have enough.

When juices of different fruits are used in their season, the top of the cake may be decorated with the fruit whole, in halves or in slices. For instance, slices from the heart of strawberries, or, halves of red raspberries. The fruit may also be placed between the layers of the cake.

Cream Icing

Stir confectioner’s sugar into cream, plain or whipped, for both filling and icing.

If you have a little of these icings left over, cover it and set in a cold place, and add more liquid and sugar to it the next time.

White of Egg Icing—Miss Stokes

Beat white of egg with water, flavoring and salt to a stiff dry froth; add sugar until of the right consistency to spread, if too stiff, add quickly 1 teaspn. of cream or a few drops of water.

The icing is sometimes made by mixing the water and egg without beating and stirring the sugar in, making a smoother and more tender frosting. May use powdered sugar.

White of Egg Icing with Lemon Juice

Put the white of egg into a bowl and add the sugar by degrees, beating; when the sugar is all in, add lemon juice and vanilla.

Golden Icing

Yolks of 2 or 3 eggs and powdered sugar to make stiff enough to spread, about 1 cupful for 3 yolks; vanilla or orange flavoring or both. Beat until thick and creamy.

For an orange cake, use the juice and grated rind of a small orange to 3 yolks with the powdered sugar, and use for filling and icing. Sections of orange may be laid on top. Confectioner’s sugar may be used.

★ Butter Frosting—almost like whipped cream

Work together 1 cup confectioner’s sugar and 1 level tablespn. of butter. Flavor with vanilla. Add 1¼–1½ tablespn. of milk. Beat well.

Jelly Icing

Beat a glass of jelly, a little at a time, into the whites of 2 eggs. If the jelly is very tart, use 2–3 tablespns. powdered sugar. Prepare the icing some little time before it is to be used and set on ice. Elder-berry jelly gives a delightful flavor and beautiful color. Quince is also nice.

Boiled Icing

Stir sugar and water together over the fire until sugar is dissolved, then boil without stirring until the syrup will spin in threads when dropped from the tines of a fork, or until a hard ball is formed when dropped into cold water. Pour slowly over the stiffly-beaten white of egg, beating briskly, until stiff enough to spread. If the icing gets too stiff, set over hot water or thin with a trifle of lemon or other fruit juice, or hot water. ½–1 teaspn. of lemon juice added to the white of egg when about half beaten will make the icing more creamy. Some beat the white of egg slightly, only.

2 or 3 whites may be used with this quantity of syrup. One writes that she turns her syrup on to a platter and allows it to become perfectly cold before beating in the eggs, and she thinks it is much smoother and nicer.

One combination of flavors is, ¼ teaspn. each vanilla, orange and strawberry, or 1 or 2 drops of rose in place of strawberry.

Bro. Cornforth’s directions are excellent: “Boil the sugar and water till it threads well, not just till it begins to thread; then set the dish off the stove and cover tight while you beat the whites stiff; then pour the hot syrup in a small stream into the whites, beating continuously; beat till it becomes cool enough to spread on the cake.”

Boiled Milk Icing—no egg

Boil 5 m., or until syrup stiffens in cold water; stir until thick enough to spread.

Caramel Icing—no egg

1½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup cream. Boil until syrup stiffens when dropped in water. Substitute ⅔ cup sour cream for sweet, with brown or granulated sugar.

Boiled Maple Icing—no egg

Add ¾ cup sweet cream to 2 cups rolled or grated maple sugar. Boil slowly until mixture will thread. Cool about half, stir in ½ cup chopped English walnut meats, beat until creamy, and spread over cake.

Half granulated sugar may be used, and ½ cup of milk with a little butter substituted for the cream.

Maple Syrup Icing and Filling

Boil ¾–1 cup of maple syrup until it will form a soft ball in cold water. Pour over beaten white of egg. Beat until stiff enough to spread. If desired, stir in ½ cup of rolled butternut meats just before spreading on the cake. The syrup may be boiled until it threads.

Whipped Cream

Flavored with vanilla is delightful, of course, on the top of thin loaves of cake cut in squares. Or, for filling, with chopped, blanched almonds, dry, fine-cut stewed prunes, or slices of banana.

Molasses cake baked in layers, with whipped cream between the layers and over the top, with or without a sprinkling of grated cocoanut, is considered a great treat in some households.

Cocoanut Cream

Two layers and on top of cake, with cocoanut sprinkled over top. Some additional flavoring if desired.

Butternut Filling

1 cup sweet cream, ½–¾ cup sugar and 1 cup rolled butternut meats, mixed without whipping cream. Flavoring if desired.

★ Sour Cream Filling

Whip cream (ice-cold), sugar and vanilla together until just thick, taking care not to whip too long as sour cream turns to butter more easily than sweet; add the almonds, spread quickly between layers of cake and roughly on top. The nuts may be sprinkled over the layers of cream instead of being mixed with it. The white of an egg beaten stiff with part of the sugar is sometimes added to the whipped cream. Shellbark, English walnut or rolled butternut meats may be substituted for almonds.

Creamed Apple

White of 1 large egg, 1½ cup granulated, powdered or confectioner’s sugar, 2 or 3 medium sized apples. Peel apples and grate on to unbeaten white of egg and sugar in large bowl; beat for 20 m.; or until light and creamy. Lemon, rose or strawberry may be used if flavoring is desired. Spread between layers and on top of cold cake. Bananas, peaches and other fruits rubbed through a fine colander may be used the same as apples.

Cocoanut Filling

Spread under and upper sides of layers of warm cake with soft icing. Sprinkle tops with fresh grated cocoanut and put other layers on. Use plenty of icing on top of last layer and sprinkle well with cocoanut.

Date Filling

Stone and skin dates after boiling a moment, mash or grind them, and add water if necessary; spread between layers of cake. Cover the top of the cake with coffee icing with cream. Chopped nuts may be mixed with the dates and sprinkled over the top of the cake.

Pineapple Filling and Icing

Chop fresh pineapple and sprinkle with sugar; drain after 3 or 4 hrs; add beaten whites of 2 eggs, ⅔ cup sugar and 1 teaspn. lemon juice to 1 cup of pineapple and place between layers. Use some of the juice with confectioner’s sugar for icing the top and sides of the cake. When using confectioner’s sugar with pineapple omit whites of eggs.

Drain canned pineapple very dry, chop and add lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar, when fresh pineapple is not obtainable.

Imperial Filling

Coffee Icing

Add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla to strong cereal coffee, with or without a little heavy cream.

Fig Jelly Filling

Prune Filling

Stew ½ lb. of prunes in a very little water, rub through colander or cut fine, add whites of 2 eggs beaten to a stiff froth with 2 tablespns. of sugar.

Nut and Raisin Filling

Boil sugar and water till the syrup will form a soft ball in cold water; pour it into the stiffly-beaten white of egg, add nuts and raisins and spread while warm between the layers.

Raisins or nuts alone may be used. Shellbarks or butternuts are especially enjoyable. Figs or dates may be substituted for the raisins or for the nuts.

★ Cream Filling

Mix sugar and flour dry, pour boiling milk over, boil up, turn over beaten eggs, stirring, return to fire and heat until creamy but do not boil; set dish at once into cold water, add flavoring.

Use ½ tablespn. less of flour for Washington Pie, and ¼ cream (or a small piece of butter) in the milk.

Royal Filling and Icing

Flavor sugar with oil of orange, make cream according to directions for cream filling and add rose and vanilla when partly cool. Icing of cream and confectioner’s sugar, tinted with pink.

I have usually used this for Royal Sponge Cake and this quantity is sufficient for one large layer.

Filling for Lemon Pie Cake and Washington Pie

Mix sugar and corn starch or flour, drop the teaspoon of butter on and pour the boiling water over gradually, stirring; boil up well and add 2 or 3 tablespns. to the yolk of egg stirring; then add yolk to the mixture and cook like custard. Remove from fire and when partially cooled add flavoring. Use sometimes for the filling of a cake with whipped cream on the top.

Lemon Cheese for Cakes

Cook in double boiler, cool, spread between layers of sponge or other cake or on crisp pastry, or put it into cream puff shells; or, without cooking put into pastry in patty pans and bake in moderate oven.

Marshmallow Filling

1 oz. (about 4 tablespns.) sifted powdered gum arabic, 4 tablespns. water, ½ cup sugar, whites 3 eggs, 1 teaspn. vanilla. Soak gum arabic in water for 1 hour, add sugar, cook in double boiler ½ hour, add stiffly-beaten whites of eggs and vanilla, beat until stiff and white.

ICE CREAM AND FRUIT ICES

Neither very hot nor very cold foods should be taken at meals. If foods are too hot, the stomach is debilitated, and if they are very cold, vitality must be drawn from the system to warm them before the work of digestion can be carried on; so it would be better to take ice cream and all ices by themselves rather than as a dessert.

Water ices, sherbets and frozen fruits, without large quantities of sugar, are invaluable in cases of fever.

I am not going into the subject of ice cream exhaustively for there are plenty of books on that subject already, but will give you my own recipe which must be tried to be appreciated.

The little flour in it gives it a smoothness and creaminess with one third to one half milk equal to all cream without it; and does not give the disagreeable flavor of corn starch; also, made by this method, the cream and milk are sterilized.

Use wet snow instead of ice for freezing in the winter. It works even better and is less trouble.

Add fruit or nuts to cream when removing the dasher, so that they will not become hard as they would do if frozen with the cream.

For freezing, have the ingredients cold. Have the ice very fine; the finer it is, the better the results. One-third as much rock salt should be at hand. The ice and salt may be mixed, or may be put around the freezer in the proportion of 3 inches of ice to 1 inch of salt.

First, adjust the freezer, having the mixture to be frozen in the can. Fill not over ⅔ full to allow for expansion. Then pack with the ice and salt, turning the handle around once in a while during the operation, to keep the mixture from freezing to the sides of the can. Have a stick to pound the ice and salt down well around the can.

Turn slowly at first to make a fine grain, then more rapidly as the cream thickens.

Before removing the cover to take out the dasher, scrape away the ice and salt and wipe off the water on the lid and near the top of the can, so that none can possibly get into the cream. Beat the cream and replace the cover, with a clean cork in the top. Drain off a part of the water and repack the can, using less salt than at first, sometimes not any, so as not to have the cream too hard. To be at its best, cream should be stiff enough only to hold its shape. Cover with paper, a blanket or carpet and let stand to “ripen” for 2 hours or longer. This part is important, as the flavor and texture are perfected only by standing.

If possible, open the can in an hour and a half and stir the cream so that the soft center comes to the edge of the can. Repack and cover the same and let stand for 2 or 3 hours.

Save the salt from the bottom of the freezer to use another time, and it is a good plan to save a little of the thick salt water to use instead of the last layer of salt near the top of the can for the next freezing, as it facilitates the work very much.

In serving, dip the spoon into hot water each time before putting it into the cream; this, with care, will give a nice shaped serving.

Pop corn without butter or salt is more suitable to serve with ice cream than cake.

Sugar syrup gives a finer, smoother and more substantial grain to frozen fruits, sherbets and water ices than sugar and water, and they do not melt as quickly when exposed to the air.

Pack all ices the same as creams and let stand the same after freezing, to become smooth and mellow.

For water ices, do not turn the crank continuously. Turn slowly and rest between, until the ice becomes quite stiff. This is the rule, but for a change the freezer may be turned rapidly and continuously, with a different result.

There is a great difference in freezers. Be sure to get a good one. The construction of the dasher has much to do with the texture of the cream. Those that freeze the quickest are not necessarily the best.

Do not buy a small freezer: you can freeze a small quantity in a large freezer, but you cannot freeze a large quantity in a small freezer.

★ The “Laurel” Ice Cream

Stir the flour smooth with some of the cold milk and heat the remainder of the milk, with the cream and sugar, in a double boiler and when hot, set over the fire. Let it boil up quickly, stir in the flour and when boiling all through, return to the double boiler for a few minutes, beating well. Or, heat the milk and cream only in the double boiler and pour gradually, stirring, over the sugar and flour which have been mixed together. Return to boiler and cook for 10–15 m. Turn through a fine wire strainer into a large pan to cool quickly; stir while cooling.

Any kind of cream may be made from this. Flavor with vanilla for vanilla cream, or tint pink and flavor with ¾–1 teaspn. of strawberry extract for strawberry cream, or with a few drops of rose, for rose cream. Tint green and flavor with almond and vanilla for pistachio cream, using only a few drops of almond to a teaspn. of vanilla. This may have a few shredded almonds stirred into the frozen cream.

Sometimes sprinkle fresh grated cocoanut over each serving of cream, or the cocoanut may be stirred in as other flavorings are.

A very pretty cream is one with citron and candied cherries cut into tiny pieces and added when the dasher is removed.

We make a fruit and nut cream which is liked very much, by adding well washed English currants, raisins cut in quarters, citron in small pieces and coarse chopped English walnuts or pecans. Omit the nuts for a fruit cream.

For coffee cream, steep (not boil) cereal coffee in milk for 10 to 20 m. Strain through a cloth and use as plain milk with the cream. Flavor with vanilla.

One quart of sweetened, crushed strawberries or raspberries added to the recipe makes the right proportion for fruit cream. Drained, finely-shredded or grated pineapple makes a general favorite in cream.

Maple Ice Cream

Lemon Ice

Soak and cook gelatine according to directions (p. 335), add water to make 1 cup, keep warm; cook sugar and 3 cups of water together for 5 minutes and strain into the gelatine. Prepare the lemon and orange juice, and if desired, shave off a little of the thin yellow rind and let it stand in the juice for a few minutes, then strain it out. When the gelatine mixture is partially cooled, add the juice gradually, stirring. The orange may be omitted.

Or, omit gelatine, boil sugar with 1 qt. of water and when cool combine with the juice.

Orange Ice

Flavor juice with thin yellow rind of orange and proceed as in lemon ice, omitting gelatine if preferred.

Raspberry Ice

Cook sugar and water together and add to prepared gelatine. When nearly cool, add raspberry juice and stir occasionally until cool. Freeze.

Currant and Raspberry Ice

Use cherry, strawberry, quince, gooseberry, grape or pineapple for ices, varying the proportion of sugar and water according to the sweetness of the fruit. Pineapples should be grated and with the lemon juice added to cold syrup and strained through a sieve. Pineapple is one of the most delightful ices.

Mint Ice

Add fine cut or chopped spearmint to lemon ice mixture just before freezing, or to orange ice for orange mint ice.

★ Grape Sherbet

Flavor the sugar with oil of lemon if desired, and boil with the water for 5 m. only. Prepare the gelatine with a scant cup of water, and add to warm syrup; cool; add lemon and grape juice, stirring. Put into freezer and stir for 15 m. Beat the whites of eggs until light but not stiff; add the powdered sugar and beat 2 m., add to the sherbet in the freezer and finish freezing. Ripen from 2 to 4 hours. This sherbet is of a beautiful lavender color when finished.

Substitute other fruit juices for the grape, varying the quantity of sugar. Red raspberry is better in water ice, as the whites of the eggs spoil its flavor.

★ Mint Sherbet

Boil sugar and water and add to gelatine prepared with the scant cup of water. When cool, add stirring, the lemon juice and fine cut or chopped mint. Stir in freezer 15 m. Add whites of eggs beaten with powdered sugar as in grape sherbet and finish freezing. Ripen.

Pineapple Sherbet, or Frozen Pineapple

Shred and grind nice, ripe pineapples. Prepare gelatine with 1 cup of water and add more to make 1½ cup. Cook sugar and 2½ cups of water together for 5 m. and add to gelatine. When nearly cool, combine with pineapple and lemon juice; cool; stir in freezer for 15 m. Add whites of eggs beaten with powdered sugar and finish freezing. Ripen.

Mina’s Lemon and Orange Sherbets

Frozen Strawberries

Add 1 cup of sugar and the lemon juice to well mashed berries. Let stand in ice box 1–2 hours. Boil water and remaining sugar together for 5 m., cool, add to berry mixture, freeze, ripen. Serve plain or with whipped cream.

Frozen Peaches

Rub measured peaches through colander; add cold syrup made by boiling sugar and water together for 10 m. Freeze. Stir in cream whipped and slightly sweetened, when dasher is removed. Repack and ripen.

Frappés

Frappés are partly frozen mixtures of fruit juices, pulps or fine grated fruits and when not too sweet are excellent in fevers and are often served in place of a drink or a sherbet to well people. Of course they are served in glasses.

CEREALS

“The grains, with fruits, nuts and vegetables contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood.”

“Those who eat flesh are eating grains and vegetables at second-hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth.”

“The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the eater. We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use.”

“Grains used for porridge or mush should have several hours’ cooking; but soft or liquid foods are less wholesome than dry foods which require thorough mastication.”

When porridges are used, something dry like zwieback or crisp crackers should be eaten with them to induce mastication.

Foods containing starch should be well insalivated by thorough mastication before any tart foods are introduced into the stomach, as acid hinders the digestion of starch.

The large proportion of starch contained in grains is changed to sugar in the process of digestion, so the addition of more sugar gives an excess of that element, overtaxing the liver and increasing the tendency to fermentation, since both starch and sugar are substances that ferment easily. Then if milk, another easily fermented food, is added what can be said of the combination? Besides: “the presence of a considerable amount of sugar actually retards the digestion of starch.”—Dr. Kress.

For those who feel that they cannot at once forego the sweet, stir in a few sliced dates to graham porridge or sprinkle them over the top and serve with nut or dairy cream. Chopped figs or stewed raisins may also be used the same with different cereals. A very harmonious combination is pearled barley cooked with raisins. Nice ripe blueberries or black raspberries may be served with cereals.

A complete meal may be made of graham or any preferred porridge, blanched almonds, English walnuts or pecans, with dates, figs or raisins. The combination will be satisfying without any milk or cream.

My readers will many of them be surprised to find that oatmeal and some other porridges are delightful served with cream sauce, old-fashioned milk gravy, macaroni sauce and other gravies; the cooked parched grains especially so. A poached egg may be placed on each serving of porridge, with or without sauce.

The toasted breakfast cereals on the market, prepared without malt or any additional sweet are many of them excellent foods because of the dextrinization of the starch, and we can easily prepare dextrinized grains in our own homes.

Parched Sweet Corn—the Ideal Cereal Preparation

Put dried sweet corn into a corn popper, iron frying pan or round bottomed iron kettle; cover, and shake over the fire until the grains are browned and puffed up nearly round. Served plain, this corn supplies a complete and satisfying food, as any one will find who sits down with a nice fresh-parched porridge dish of it and chews it until it is fine and creamy in the mouth. It is much more delicious than the finest popcorn. It may be ground and eaten in cold or hot milk, nut or dairy, and it may have a little salt and sterilized butter mixed with it while it is warm. A cup of cereal coffee or tea-hygiene with a dish of parched corn makes a nice luncheon or supper.

The corn may be dried on the cob or shelled and dried. It may often be bought from dealers in seeds, after the planting season is over.

Parched field corn is a good nourishing food but not so sweet and tender. It is usually better to be ground.

One doctor says, “I could travel the world around on parched corn and never want grease of any kind.”

It is well understood that corn and oatmeal are the richest in oil of any of the grains. In some countries the soldiers carry parched corn in their pockets on long marches.

Yolk—Egg

Put yellow corn meal into an iron kettle or saucepan over a moderate fire; stir until of an even rich brown color. Serve warm or cold with hot or cold milk or cream. The donor of this recipe says: “When I was a child this was considered a great dainty, but I do not know how it obtained its name or where we learned to make it.”

The different preparations of grains may all be parched the same as sweet corn and corn meal in the preceding recipes. If more convenient they may be done in the oven but the flavor is not as good. Some of them are tender enough to be eaten dry or in milk without any further preparation; others are better to be ground before adding the milk or cream, and some need to stand in the milk, hot or cold, for a time, before serving, while others (rice especially) require cooking after parching. Some are better cooked in milk.

Pop-corn

To pop: “Wet the corn slightly and let it dry on the stove; put it in the popper while it is hot and in four minutes every kernel should be turned inside out, crisp and tender.”—From a clipping.

Serve the popped kernels plain with nuts, cereal coffee, tea-hygiene, cream or milk, or sprinkle delicately with salt and turn a little oil or melted butter over, mixing thoroughly.

Put together the poorly popped kernels of corn and all the remains, cover with cold water and soak until soft, perhaps over night. Then add milk and cook in a double boiler ½ hour or so. Serve with cream or more milk if necessary, or, cook in all water and serve with cream. These left-overs may be ground and soaked in milk until soft.

Rusk

Dry slices or pieces of bread in the oven and brown delicately, grind through the food cutter and serve in milk or with cream.

Porridges

“Some people degrade these foods by calling them mushes, a horrible name, by the way; the good English word porridge is much better, and porridge is not gruel.”—An Editor.

Unless cereals are steamed, they should be cooked in a double boiler or something that answers the same purpose.

A flat or round wire batter whip is the best for stirring the grain into the water, as that keeps even the finest flour from becoming lumpy.

The very most important thing in making porridges is to have the liquid boiling when the cereal is put in. If it stops boiling while the grain is being added there will be a raw taste to the porridge, no matter how long it cooks.

Put the required amount of water, with the salt, 1 teaspn. to a quart of water, into the inner cup of a double boiler. Heat the water to bubbling boiling, sprinkle the measured grain in so slowly as not to stop the boiling of the water, stirring continuously. Let it boil up well, and if a coarse grain, cook over the fire until it thickens, then set into the outer boiler containing perfectly boiling water and keep it cooking rapidly the required length of time.

Do not stir after the grain thickens. Watch that the outer boiler does not become dry. Grains for breakfast may be cooked while you have a fire the day before, then all that is necessary in the morning is to set the inner boiler into the outer one containing boiling water and heat it through. If there should be water standing on top of the porridge, pour it off before heating, but under no circumstances stir the porridge, or add any more water while heating, or a pasty, tasteless dish will be the result.

When the porridge is to be re-heated, a slightly larger proportion of water should be used, and for steaming, a smaller quantity.

One advantage in steaming is that the cereal (after being started over the fire in some suitable utensil) can be turned into an earthen dish and set into the steamer, warmed in the morning and sent to the table in the same dish.

Farina, cream of wheat and similar cereals are more palatable and nourishing if cooked in part milk. These finer preparations may have milk or cream stirred into them just before serving.

Different lots of graham flour and rolled oats vary, so that it is not possible to make an exact rule for them, but graham flour should be stirred into water until the mixture is quite stiff because it grows thinner by cooking.

Rye meal makes one of the most delightful porridges. Stir the meal slowly into boiling salted water, the same as graham flour, and cook for 1 hour at least.

Proportion of Water and Length of Time for Cooking Different Cereals
Graham Flour	1 part to 2 or 3	of water	cook 1–2 hrs.
Rolled Wheat	1 part to 2 or 3	of water	cook 3–4 hrs.
Cracked Wheat	1 part to 4½ or 5	of water	cook 4–6 hrs.
Pearled Wheat	1 part to 4 or 4½	of water	cook 4–6 hrs.
Whole Wheat	1 part to 6	of water	cook 6–8 hrs.
Rolled Oats	1 part to 2 or 3	of water	cook 3–4 hrs.
Oatmeal	1 part to 4 or 4½	of water	cook 4–6 hrs.
Pearled Barley	1 part to 5	of water	cook 4–5 hrs.
Hominy, coarse	1 part to 5	of water	cook 6–8 hrs.
Hominy, fine	1 part to 4 or 5	of water	cook 4–6 hrs.
Corn Meal	1 part to 3 or 5	of water	cook 2–5 hrs.
Rice	1 part to 3 or 4	of water	25 m–1¼ hr.
Farina	5 tablespns. to 1 qt.	liquid	1 hr.

Whole wheat is a very satisfying and inexpensive food. Some families buy it by the bushel and use large quantities of it in different ways. Some put the boiled wheat into bread sponge before mixing it up.

Different kinds of corn meal vary, too. Only about ⅔ or ¾ as much granular meal is required for a given amount of liquid as of other kinds.

Oatmeal is difficult of digestion, is apt to cause fermentation and should be partaken of sparingly even when well cooked, except by those of strong digestive powers. One young man said in my presence, “I never know I have a stomach except when I eat oatmeal.”

Cracked wheat is very nice cooked with an extra quantity of water, molded and served cold.

With a Vegetarian Society mill delightful cracked wheat and many other cereal foods can be made.

Cracked corn—samp grits—hominy, is a valuable food. Besides the package preparations I have bought it at feed stores in the East and obtained it from the mills in the West, and with a mill it can be made at home. It should be thoroughly cooked. The old-fashioned way is to put it into a round bottomed iron kettle with salt and plenty of water (adding more water when necessary) and cook it all day. It may be served with milk, butter or gravy, or with any of the sauces used for macaroni, and may be cooked with tomato and onion the same as pilau, p. 131.

RICE

“Rice is the most easily digested of all the cereals. The Japanese, famous for their athletic superiority and wonderful endurance, use rice unpolished. The rice of commerce is not only stripped of much of its most desirable qualities, but in order to make it attractive it is coated with glucose and talc to produce the pearly appearance. Persons using such rice should be careful to wash it thoroughly. After once eating unpolished rice, the rice of commerce will never again be accepted. To eat polished rice is like eating shavings instead of real, satisfying substance.”—Henry S. Clubb, President Vegetarian Society of America, in “Life and Health,” and “The Vegetarian.”

Wash commercial rice in several waters, scrubbing it thoroughly with the hands, in a colander set in a pan of water, rinsing the colander up and down. Then put it over the fire in cold water, boil for 5 m. and drain, before cooking after any of the methods.

To Boil Rice

After washing and parboiling rice, throw it into 3 or 4 times its bulk of boiling salted water, stir it over a hot fire until it rolls up in the rapidly boiling water. Let it boil in this way until it swells, then set into the outer boiler or on the back of the stove on a pad until it is perfectly tender. If rice is cooked in a double boiler, use the smaller quantity of water, and the larger if cooked altogether over the fire. Do not stir after it begins to swell. This is practically the Japanese method.

Another Japanese way is to soak the rice over night, drain and put to cooking in an equal quantity of boiling water, keeping closely covered all of the time.

Chinese Way of Cooking Rice

After washing, put rice over the fire in double its bulk of cold water, let it boil up well, carefully lift cover to see if water is all absorbed; if not, drain, sprinkle salt over if desired (the Chinaman does not use it), return to fire closely covered and watch, listening until a faint crackling of parching grains at the bottom is heard; then remove to the back of the range where the rice will just steam—“steam fragrant.” When ready to serve, carefully stir the grain with a wooden skewer or some small round stick, when the snowy mass should crumble apart into indistinct kernels. “Try the Chinaman’s way and be convinced that plain boiled rice is a palatable, substantial food.”—Adapted from Mrs. J. N. Anderson, Canton, China, in “Life and Health.”

The Indian Way

Wash the rice, put little by little into 8 times its bulk (2 qts. to a cup) of rapidly boiling salted water. Stir occasionally at first with a fork until the rice is rolling up continuously from the rapid boiling. Cook until tender, 15–25 m., according to the age and quality of the rice. Be sure to cook it until it is tender but not a moment longer. Drain in a fine colander, pour cold water over to separate the kernels, put into the dish in which it is to be served and set in a steamer or in the edge of the oven for a half hour. The water drained from the rice may be used for soup.

To Steam Rice

After washing, soak 1 cup of rice in 1¼ cup of warm water for an hour or longer, in a dish suitable for serving it in. Add 1 level teaspn. of salt and 1 cup of milk and steam, without stirring, for just 1 hour. Serve at once, or if it has to stand, cover close so that the top kernels will not become hard.

All milk may be used by taking 2¾–3 cups. If the milk fills the dish so that it is just ready to run over, the rice when steamed will stand snowy white above the top of the dish.

★ Baked Rice

Parboil rice 5 m. and drain, add it to milk in pudding dish, stir even in bottom of dish, set in slow oven, cover and bake 2–3 hrs. without stirring, or until milk is all thickened and creamy with rice; if the milk boils over under the cover, the oven is too hot. This is so delicious that it does not require anything additional in eating but it may be served with sugar, maple sugar or syrup.

Parched Rice

Wash if commercial rice, spread on tin and put in warm place to dry. When thoroughly dried, put in slow oven and color to an even light brown. Soak for 1 hour in an equal quantity of lukewarm water, then add 3 times the quantity of rich milk, with or without 1 level teaspn. salt to the cup of rice; steam, or cook in double boiler for 1 hour. Serve plain. The rice may be ground.

Granella—to Serve

Pour just enough hot water over granella to moisten it a trifle. Mix lightly and serve with cream. Granella is nice in hot milk.

Baked Hominy

Mix hominy and yolks of eggs thoroughly; add melted butter, then sugar and salt and the milk gradually, mixing hominy to smooth paste. Chop in stiffly-beaten whites and bake in buttered dish in moderate oven. Serve as vegetable for dinner or as principal dish for luncheon or supper.

To Hull Corn

2 gallons cold water, 1 tablespn. concentrated lye or potash, 4 qts. corn, white corn if possible. Dissolve lye in water, add corn, and boil (adding water to keep covered) until the hulls will rub off. Wash and rub in several clear waters until the hulls are all off. Soak over night or for several hours in cold water; drain and put to cooking in boiling water. Cook until tender, all day if necessary. Add salt a little while before it is done, then cook until as dry as possible without scorching. Serve as a vegetable, plain, or with cream or cream sauce. Eat in milk or with nut meats.

The hulled corn may be dried. Hard wood ashes may be used to make the lye for cooking the corn, or a bag containing 2 cups of ashes may be boiled in the kettle with the corn. By boiling for 4 hrs., the hulls may be removed by using 1 tablespn. of soda to each 4 qts. of corn. Some prefer strong lime water for hulling.

Instead of soaking over night, the corn may be parboiled in 2 waters before cooking.

★ Granella No. 1—wheat, corn and oats

Mix dry ingredients and to ¾ of the quantity add water for a stiff dough, then work in the remaining ¼ until almost too stiff to knead; roll and pound out to ¼ or ⅓ inch thick, cut in round or square biscuit and set in cold place for 2 hours or more. Bake in a slow oven until a rich cream color or golden brown all through. Then grind coarse or fine as desired.

It will take 2 tablespns. of Rhode Island meal to make ½ oz. and 1 only of yellow granular meal. The granular meal will need to be scalded with a part of the water or it will feel sandy in the granella.

Granella No. 2—rice, wheat and barley

Cook rice in one cup water, cool, add salt, flour and grits, knead to very stiff dough, adding a trifle more water if necessary. Finish as No. 1.

½ cup rice flour, 1½ cup bread flour and ¾ cup barley grits may be used instead of the above combination.

Granella No. 3—rye, wheat and barley

Granella No. 4—rye, wheat and corn

MACARONI (ITALIAN PASTE)

Macaroni is one of the most important of cereal foods. The best—Italian—is made from a wheat rich in gluten, so to a great extent it supplies the place of meat.

One of the first things we do when we go into a new place is to hunt up an Italian macaroni store, as that is the only place where the genuine article is to be found. That made in this country, put up with a foreign label on the package, is inferior.

The Italian pastes come in a great variety of shapes and are named according to the shape. Macaroni, spaghetti and vermicelli are well known; then there are lasagne (broad and flat), rigatoni (large corrugated), da natali, ditali rigati, cannaroni rigati and reginnetti with mostacioli bianchi, soprafini (fine vermicelli), ditalini and acini di pepe—a few of the many. There are some small fine pastes put up in dainty boxes, especially for invalids, that are very delicate and digestible.

Those who have visited macaroni factories in Italy where macaroni is made for exportation, say that everything in connection with the food is neat and clean and that the macaroni is dried in closed rooms entirely removed from the dust of the street. That which travellers see drying by the roadside, exposed to the dust, is from small or private factories for home consumption.

To Cook Macaroni

Do not wash or soak it. Break it when necessary and put into perfectly boiling salted water, 8 parts water to 1 of macaroni. Stir as soon as it is put into the water and often, until it begins to roll up, from the rapid boiling. Keep over a hot fire where it will continue to roll in boiling until well swollen and nearly done, then set back to simmer slowly. When perfectly tender (which will be in from ½ to 1 hour according to the size, age and quality, the better quality taking longer) turn into a colander and when drained, turn cold water over it, or, let it stand in cold water until ready to use.

Vermicelli and the other small varieties for soup require only twice their bulk of water, and some of them require 10 m. only for cooking. They will usually just absorb the water.

When preferred, macaroni may be cooked in just the amount of liquid it will absorb, which will be about 4 times its bulk. It may be cooked sometimes in a rich consommé, sometimes in milk in a double boiler, or in milk and water. It is often partly cooked in water, drained and finished in milk.

The “traditional” way of cooking spaghetti is to put the ends into water and coil it around in the kettle as it softens, cooking in full lengths and eating it the same, but the propriety of this method is questionable. In the first place, its sauce is apt to spatter in the effort to introduce the coil into the mouth, and mastication is sure to be incomplete.

The measurements of macaroni vary according to the size. For a large open variety, a cup and a half will be required where it would take only a cup of a small kind, or of the ordinary pipe-stem macaroni broken into inch lengths.

There is nothing that gives such character to macaroni as to cook a little garlic with it, a very little for some tastes, not more than ½ a clove to each cupful, less even, if the macaroni is not to be drained and the cloves are large. We seldom cook any preparation of macaroni without it, and people wonder why our macaroni has such a good taste. Not enough should be used to give a positive garlic flavor.

Pine nuts and sour cream give the cheese flavor. A good quality of macaroni is good without any sauce, just cooked in salted water and eaten slowly with nuts; but it may be served with any desired, tasty sauce. The mushroom sauces, Italian or Boundary Castle are especially delightful with it, but many others are excellent, olive and nut butter, old-fashioned milk gravy, lentil gravy, a good cream sauce, cream of tomato sauce, or any of the nice, meaty flavored sauces, or parsley butter.

Sometimes return macaroni to the fire after draining, and add a little butter, with or without chopped parsley, for those who use butter, or a little milk and butter or a few spoonfuls of cream. Then another time, put this cream or butter macaroni into a vegetable dish and pour a few hot stewed tomatoes over it.

Baked Macaroni in Cream Sauce

Make cream sauce in the usual way with the oil, flour, salt and milk and pour into baking dish, turn into it the macaroni which has been cooked in the salted water with sliced onion and garlic until tender and the water absorbed, and press down into the sauce; sprinkle with crumbs and parsley and bake in moderate oven until bubbling and delicately browned. If preferred, ¼ cup of flour may be used in the sauce.

Make enough of this dish for two days, and another day stir salted tomato into what is left and bake as before for Macaroni in Tomato Sauce.

Macaroni—Pine Nuts

Add ½ cup of pine nut butter or meal to the sauce in the preceding recipe (by mixing a little of the sauce with it) and sprinkle with chopped meats and crumbs.

Macaroni—Corn

Add corn and cooked macaroni to sauce, turn all into baking dish, sprinkle with crumbs and pour a little melted butter over if sauce is made with milk. Brown in oven.

Browned Macaroni and Granella

1 cup macaroni, ¾–1 cup granella, 3 cups rich milk (more if necessary). Dry and delicately brown macaroni in oven and cook the same as unbrowned. Put into baking dish in layers with granella, turn milk, slightly salted, over and heat in moderate oven. It should be quite moist when done. Unless the milk is about one-fourth cream, there may be a little oil or butter poured over the top.

Macaroni—Tomato and Onion

Simmer onion in oil or butter, add stewed tomatoes and salt; simmer a few minutes and add cooked macaroni; set back where it will heat slowly for a short time and serve.

Tomatoes, onions and macaroni may be put into baking dish in layers, with a sprinkling of pine nut meal; with tomatoes, crumbs and chopped nuts on top, and baked.

Vermicelli—Asparagus

Cook vermicelli in salted water, drain, spread on platter, lay stalks of cooked asparagus on it and pour egg cream sauce over. Cut asparagus into inch lengths if preferred.

Macaroni in Milk

Heat 1 qt. of milk in inner cup of double boiler, add 1 cup of macaroni and cook until tender, perhaps for 2 hrs. Serve plain as side dish or for luncheon or supper. It may also be served with stewed raisins, with or without cream.

★ Cream Mold of Macaroni

Cook ½ cup of macaroni with or without a few slices of onion and a suspicion of garlic, in 2 cups of water with ½ tablespn. of butter until tender and well dried out; drain, add ⅔ cup milk, 1 large egg and salt. Turn into well buttered mold and bake covered in pan of water in moderate oven until egg is set, ¾–1 hour. Serve with Boundary Castle or any suitable sauce.

★ Macaroni—Sour Cream

Add beaten egg and salt to cream and pour over cooked macaroni in baking dish; sprinkle with crumbs and bake until egg is set.

Rice may be used in place of macaroni, tomato also may be added sometimes with chopped onion; a delicate flavoring of sage gives another variety.

BREADS—LEAVENED

Yeast

Plants require warmth, food and moisture and thrive the best when not too warm nor too cold.

A temperature of from 75 degrees to not over 90 degrees is the most favorable for the growth of the yeast plant.

Compressed yeast is the most convenient to use when it can be obtained fresh, but the bread made from it lacks the sweet rich flavor of that made from a good soft yeast; so from the great number of good recipes for liquid yeast I give two with which I have had excellent success.

Use only mature, well ripened potatoes for yeast. Hops may be omitted but the yeast keeps better and the bread is lighter and sweeter when a few are used.

Keep yeast in several small jars rather than in one large one, so as not to disturb the whole when using from it.

Bread rises slowly from yeast that is less than 48 hours old. When liquid yeast is used, let it count as part of the wetting. Compressed yeast is meant when dry is not specified in recipes calling for cakes of yeast.

To use compressed yeast, slice it in rather thin slices, sprinkle sugar between the layers and pour just enough lukewarm water over it to moisten the sugar, not enough to cover the yeast. Let stand until foamy and use at once.

One cake of compressed yeast equals 4 tablespns. of either grated or mashed potato yeast.

Grated Potato Yeast

Dissolve yeast in warm water with part of the sugar. Simmer the hops in water for half an hour, strain, add enough water to make 2 qts. and keep at boiling point. Put sugar and salt into a large granite or porcelain kettle, quickly grate the pared potatoes over them, set the kettle over the fire and pour the boiling hop water on to the mixture, stirring; let boil until thickened, remove from fire, cool to lukewarm, add the yeast, beating it in well and let stand on table or shelf in warm kitchen; as it rises, stir it down once in a while; when well risen, set in a cool place and stir down occasionally until it does not rise any more. Fill clean cold jars about ⅔ full and when settled, fasten covers on and put in ice box.

Use 1 tablespn. of yeast to each pint of water when setting bread over night, and double the quantity for starting in the morning.

Mashed Potato Yeast

¾ cup of water in which potatoes and hops were boiled, 1 cake of dry yeast dissolved in ¼ cup of water with a little of the sugar, or, ½ cup of hop water and ½ cup of liquid yeast.

Tie the hops in a piece of cheese cloth and cook with the well washed but not pared potatoes (the yeast is lighter if the skins are left on); when done, drain and peel potatoes and rub through colander on to the salt and sugar; beat well, pour water on gradually, add yeast, beat, put into a clean glass jar, lay the cover on without fastening down and let stand in a warm room until full of bubbles, no longer; then set in a cold place. When thoroughly cooled, fasten the cover tight and keep in refrigerator.

Use ¼–½ cup of yeast to a pint of liquid, according to the time you wish to give the bread to rise.

Dry Yeast

Boil potatoes with hops tied in cheese cloth until tender; remove hops (squeezing bag when cool), put potatoes and water through colander, and stir into the liquid while scalding hot, enough flour to make a rather stiff batter. Beat well, add ½ cup of yeast or 2 dry yeast cakes dissolved in water. When light, add the cup of corn meal or enough to make a dough stiff enough to roll; roll ⅓–½ in. thick, cut into small square or round cakes, dry in the sun or in a slightly warm oven (they are sometimes dried between two boards covered with corn meal) until so much of the moisture is expelled that they cannot ferment.

If kept dry the cakes will retain their strength for a long time. The small pieces of dough may be crumbled and dried.

Flour

White, graham and whole wheat are the flours most commonly used in making bread. White bread flour is made from spring wheat, which is richer in gluten than winter wheat and is of a rich cream color.

Winter wheat flour is more suitable for cakes and pastry, and for that reason is called pastry flour.

A blended flour, spring and winter wheat combined, is considered by some the most nearly perfect bread flour.

Graham flour is composed of the whole kernel of the wheat, its bran overcoat and all, ground up together. The bran contains no nutriment and is irritating to some stomachs. Graham flour is nearly always made from winter wheat.

In making whole wheat or entire wheat flour, the bran or fibrous covering of the kernel is removed and the entire nourishing part of the grain is ground. Whole wheat flour is usually made from spring wheat.

Some so-called “whole wheat” flours are simply very fine graham; that is, the bran is all there, but ground very fine.

The best grades of flour are the cheapest as a smaller quantity is required for the same amount of liquid. Good flour also requires less kneading.

Perhaps the greatest deception has been practised in “gluten” flours. Some which have been advertised as pure gluten have been found to contain as high as 63 and 75 per cent. of starch. A pure gluten flour for making yeast bread is out of the question.

Flour made from new wheat will for a time improve with age, but after a certain period it begins to deteriorate; so it is not best to lay in a too large supply at once.

Keep flour in a warm, dry place, as all bread, cakes and pastry are lighter made from dry flour.

“For use in bread-making the superfine white flour is not the best. Its use is neither healthful nor economical. Fine flour bread is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in bread made from the whole wheat. It is a frequent cause of constipation and other unhealthful conditions.”

BREAD—YEAST

Suggestions

Bread should not be set over night when there is the least possibility of its becoming light enough to fall before it can be attended to in the morning.

Dough mixed stiff at first requires double the quantity of yeast of that started with a sponge, but as this method has several advantages it is becoming the favorite. Beat the batter very thoroughly for either method, as that has much to do with the lightness of the bread.

Keep bread at all stages at as even a temperature as possible and away from draughts of air. A large pasteboard box is an excellent thing to set it into.

Keep bread covered close to prevent a crust from forming over the top. Paper is better than cloth to exclude the air.

To hasten the rising of bread, use a larger quantity of yeast rather than a higher temperature. Above 90 degrees the bacteria which were in the flour or yeast may begin to grow and the bread will be sour. Given more time and raised at a lower temperature, bread will be sweeter and of a finer texture.

Attend to bread at every stage as soon as light, before it begins to fall; exercise especial care in this respect with compressed yeast as it loses its life very quickly after becoming light.

Bread will rise better in a deep vessel, such as a pail or a stone crock, than in a broad flat pan. Always oil the dishes used for raising it in.

Each time that bread rises it loses some of its sweetness and nutritive value, so the fewer times it is allowed to rise the better, if light enough to be digestible.

Some cooks prefer flour that has been delicately browned for setting the sponge for bread.

A good bread kneader is one of the best investments in cooking utensils. It saves time and strength and makes better bread.

“In the making of raised or yeast bread, milk should not be used in place of water. The use of milk is an additional expense and it makes the bread much less wholesome. Milk bread does not keep sweet so long after baking as does that made with water and it ferments more readily in the stomach.”

In cakes and crusts where milk is used with yeast, sour milk may be substituted for sweet with the same results.

To aid fermentation, a little sugar may be used in starting bread, but not enough to cover the sweet taste of the flour.

Do not allow bread to get over light, even if it does not become sour; for the sweet taste will be destroyed, and if in the loaf, it will fall in the oven.

Whole wheat and graham bread will be lighter if ⅓ white flour is used; and if white flour alone is used for the sponge the bread will not be so apt to sour.

Whole wheat and graham bread need to be mixed stiffer than white and must not be allowed to become very light or they will fall in the oven and have a hollow place in the loaf.

Whole wheat, graham or rye bread may be steamed 3 hours and baked slowly ½ hr., sometimes.

Salt delays fermentation, so when bread is started with a sponge the salt should not be added until the sponge is light, and it may be worked in at the end of the first rising of the mass of dough.

When a large quantity of bread is made at a time, a smaller proportion of yeast is required. Stir soft yeast well before using from it. Do not let the jar of yeast stand in a warm kitchen for a few minutes even.

It is impossible to give an exact rule for the proportion of flour to liquid in bread as different brands of flour vary and the same brand may be dryer or more moist at different times; but usually not less than three times as much flour as of liquid is required, and not much more.

Near the sea level bread dough may be mixed as soft as it can be well handled; but as the altitude increases the stiffness of the dough should increase.

Do not add any flour to bread after the last rising before putting it into the tins, “as all the flour in it is, in a fermentative sense, cooked and the addition of raw flour injures its quality.”—Charles Cristodoro. Oil the board and your hands instead.

“Bread should be light and sweet, not the least taint of sourness should be tolerated. The loaves should be small and so thoroughly baked that so far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed. When hot or new, raised bread of any kind is difficult of digestion. It should never appear on the table.”

The loaves should be baked in separate tins, brick shaped ones being best. If the loaf feels soft on the sides when removed from the tin, return it to the oven for it is not done. When done, leave loaves where the air can circulate around them until cool.

Keep bread in tin or stone receptacles, never in wood; wash them often in warm soapsuds and scald thoroughly.

Never cover bread in the box with a cloth, if anything is required, use paper. Cloth causes a musty taste and smell.

To freshen stale bread or buns, place them in a hot oven above a pan of boiling water; or put into one tin and cover with another and leave 10–30 m. according to size of loaf and heat of oven.

Rolls are sometimes dipped in milk or water and heated in the oven; or, put into a paper sack and left in the oven for 10 m.

White Bread

Put yeast in a quart measure (compressed yeast will have been dissolved according to directions) and fill the measure with warm water. Turn into warm mixing bowl, add oil, sugar and salt (sugar may be omitted), mingle, add flour until a drop batter is formed; beat vigorously for 5 m., then continue to add flour. When too stiff to stir, knead on molding board until dough is smooth and does not stick to the board by deft handling, place in a well oiled deep dish, cover well and let stand in a moderately warm place until light. It may now be folded down and turned over and allowed to come up half way again, or be put at once into the tins.

Allow bread to rise in tins to a little more than double its bulk (experience will do more for one in determining the proper degree of lightness than any recipe), and put into a moderate oven with spaces between the pans; when well risen and moderately browned, lower the temperature of the oven a little and finish baking. Cover with asbestos sheets or paper if bread is in danger of becoming too brown. ¾–1 hr. will be required for baking a medium sized loaf.

Fruit Bread

Use double the quantity of oil and from ¼–½ cup of sugar in the recipe for white bread, add 2 large cups of seedless raisins or 1 cup each of raisins and currants. Dates or figs may be used when preferred.

Nut Bread

Use 2 cups coarse chopped nuts instead of fruit, in fruit bread recipe. Brown sugar may be used instead of white, or sugar may be omitted altogether.

Irish Bread

Whole Wheat and Graham Bread

Use ⅓ white flour and ⅔ whole wheat or graham instead of all white flour in the recipe for white bread. These breads require to be kneaded a little stiffer than white flour bread to prevent their being coarse grained and falling in the oven; also, care must be taken that they do not get too light before baking. It is a mistake to put molasses or sugar into graham bread as it conceals the sweet nutty flavor of the flour.

Zwieback Bread

New York “Home Made” Bread

2–4 tablespns. liquid yeast or 1 cake compressed yeast, warm water to make 1 qt., white flour for drop batter; beat well. When light, add 1 cup corn meal gruel (to make, use 1 tablespn. of granular meal to each cup of boiling water and cook 2 hrs.), 1¼ teaspn. salt, and flour for smooth dough. Let rise in bulk once, then put into pans. A baker gave me this idea. He said he had a great run on it once in New York City under the name of “Home Made” bread. The bread is very moist and sweet.

Oatmeal Bread. Mrs. Cobb, Bay City

Cook oats in water as for porridge, 1½–3 hrs., cool to lukewarm, add sugar, oil, yeast, and flour for sponge; beat, let rise, add salt, and flour for soft dough; when risen form into loaves and when moderately light bake from ¾–1 hr. Sugar need not be used.

★ Rye Bread

Let rise once in bulk and put into tins; when light, bake in moderate oven. Add caraway seeds when liked.

★ Rice Bread

Cook 2 cups of rice in 2 qts. of water until tender; cool to lukewarm; add 4–6 tablespns. yeast with water to make 1 pt., 1½ teaspn. salt and 4–5 cups white flour, or enough to make a very stiff dough.

★ Crisp Bread

When light, add 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs, knead well, use crumbs to roll the dough, roll ¼ in. thick, cut into large rings, let rise and bake in moderate oven until crisp.

Potato Ball Bread

Add yeast cake powdered fine, to the potato when lukewarm, and the salt and sugar when cold; form into a ball, cover and keep in cool place 2 or 3 days. When ready to bake, add 2 cups mashed potato mixed with 1 teaspn. salt and 2 of sugar to the ball. Make a ball of half the mixture and add enough warm water to the remainder to make 2 qts. or more. Add warm flour to knead, let rise in bulk once or twice before putting into pans.

Proceed in the same manner for each baking, keeping the ball covered in a cool place between bakings. A new ball will not need to be started oftener than once in three months if at all.

This yeast works very quickly and makes beautiful bread. Of course for small bakings, half the quantity of yeast would be sufficient.

“Delicious” Bread

Put into a pitcher or some suitable deep vessel 2 cups of mashed potato to which has been added 1 cup of sugar and 1 qt. of warm water. Cover and let stand in a warm room for from 1 to 3 days or until covered with a foam almost like the meringue on a pie. Mix some of this foam with 1 cup of warm mashed potato, let stand in a warm place 1–2 hrs., add 1 tablespn. of salt and set away in a cool place.

To the original yeast add 1–2 qts. water, 2–3 teaspns. salt and warm flour to knead; when light, stir down, and put into pans the second time it rises. Be careful not to let it get over light in the pans before baking.

For the next baking, add 1 cup of sugar and the 1 cup of potato reserved from the last baking, to 2 cups of fresh mashed potato; take out 1 cupful as before, let stand in warm place 1 hr., add 1 tablespn. of salt and set in a cool place.

To the 2 cups of potato add a little water and set in a warm place until light, when water to make 2 or 3 qts. may be added and the bread kneaded up.

The yeast may be used in universal crust, raised cakes and wherever other yeast is used, with delightful results.

Boston Brown Bread. Corn and Rye

Mix all ingredients, let rise; pour into tins, let rise, not too light; steam 3 hrs. bake 20–30 m. in slow oven.

Boston Brown Bread, No. 2.

Mix all ingredients except corn meal, let rise, add meal, turn into tins and when risen not quite double, steam for 3 hrs. and bake 20 m. to ½ hr. in slow oven.

West Virginia Scalded Corn Meal Bread

Scald 1 cup of meal with boiling water, add warm water, yeast, oil and dry meal. When light, add salt and beaten egg, let rise in the dish in which it is to be baked. The bread is best baked in an iron skillet or frying pan with a cover.

★ Corn Cake

When light; 1 teaspn. salt, 2 cups granular corn meal, 2 eggs slightly beaten. Turn into well oiled pan to depth of 1–1½ in., let stand in warm place a few minutes, bake in moderate oven.

The quantity of flour will vary with the brand, 3¾–4 cups only of bread flour will be required. The eggs make a finer grained as well as lighter bread. One egg will do if eggs are scarce.

Salt Rising Bread—Suggestions

Tastes and opinions differ concerning this bread but no other takes its place to those who were accustomed to it in childhood.

With a little practice, salt rising bread becomes less work to make than hop yeast bread. It is more wholesome and richer flavored and keeps better than other yeast bread, and it has a fine cake-like texture.

The experience of some persons is that salt rising bread is less apt to cause acidity in the stomach than hop yeast bread.

The secrets of success with it are in keeping it evenly warm; in not making it too stiff; and in not kneading it too much. Too much flour renders salt rising bread dry and powdery.

The water surrounding the rising at different stages should be at a temperature of 110 to 125 degrees, or so that it feels hot to the hand, but not scalding.

In cold weather, an ideal way to keep the loaves warm while rising is to put them on bricks in a pan or tub of warm water and cover them with a blanket.

It is well to scald all utensils used for the bread with boiling sal-soda water and to use the same water to stand the yeast in while rising.

While the flour added to salt rising bread should be warm, it must never have been hot at any time before using as it is the yeast germs which it and the other ingredients contain that raise the bread.

The loaves should be wrapped in a thick cloth when taken from the oven and left until cold. Salt rising bread makes sweet and tender zwieback.

Salt Rising Bread. No. 1

Mix 1 tablespn. each of salt, sugar and corn meal (white or Rhode Island if obtainable) with 3 tablespns. of oil, pour over all 1½ pt. of boiling water; stir until sugar and salt are dissolved, then add 1½ pt. cold water that has never been heated. Add warm flour for thick batter which will be rather thin after beating (about 2 qts., perhaps). Beat thoroughly and set in pan of water at 110 to 125 degrees or in some place that can be kept at a uniform temperature much warmer than for common yeast bread but not warm enough to scald the rising. When the first bubbles appear, beat the batter thoroughly and repeat the beating each hour until light, which will be in from 4–6 hours. The rising should not be allowed to become too light at any time. When the batter is light, close the doors so that there will be no draughts. Have the pans oiled and warm, and the flour warm. Add the flour rapidly with very little stirring, to the batter; when stiff enough, turn all out on to a warmed, floured board and work in quickly with as little kneading as possible enough flour for a rather soft dough; form into loaves and place in oiled pans, set in a warm place, covering well to keep a crust from forming over the top as well as to keep the loaves warm. As soon as light, place in a moderate oven and bake thoroughly.

Salt Rising Bread. No. 2

To 1 cup very warm water add ½ teaspn. of salt and fine middlings (shorts) to make a rather stiff batter; beat well, cover and set in a dish of very warm water, covered, beat 2 or 3 times while rising. When light, turn into a warm mixing bowl, add 1 pt. or more of warm water, a little more salt and warm graham flour (part white flour if preferred) for a soft dough, and finish the same as No. 1.

★ Universal Crust

For shortcakes, fruit tarts, meat and vegetable pies, pot pie dumplings, crackers, buns, steamed puddings, loaf cake, doughnuts and cookies, rusk and Sally Lunn.

Mix all ingredients except salt and add flour for sponge batter; beat; when light, add salt and warm flour for moderately stiff dough. Knead a little and cut into biscuit for the top of fruit tarts or meat or vegetable pies, or place on tins for shortcake crusts. For dumplings, use only ¼ cup of oil or 1½ tablespn. of raw nut butter.

If the crusts are not fine grained it is because you have not used enough flour or have not kneaded them enough; but they do not want to be quite as stiff as bread is usually mixed.

Shortcake crusts or tins of thin biscuit may be made and kept on hand and just warmed up when needed, or laid over meat or vegetable pie fillings or hot cooked fruit fillings and left in the oven long enough to warm through.

We consider this one of the most valuable recipes in the book since it can be used in so many ways in the place of baking powder crusts.

Sour Cream Crust—no soda

Make sponge or knead at once to soft dough, let rise, make into any desired shape and when light, bake. This is very nice for shortcake crusts and can be used for nearly all purposes that universal crust is. That the cream was sour would not be known after the crust is baked.

Sally Lunn. Breakfast or Supper Bread

Use 1 egg, with or without 1 tablespn. of sugar to each cup of milk in universal crust. Bake in shallow or thick loaf as preferred.

★ ★ Soup Crackers

Knead thoroughly (dough may be put through food cutter 5 or 6 times); when light, fold down and turn over and when risen again, roll thin, prick all over quickly with fork or docker, cut into any size or shape desired and bake at once before the crackers have time to rise and acquire a bread like taste. Bake in a moderate oven until well dried all through, but not too brown. When properly baked these crackers are more suitable for soups than unleavened crackers, as they are more porous and tender. Tiny ones cut with a plain round pastry tube are attractive for special occasions. They may be cut in larger sizes, sometimes as large as a saucer, like the Swedish milk biscuit, for serving salads or entrées upon. For salads, they may have a hole in the center. I have an oblong cutter, made by bending a small round tin tube into that shape, that makes pretty soup crackers. Bake the dough in long slender rolls for Soup Sticks.

★ Rolls

Add yeast to warm milk with flour for batter; let rise, add salt, oil, and flour to knead. Knead and pound dough until elastic. Let rise in bulk or roll out at once. 1 tablespn. of sugar is sometimes added to light sponge; also 1 egg or 2 yolks or 2 beaten whites.

An excellent way is to let the dough rise in bulk after kneading, and when light, turn from the oiled bowl on to the board and roll out without mixing.

For Parker House rolls, roll dough ½ in. thick, cut out with large biscuit cutter, press across the center or a little one side of the center with a small round stick (the bakers have a piece of broom handle rubbed smooth with sandpaper) or knife handle, brush one side with oil or butter and fold the other side over, place on oiled and floured pan with spaces between so the shape will not be spoiled in baking. Let rise until very light, when nearly light, wring a cloth out of warm water, not too dry, and lay it over the rolls for a short time. Bake in quick oven.

For Crescents, roll the dough as nearly square as possible, less than ¼ in. thick, cut into strips 7 in. wide, cut the strips into squares and the squares diagonally into halves; brush lightly with water, then commence to roll firmly from the long side, opposite the point of the triangle; leave the point underneath. Lay on the pans in the shape of a horseshoe, when light, bake in a quick oven. May brush with white of egg or thin cooked starch paste when nearly done.

The Vienna roll is made by shaping the same as the Vienna loaf (a little smaller at each end), about 6 in. in length. When the rolls are light in the pan, gash the top of each diagonally three times with a sharp knife. Bake in a moderate oven.

Roll dough into a long strip, cut into 3-in. lengths, lay close together in pan, brush with syrup made by cooking together for one minute equal quantities of milk and sugar; let rise, bake, for Finger rolls.

For Shamrock rolls, put three small round balls of dough in each gem or muffin cup.

Cleft rolls. Make dough into balls; when light, cut each roll across the top with a sharp knife, about 1 in. deep, or, once each side of the center, or, once each way, making a cross roll.

Buttermilk Rolls

Warm buttermilk, add yeast and sugar with flour for sponge; when light, add salt, and flour for soft dough, let rise and shape into rolls.

Swiss Rolls. Bennett’s

Boil milk, sugar and butter together, cool, add yeast, sprinkle in flour gradually, agitating and beating liquid with batter whip; beat in the egg and flour, beating with strong spoon, for a very stiff batter, so stiff that it beats hard (may knead to soft dough). Leave in warm kitchen 1 hr. or longer, set in icebox for several hrs. or 2 days; roll, handling lightly, ¾ in. thick, spread with soft butter, roll up, cut off 1½ in. thick, let rise, bake in moderate oven. The dough may be baked in loaves and used for dainty sandwiches.

★ Crumb Rolls

When light—2 cups dry bread crumbs (not very fine), a little salt if crumbs are not very salt, flour to knead rather soft. Shape, and bake when light.

★ Crumb Rolls of Brown Bread

Rolled Rolls

Roll dough for rolls (p. 438) in a square ¼–½ in. thick, brush with butter or not, sprinkle with maple sugar or chopped hickory nuts or granulated sugar and ground coriander or anise seed, with or without currants or raisins, or with a mixture of chopped citron, English walnuts and sugar (maple or granulated), or chopped nuts, figs, raisins and cocoanut. Roll tight, cut from the end in 1 or 1½ in. lengths, lay close together in pan, let rise, and bake in moderate oven. Or, roll bread dough out and spread with hard sauce flavored with vanilla, lemon, coriander or anise. Sprinkle with currants or raisins. Roll, bake, glaze with sugar and hot water.

★ Potato Biscuit

Add beaten eggs, warm water and all other ingredients to warm mashed potato, with flour for stiff dough; when light, roll out, cut into biscuit, let rise, bake.

Split Biscuit

Roll light dough ½ in. thick, cut into biscuit, butter half of them on top and lay one of the other half on top of each; lay close together in pan, brush with butter, let rise, bake.

★ Raised Biscuit

Take roll dough or add a little more oil to bread dough, cut into small biscuit and place a little way apart in pan, prick with fork, let rise and bake. Or, cut strips of dough into small pieces, roll into balls and place close together in tin. When there is a little piece of dough left, break it into small, irregular pieces and put one on the top of each biscuit.

Breakfast Biscuit—rice, corn and flour

Take cold boiled rice, double its quantity of flour, a little fine corn meal, and yeast. Mix with water to dough and let rise over night. Roll and cut into biscuit in the morning, let rise and bake for breakfast.

★ Rusk

Beat oil and sugar together, stir in a little flour, add beaten eggs and warm milk, then dissolved yeast and flour for sponge. When light, add flour for smooth dough, let rise, mold into small biscuit, place close together in biscuit tin or put into muffin rings, or roll 1 in. thick, cut with biscuit cutter and place on pans a little distance apart; when light, brush with equal quantities of sugar and cream (or milk) boiled together 1 minute, dust with ground coriander or anise, bake, and sprinkle with granulated sugar or chopped almonds as they are taken from the oven. The brushing and dusting may be done after baking if preferred.

Browned Rusk

Bake rusk dough in loaf cake pans in a moderate oven and the next day cut into slices and dry and brown delicately the same as zwieback. Only ½ cup each of sugar and oil may be used or the sugar may be omitted entirely. Thin biscuit of the dough baked separately without brushing may be toasted the same as slices.

Buns—plain

Add sugar, oil, salt and yeast to warm milk, with flour for soft dough; knead, let rise, turn down and when half risen turn on to board without stirring, roll out and cut with biscuit cutter, place on pans with spaces between, let rise, bake. When buns are done, the tops may be wet with molasses and milk, sugar and milk, or spread with beaten white of egg, dusted with sugar and set in the oven to dry.

Currant Buns—1 cup of currants in place of nuts in above, with or without 3 or 4 teaspns. ground coriander seed or ½ teaspn. ground anise seed.

Raisins cut in quarters may be substituted for currants, with any desired flavor, and nuts and raisins may be used for Fruit and Nut Buns, and dried blueberries for Blueberry Buns.

Beadles

Mix universal crust stiff at first; after rising twice, roll ⅓–½ in. thick, cut out with large round cutter, wash with mixture of beaten yolks, milk and sugar flavored with lemon (grated rind may be used) and dust the center with sugar, then draw over three sides of each toward the center to form a triangle, but far enough apart to leave an opening in the center to show the washed part. Brush with milk. When light bake in quick oven. Four sides may be drawn over, making a square instead of a triangle. When baked, a little jelly may be dropped in the center for Jelly Beadles; cream puff filling for Cream Beadles, or thick prune marmalade for Prune Beadles.

Sr. Purdon’s Lemon Buns

Bread Sticks

Work the white of one egg into a pint of light bread dough, mold into slender sticks, place in stick pans, let rise, brush with milk or white of egg and water; bake in hot oven.

Or, roll shortened dough to the size of a pencil and 6–8 in. long. Lay on tins, let rise a little, bake in moderate oven.

Crumb Cakes

Mix sugar and salt with dry flour, pour warm milk over gradually, stirring; when smooth add yeast, and zwieback crumbs for not too stiff batter, then the egg, white and yolk beaten separately; when light, bake on griddle.

Old-time Buckwheat Cakes—corn meal and flour

Stir ½ cup of yellow corn meal into 1 qt. of boiling water; cook, stirring, until thickened; when lukewarm add:

Beat, set in cool place until morning; add a little warm water if too thick and use less flour next time.

★ Buckwheat Cakes—bread crumbs

Add yeast to warm water and pour gradually over flour and salt, stirring; when light add crumbs soaked in milk and warmed a little.

BREADS—UNLEAVENED—WITHOUT CHEMICALS

“The use of soda and baking powder in bread making is harmful and unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the stomach and often poisons the entire system.”

The chemical substances left in foods by the union of soda and cream of tartar in baking powders cannot be used by the system, so the excretory organs are overworked in their efforts to throw them off.

Experiments have also proven that the chemicals of baking powder retard digestion.

The use of yeast is preferable to baking powder or soda, but breads made without baking powder, soda or yeast are best of all.

Unfermented breads are generally baked in small loaves, so that they are dry and require thorough mastication.

With the other advantages, unleavened breads have all the sweet taste of the flour.

The substitute for carbonic acid gas is as pure and “as free as the air we breathe,” for it is the air we breathe, the very same thing; consequently it is inexpensive and the use of it requires less time and labor than the making of fermented breads.

The Essentials of Success in making unleavened breads are, after good materials (the flour must be of the best); (a) that the ingredients be as nearly ice cold as possible; (b) that the breads stand or rest before baking, in a cold place for from 20 m. to 3 or 4 hrs., or over night; (c) that the oven is not too hot when they are first put in—not that they must be beaten very vigorously.

Iron is the best material for batter bread pans as it gives a firm, steady heat. The irons with thin, flat, oval (not square cornered) cups are best, but the small round cups are not objectionable and the stick shaped pans are excellent. Next to irons are earthen custard cups.

Gems

Have materials and utensils cold, put liquid with salt, oil and yolks of eggs when used, in stone milk crock or deep pan, agitate for a moment by moving wire batter whip briskly back and forth, when the liquid will be full of bubbles. Sprinkle flour in, not too slowly, with the left hand, keeping up the agitating motion. When the batter is quite stiff, beat it (never stir it as that drives out the air) just enough to incorporate all the flour. Give a few turns of the egg beater to the whites of eggs (which are in a bowl with a little salt), so that they are full of large bubbles, rinse off the beater with cold water, give it a shake and hang it in its place. Turn the eggs on to the batter and mix them in lightly, beating a little if necessary to mix well; cover the dish and set it in the ice box (or in a pan of cold water with a wet cloth over it) in summer, or in a cold room where it will not freeze in winter, for not less than 20 m. and longer if possible. (I always stir my gems up over night when making them for breakfast.)

When ready to bake the gems, warm the irons a little and without stirring the batter dip it into the cups, filling them to the brim, set into a slow oven that bakes well from the bottom.

Bake until well risen, increase the heat sufficiently to brown the gems nicely, then lower the temperature and finish baking. Be sure that the gems are well baked to the center. Turn out of pans at once and let stand for 10 or 15 m. before serving. There is no objection to serving unleavened breads warm.

If the oven does not bake well at the bottom, leave the pans on top of the stove where it is not too hot, for 10–15 m., then place carefully in the oven.

When baking with gas, put the gems on the top grate of the oven before it is lighted; use one burner only at first and have that turned rather low.

Whole Wheat and Graham Gems

Graham gems should not be quite as stiff as whole wheat. Use the quantity of milk that will just fill the pan; skimmed milk with 1½–2 tablespns. of oil to the quart equals whole milk. Brazil or other nut butter or meal, with water, is sometimes used.

All whole wheat or graham flour may be used, but combining either with ⅓–⅔ white flour makes gems more digestible.

The batter may be made thinner than a drop batter, but I have better gems when it is quite stiff. I take only 3 eggs to a quart of milk, but more may be used. When we are so happy as to get a spring wheat graham flour, 2 eggs to the quart of liquid is sufficient.

Gems may be made without eggs with all whole wheat, or graham flour of spring wheat. They require a little more beating, the longer rest is imperative, and the oven should be a little warmer at first.

Cold boiled rice may be added to thin gem batter sometimes, also grated cocoanut.

White, and Sally Lunn Gems

Make the same as whole wheat gems, using white bread flour, and 1 egg to each cup of milk, add 2 tablespns. of sugar for Sally Lunns.

Fruit and Nut Gems

Add a few English currants, seeded raisins in quarters, with or without fine cut dates, or dried or fresh blueberries to any gem batter. Use chopped nuts alone or with fruit. Ground citron goes nicely with nuts.

Rye Gems

Rye and Wheat Gems

★ Crumb Gems

Or, 1½ cup crumbs, ½ cup white flour, 2 eggs, 1 teaspn. sugar, with the milk, salt and oil.

★ Corn Meal and White Flour Gems

Scald meal with boiling water, add oil, salt, cold water and yolk of egg; beat, add white flour, beating, and lastly stiffly-beaten white of egg; rest. Bake in moderate oven.

Corn and Graham Gems—no eggs

★ Cream Corn Gems or Griddle Cakes

Stir enough corn meal into not too thick cream to make a stiff batter; about 1½ cup meal to 1 of cream; add salt, beat a little, rest, bake in gem irons or on griddle.

Pop Overs

Beat egg with salt; add half the milk, beat in the flour and add the remainder of the milk, and without beating strain into a pitcher; rest. Pour into rather hot irons and bake in moderate oven.

Sometimes the mixed egg and milk are poured gradually into the flour, stirring, and sometimes the beaten white of egg only is used, being added after straining batter. And again, a teaspoonful of oil or melted butter is put in after the flour is beaten into half the milk.

German puffs call for 4 eggs and Vanity puffs for 6 eggs, with the other ingredients the same.

Other Variations of Pop Overs

Whole Wheat Pop Overs

Mix flours and salt, stir into milk, add beaten egg, rest. Put into rather hot oiled gem pans, bake.

★ Corn Pop Overs

★ Sweet Potato Bread

Bake potatoes, peel and rub through colander, add salt, oil, meal, milk and beaten egg; beat well. Bake in moderate oven 30–40 m. Serve hot.

★ Rice Breakfast or Supper Cake

Add stiffly-beaten whites of eggs last, rest, bake in shallow pans or patty pans. Serve hot. The flour is sometimes omitted.

★ Corn Bread

Pour boiling water over meal, add salt, oil and yolk of egg; cool, add beaten white and bake in oiled pan. Use a little less water for Rhode Island meal.

Crumbs and Corn Bread

Pour boiling milk over corn meal, stir well, add oil, salt and crumbs; cool, add beaten yolks of eggs, then stiffly-beaten whites. Bake in oiled pie pans. Or, soak meal and crumbs in cold milk for several hours and add salt, oil and eggs as before.

★ The Laurel Brown Bread. Sr. Olive Jones Tracy

Mix water, salt, molasses, oil and yolks of eggs and add mixed meals; then stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Steam 3 hrs., bake in slow oven ½ hr. 1 qt. of thin cream may be used in place of oil and water.

Halved, seeded raisins may be added occasionally or fine cut steamed prunes or broken pieces of nuts.

Crumb Brown Bread—no eggs or yeast

½ cup sugar with ½ cup more of water may be used in place of the molasses. Cereal coffee may be used for the liquid, or a little browned flour may be mixed with the meal.

★ Johnny Cake

Southern Johnny Cakes

½ cup each fine hominy, rice and rice flour, salt, water, milk. Cook rice and hominy in 2 cups of water, each. Add ½–1 cup milk, salt and rice flour; drop by spoonfuls on hot, oiled griddle, flatten with fingers dipped in cold water, bake in oven or on top of stove.

★ Bannock

Cook meal in water for 10 m., add oil, cool a little, add yolks of eggs, beat well, fold in stiffly-beaten whites of eggs, bake in oiled pudding dish or pie plates, in moderate oven. Serve at once.

Water Corn Bread

1½ cup granular corn meal, salt, 1 cup cold water. Rest 1–2 hrs., spread thin on hot griddle or frying pan, bake in hot oven, serve hot.

No. 2

1 cup granular meal, salt, ¾ cup boiling water. Spread at once, thin, on hot griddle or frying pan and bake in hot oven. Serve hot.

Oat Cake

1 cup fine oatmeal, ½ teaspn. salt, boiling water, 1–1½ cup perhaps. Grind rolled oats (not too fine) if very fine meal is not obtainable. Pour over enough boiling water to moisten, spread very thin on hot oiled frying pan or griddle (or spread spoonfuls in cakes), bake on top of stove or in hot oven.

Corn Meal Crusts

Pour boiling water over meal, sugar and salt; beat well; add butter, spread very thin on well oiled pans, bake. Pull apart while hot.

White Corn Meal Crusts

1 cup white corn meal, 2 cups boiling milk, 1 teaspn. salt; stir smooth and pour ⅓–½ in. deep in oiled pan. Bake in moderate oven. Split for eating.

Rhode Island Johnny (Journey) Cakes

Those who have not made the acquaintance of Rhode Island Johnny cakes have missed much. To make them in their perfection Rhode Island meal is required, though white meal will do. Do not try them with yellow granular meal. Rhode Island meal has a creamy tint and is lighter in texture than granular meal.

Mix the meal with salt in a cake bowl and pour perfectly boiling water over it to more than moisten. (A rule for the quantity is out of the question). Stir, and if necessary add more water. The batter should be soft, but the meal must be well wet with the boiling water. Beat and drop in spoonfuls on to a hot, well oiled griddle. Dip the hand in water and flatten the cakes to about ¾ in. thick. Keep the griddle hot until cakes are nicely browned on one side, turn, adding more oil if necessary and brown on the other side; after which set back where cakes will bake slowly for 20 m. to ½ hr. Serve with cream, nut cream or butter, or with some meaty flavored gravy; sometimes honey or maple syrup.

In many families these cakes form the bread for three times a day six days in the week, and one soon comes to feel lost without them.

As Toast—Split cold cakes, lay in deep dish with salt and bits of butter and pour hot milk over.

Pone, or Corn Bread “Straight”

1 qt. white corn meal, 1 teaspn. salt, cold water for soft dough. With hands moistened with cold water mold into oblong mounds, a little thicker in the center than at the ends. Lay on hot oiled or floured pan, press a little with the fingers and bake in hot oven. Break (not cut). Eat hot.

A little oil may be added to the meal for pone, but then it will not be “straight.”

Ash Cake

Brush a place clean before the fire and lay the pones upon it. Let the tops dry a little and cover with hot ashes. Bake until dry and firm, 15–30 m. Draw from the fire, brush off the ashes, wash and wipe, serve. Buttermilk is the ideal accompaniment to ash cake or pone.

A cabbage leaf may be laid above and below the cake in the ashes; then it will not require washing, but will need to be baked a little longer.

Hoe Cake

One hoe cake is the pone mixture baked on a hoe or griddle in one large cake or in several small ones ¼–¾ in. thick.

Another—1 cup white Southern corn meal or Rhode Island meal, mix with ½ teaspn. salt and pour boiling milk or water over to make a batter thick enough not to spread. Drop by spoonfuls on well oiled griddle and press ½ in. thick. When nicely browned on one side, put a small piece of butter or a little oil on top of each cake and turn. Bake thoroughly. Serve hot. A teaspn. of sugar is sometimes added to the meal, but “no Southern cook would risk the spoiling of her corn breads by sweetening them.”

For campers, the batter may be spread on a floured oak board, the board slanted in front of the fire and the hoe cake baked “in its original way and with its original flavor;” or it may be baked on a smooth flat stone which has been heated and floured. Sometimes the scalded meal is allowed to stand for an hour or longer, then formed into cakes ½–¾ in. thick before baking.

★ Sr. Welch’s Corn Dodgers

Mix corn meal and flour and heat in oven, add sugar and salt and pour boiling liquid over, stir rapidly until smooth, add oil and yolk of egg, then stiffly-beaten white; drop in spoonfuls on hot oiled pan; bake in quite hot oven.

Sr. Welch’s Corn Dodgers—granular meal

Mix and bake as with common meal. If the liquid is not rich milk, use 1 tablespn. oil or melted butter.

Corn Meal Porridge Dodgers

Pour boiling water over corn meal and salt in inner cup of double boiler; stir smooth, cook 1 hr., add oil, drop by spoonfuls on oiled griddle, dip fingers in cold water and pat down flat; when browned put a dot of butter or a little oil on top of each and turn. Serve with poached eggs if desired.

Griddle Cakes

Batter for griddle cakes should stand 2 hrs. or longer in the ice box, or in winter in some cold place, to lighten it by allowing the starch grains and glutenous portion of the flour to swell.

An iron or steel griddle is best for baking cakes. Soapstone, so highly recommended, is objectionable because little particles of the stone adhere to the cakes.

The griddle should stand on a not too hot part of the stove and heat slowly for a long time before the cakes are to be baked. Professional pancake bakers have their griddle over a slow fire all night.

Have the griddle hot before putting the cakes on, brown them delicately, then turn once only. A second turning makes them heavy. Cakes ought to be eaten as soon as baked, but should not be covered when required to stand for a short time.

Plain Griddle Cakes

Rest 2 hrs. or longer. May spread with jelly, or with butter and sugar and roll.

Rice Griddle Cakes

Crumb Griddle Cakes

Use only 1 cup of flour in plain cakes and add stale or dry bread crumbs to make quite a thick batter.

Buckwheat Cakes

Savory Meat Griddle Cakes

Add crumbled trumese, fine chopped onion and powdered sage to rice or crumb cakes.

Mushroom Griddle Cakes

Lay a spoonful or two of chopped mushroom stems, simmered in oil with or without a little tomato, browned flour and onion, on each small thin cake, roll lightly and serve with or without Italian or Boundary Castle sauce.

Plain Griddle Cakes—Roux. Delicate and Creamy

Heat oil, add the 2 tablespns. flour, hot water and milk, boil well; when cool, add salt, yolks of eggs and ½ cup of flour, beating; then the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs; rest.

Variations

(a) 2 cups dry bread crumbs in place of the half cup of flour and less or no salt.

(b) Add 2–4 cups of cold boiled hominy to plain batter and another ¼ cup of flour if necessary.

(d) Add 1–1½ cup drained canned corn to plain cakes, more flour if necessary.

(e) Add 4 tablespns. granular corn meal scalded with about ⅔ cup of boiling water, to plain cakes.

Crumb Griddle Cakes—no flour

Corn and Crumb Griddle Cakes—no eggs

Rice Griddle Cakes—no flour

Boil rice in 2 cups water, partly cool, beat smooth with milk, add salt and beaten eggs. Another yolk of egg may be used. If rice is thin, use less milk.

Hominy Griddle Cakes

Corn Meal Griddle Cakes—no flour

Scald meal with boiling water, add butter, salt, sugar and cold milk, then yolks of eggs; beat batter and fold in stiffly-beaten whites. Or, beat eggs all together.

Green Corn Batter Cakes

Heat oil, add flour, then boiling water; remove from fire, add salt and crumbs, cool, add corn and beaten egg. Bake on well oiled griddle.

Nut Butter Griddle Cakes

2 tablespns. almond, Brazil or other nut butter, 1 cup water, salt, 2 eggs, whites beaten separate, 1 cup bread flour.

Nut and Egg Cakes

Rub 2 tablespns. nut butter smooth with 2 full tablespns. of water; add a beaten egg with salt. Bake on moderate griddle to delicate brown.

Dough Breads

Grind dough breads 5–8 times through a food cutter with the finest plate instead of kneading; it saves time and strength and the breads are better.

A good spring wheat graham flour makes better rolls than whole wheat flour, but poor graham flour does not make good “anything.” The simplest rolls are made with flour and water, with or without salt, and require more thorough working than those made with shortening. Rolls may be reheated whole, or be split and toasted.

All crackers and wafers (except fruit) should be crisped thoroughly in the oven before serving.

Plain Graham Rolls

Put a cupful of ice water into a cold bowl. Add ¼ teaspn. of salt if desired, but the rolls will have more of the sweet, nutty flavor of the flour without it. Agitate the water until full of bubbles and sprinkle in the cold flour as for gems. When the batter is too stiff to beat, take it out on to a cold floured board and knead, using as little flour as possible, until smooth and elastic. About 3 cupfuls of flour will be taken up. Divide the dough, roll it quickly and evenly to about ¾ in. in diameter, cut into 3 in. lengths and set in ice box to rest. Bake in a moderate oven with steady heat until the rolls will not yield to pressure between the thumb and finger and are of a delicate brown.

If preferred, the water may be poured over the flour and the dough kneaded the same. The dough may rest before being rolled out.

The yolk of a hard boiled egg rubbed into each pint of flour makes more tender rolls; or one beaten raw yolk may be added to each ¾ cup of water.

Nut Rolls

Cream Rolls

Mix rich cold cream and graham flour together quickly. Press together without kneading, rest for 2 hrs. or more, shape into rolls and bake, or put on ice again until ready to bake.

Rolls may be kneaded, and if kneaded at all should be kneaded thoroughly. Cocoanut cream may be substituted for dairy.

★ Shortened Rolls

The quantity of oil required will depend entirely upon the quality of the flour, but for ordinary graham flour take ⅓ cup of oil to each pint of flour; to a good spring wheat flour not more than ¼ cup. Rub the oil into the salted flour, add ice water for moderately stiff dough, press into a mass and set to rest, unless preferring to knead. Finish the same as cream rolls. ⅓ white flour may be used with the graham.

Fruit Rolls

Roll shortened dough ¼ in. thick. Cut into strips 2½–3 in. wide, put a strip of halves of stoned dates, pieces of nice fresh figs or a roll of seeded and ground raisins along the length of the dough a little one side of the center; slightly moisten the edge of the dough farthest away from the fruit, lap the edge nearest, over the fruit and roll it up in the dough, leaving a long roll with the fruit in the center; roll over and over until the edge of the dough is well fastened down; cut roll into 2 or 3 inch lengths (1 inch for some occasions); bake.

This way of putting the fruit in the roll has the advantage of leaving no pieces of fruit sticking through the dough to be burned in baking, and also of not having any “sad” portion of dough in the center of the roll.

Fruit and Nut Rolls—may be made by adding pieces of nuts to the fruit in the roll.

Sticks

Roll any of the roll doughs or the graham cracker dough to about the size of a lead pencil or not over ⅓ of an inch in diameter; cut in 5–7 in. lengths, rest and bake the same as rolls. Sticks are more crisp and delightful than rolls. They should be on the table for every meal.

White Sticks

Take 1–1½ tablespn. of oil to each cup of white bread flour, with a trifle of salt, and water for stiff dough.

Porridge Sticks.

Beaten Biscuit—Whole Wheat

Rub salt and oil with flour, add water, knead until smooth (the dough should be very stiff), then separate dough into several pieces and put it through the food cutter 6 or 8 times. This takes the place of the laborious beating. Shape into small thick biscuit; make a hole through the center of each one from the top with the thumb or finger, rest; bake thoroughly in moderate oven.

If you have time to form the biscuit you will be well repaid for your trouble as they are so beautiful; but if your time is limited, roll the dough ½–1 in. thick, cut with small round cutter and prick with fork. You may even cut the dough into small squares. Rolled very thin, cut with a large cutter and pricked well, the dough makes nice wafers. If a food cutter is not at hand, beat with a mallet or the rolling pin, or pick apart with the thumb and fingers, over and over again, until the dough snaps when pulled apart.

Maryland Beaten Biscuit

Maryland Biscuit—Unbeaten

Knead 20 m., or until dough blisters; set aside 1–2 hrs., or over night; knead 5–10 m., roll and cut, or shape by hand. Bake.

★ White Crackers

Knead until smooth, run through food cutter 6–8 times, or beat or pick as beaten biscuit; rest, roll thin, prick dough all over, cut into any desired shape, bake in moderate oven. ¼ or ½ of pastry flour may be used; also water and a little more shortening.

Swedish Milk Biscuit

Make white crackers of milk, roll as thin as paper, prick, cut into biscuit the size of a saucer. Turn the wafers on the tins often while baking. Serve with some desserts, fruit or other salads, and with cottage cheese. Cut a hole in the center of some of the biscuit before baking and serve salads or suitable meat dishes on them in individual servings.

Cocoanut Wafers

Rub butter into flour, add salt and mix with cocoanut which has been ground through a food cutter. Add ice water for stiff dough, roll out at once or rest before rolling as preferred. Bake carefully so as not to scorch the cocoanut. Dried grated cocoanut of your own preparing is preferable. 2 cups of cocoanut may be used.

If a sweet wafer is desired, add sugar to the dough or sprinkle with sugar before baking.

Fruit Bars

Roll any desired dough thin, cut into 3–3½ in. strips, spread one half of the width with stoned dates, halved raisins, steamed figs, sweet prunes or any suitable fruit, which has been cut into strips with the shears; moisten the edge next to the fruit, fold the other half of the dough over, pressing the edges well together, and roll lightly to flatten the bar; cut with a sharp knife into 2½–3 in. lengths.

Add nuts to make fruit and nut bars, or make nut bars sometimes. The dough may be slightly sweetened.

Crackers with Nuts

Brush baked crackers with beaten white of egg and spread thick with chopped or coarse ground nuts (English walnuts or pecans or both). Put into warm oven to dry.

These crackers are nice to serve with fruit or vegetable salads, or with cereal coffee or tea-hygiene.

Graham Crackers—Sweet

Mix well together, run through food cutter (with finest knife) 5 or 6 times, roll about ⅛ in. thick, prick with fork, cut into any desired shape, set in cold place for 2 hrs. or longer, bake in moderate oven.

Omit sugar for unsweetened crackers. Dough may be kneaded, picking it apart into small pieces, if food cutter is not at hand. Or, crackers are very good made up without any kneading, when rested in cold place.

★ Sour Cream Crackers

Nut Wafers

Fruit Wafers

Roll any of the cracker doughs thin, place figs, dates, raisins or prunes cut in thin pieces with the shears, on the dough, cover with another thin layer of dough, roll with rolling pin to press all together, prick with fork, cut in squares, rest, bake.

★ Oat Cakes

1 part oil, 2 parts water, salt, coarse oat flour to knead. Roll ¼ in. thick of size to fit pie pan, crease in quarters, rest; bake in moderate oven. The dough may be cut into crackers if preferred. Grind rolled oats or oatmeal in food cutter, to make the flour.

★ Graham Crisps or Flakes

Prepare dough as for plain graham rolls, kneading very stiff. After resting, separate into small pieces and roll each piece as thin as paper. When all are rolled, put as many as convenient into a hot oven on perforated pans or on the grate of the oven. Turn them over on the pans often while baking and bake to a delicate brown. Serve whole or in broken pieces.

This is one of the most delicate and digestible of unleavened breads and has a crispness and nutty flavor peculiarly its own. It should be one of the staple articles of food in our homes and is especially adapted to school, picnic and travelling lunches.

Cream Crisps

Mix with thin cream instead of water and bake in slower oven than water crisps. With cream, whole wheat or white flour may be used, as well as graham.

Nut Crisps

Use nut roll dough, kneading it very stiff. Beaten biscuit dough may also be used for shortened crisps.

Cocoanut Crisps

Use equal quantities of desiccated cocoanut and pastry flour, with water or milk for liquid.

Nut Straws

Take equal quantities of any nut meal and pastry flour, with a little salt. Add just enough ice water to make the particles hold together, roll out without kneading to ¼ in. thick, then cut into strips ¼ in. wide and 5–8 in. long. Bake in quick oven to delicate cream color. Serve tied with narrow ribbon in bunches of 3–5 with individual plates of salad or on celery dish. ⅔ nut meal and ⅓ flour may be used for richer straws.

Unleavened Bread for Communion

Mix salt, flour, and oil together, add enough ice water for stiff dough, press together as for pie crust and set in refrigerator an hour or longer. Roll dough three-sixteenths of an inch thick, prick all over with a fork, mark off in nine-sixteenth-inch squares by a rule, cut into convenient sized pieces for baking. Lay on a pan or perforated sheet, then crease marked squares half through the dough with a spatula or the back of a knife. Bake very carefully in a moderate oven.

1½–2 tablespns. of butter may be used instead of the oil, but olive oil seems more suitable for the purpose.

SANDWICHES

Bread for sandwiches should be of fine even grain and twenty-four hours old, except for rolled sandwiches, then it must be moist enough to be pliable.

Sometimes it is well to wrap the loaves to be used for sandwiches in damp cloths for three or four hours before preparing.

Thin, fresh crisped crackers or wafers are nice for sandwiches when they are to be served right away, so they will not lose their crispness. Wafers of pastry are suitable for some sandwiches.

Small round tins, like baking powder cans, are nice to bake bread in for sandwiches. Be careful not to bake it too hard.

Do not cut the crust from the bread as a rule; it is the sweetest and most wholesome part of the bread and the slices look so “naked” without it.

Unless the loaf is of the regular sandwich style, cut it in two in the middle, spread each cut surface, if butter is to be used, and cut off a thin slice from each half loaf. Cover one slice with the sandwich filling and lay the other on top of that, pressing well together. Cut into triangles, squares or strips. Continue cutting slices from each half loaf, then they will fit.

Cream (not melt) the butter before spreading; it may have chopped parsley, onion or lemon juice or other flavorings worked into it.

For rolled sandwiches, the crust will have to be cut off unless it is very pliable. Cut slices thin, spread with the desired filling and roll as close as possible. If they should not stay together well, fasten with sharp pointed Japanese toothpicks. They may be tied with baby ribbon.

Steam figs, seeded raisins and dates and grind in food cutter for sweet sandwiches.

Scrambled eggs are better in sandwiches than hard boiled. Hard boiled eggs may be rubbed to a paste in a mortar, with butter and salt.

Onion sandwiches, when carried, must be packed in a close covered box by themselves.

To keep moist, cover plate with lettuce leaves, lay sandwiches on and cover with dampened lettuce leaves. Or, cover plate of sandwiches with a towel wrung out of cold water and set in cool place. Or, wrap sandwiches in a damp napkin or waxed paper and place in close covered tin box or stone jar and set in cool place. It is better to have everything ready and put the sandwiches together just before serving.

Garnishing—Sandwiches are much more attractive if a few sprays of parsley are placed around the edges before the second slice of bread is laid on. Sprigs of celery or small spinach leaves may be used, or a narrow strip of lettuce may be laid around the edges, so that it will look like a dainty ruffle of green.

Sweet sandwiches may be served with cereal coffee, tea-hygiene, egg drinks or egg creams.

Plates of sandwiches may be garnished with chervil, parsley, lettuce, celery or carrot tops, ferns, leaves or flowers.

FILLINGS FOR SANDWICHES

OPEN SANDWICHES—CANAPES

These are daintily arranged bits of bread cut into rounds, ovals or any fancy shape; sometimes toasted on one side; served most suitably at a luncheon or supper and eaten with a fork. Crackers are more suitable for some coverings. Much taste may be displayed in the arrangement of canapes.

Mushroom Canapes

Toast rounds of bread on one side, lay toasted side down on individual plates and cover the other side with chopped mushrooms cooked in a small quantity of water with butter, and lay one small broiled mushroom (or one that has been cooked the same as the chopped), cup side up, in the center. Garnish with lettuce, chervil, spinach or parsley.

Trumese and Egg Canape

Moisten hashed trumese with a little rich cream or brown sauce. Toast diamonds of bread on one side and dip the other side in melted butter. Scramble eggs soft and fine and place in center of toast, diamond shape, then cover the remainder of the toast with the trumese, making a diamond shaped border of it. Lay a piece of green string bean cut in diamond shape in the center; set in the oven a moment, serve on individual plates.

Indian Canapes

Mince trumese salad entrée fine and rub hard boiled yolks of eggs with some of the dressing; spread on untoasted side of strips of bread or thin wafers. Garnish plate with slices of lemon and tomato sprinkled with chopped parsley or with a leaf of parsley or spinach on each.

Russian Canapes

Drain Chili sauce and rub through strainer, place pulp in center of large wafer, surround with salted, riced yolk of hard boiled egg, finishing with a wreath of the riced white of egg sprinkled with chopped parsley. A leaf of green may be laid in the center of the Chili sauce. Toasted bread may be used.

Cottage Cheese Canapes

Cover crackers or circles of toast with creamy cottage cheese. Make a border on cheese of small leaves of parsley and place a star or other shape of boiled red beet or carrot in the center. Serve with lettuce salad.

An oxeye daisy, p. 31, may be placed in center of canape, in the wreath of parsley.

Sweet canapes may be prepared in great variety. The sandwich filling of cocoanut moistened with cream, with dates, figs or raisins would be very pretty if wafer were spread with the sweet pulp, then covered with cocoanut decorated with citron or angelica and candied cherries in fancy shapes or chopped. Pastry wafers would be especially suitable for some of the sweet canapes.

Sandwich à la Salade

Roll strips of trumese salad entrée in crisp lettuce leaves, fasten with Japanese toothpicks and serve on crackers or strips of zwieback or with crescent sandwiches of bread and butter; or the salad without the toothpick may be snugly rolled in a bread and butter or bread and oil sandwich.

Sister Starr’s Tomato Sandwich

Chop together scrambled egg, oil and drained tomato (raw or canned), not forgetting the salt, add cracker crumbs to make of the right consistency and serve between crackers or slices of bread.

Variegated Sandwiches

Make three equal sized loaves of universal crust, one tinted a delicate pink with fruit color, one left white, and the third made of part graham flour with a little dark brown flour in the sponge.

When old enough, cut in slices, butter, pack together—brown, pink and white—and set in refrigerator with weight on top.

English Bread and Butter Sandwiches

Spread butter on loaf and cut in just as thin slices as possible roll, fold, or place slices together.

★ Trumese Sandwiches—non-starch

Broil thin slices of trumese and place between them, scrambled eggs, or fine sliced onions or celery; garnish.

MILK, CREAM, BUTTER AND CHEESE

“The time has not come to say that the use of milk and eggs should be wholly discarded.”

“But because disease in animals is increasing, the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream or butter.”

“If milk is used, it should be thoroughly sterilized; with this precaution there is less danger of contracting disease from its use.”

State Boards of Health and Experiment Stations declare that from fifteen to thirty per cent. of the cows from which our cities draw their milk supply are affected with tuberculosis. In one locality it was found that 65 per cent. of the best milk that was presented was tubercular.

“Examination has determined that cream has from 10 to 500 times as many bacteria in a given quantity of milk as mixed milk. The bacteria nearly all rise to the top with the cream.”—“Life and Health,” April, 1909.

In considering the question of appendicitis, a writer in the American Medical Journal says: “The chief sources of tuberculosis infection of the alimentary tract are the ingestion of milk, butter and cheese from tuberculous cows....

“These authors (of the Experiment Station in Washington) consider that a very large amount of butter infected with tubercle bacilli is daily consumed by our people....

“Measure for measure, infected butter is a greater tubercular danger than infected milk.... Tests show that in the ordinary salted butter of commerce the Koch bacillus ‘may live and retain virulence practically four and a half months or longer.’”

To Pasteurize Milk

Place a dairy thermometer, or one in an unpainted tin case, in the milk; heat, preferably in double boiler, as quickly as possible, to a temperature of not less than 140 degrees F. and keep it there for 40 m., or raise to 158 degrees F. for 10–20 m. Cool rapidly. The rapid heating and cooling are necessary because a warm temperature is most favorable for the development of germs and the spores of germs which (spores) are not destroyed by this treatment of milk.

When milk is to be kept for several hours it should be heated in air-tight bottles or in bottles which have stoppers of sterilized cotton, by starting them in cold water and keeping them at a temperature of 149 degrees F. for a half hour after bringing the water to that point.

Pasteurizing milk does not give it the cooked taste that a higher temperature does.

When it is not possible to carry out these directions, just bring milk to the boiling point, or set bottles of milk or cream in cold water, bring the water to boiling and boil for 10–20 m. Of course the bottles should have something underneath them, to keep them from touching the bottom of the vessel in which they are standing.

To Sterilize Butter

Boil butter in a generous amount of water thoroughly. Cool, remove from the top of the water and drain.

Sterilized Butter

Pasteurize sweet cream the same as milk, cool quickly, let stand covered in a cold place for at least 4 hrs; whip or beat in a deep vessel, the inner cup of a double boiler or a pitcher, (some think it easier to shake the cream in a tightly corked, wide mouthed bottle or jar) until like whipped cream; then set the dish in slightly warm water, to raise the temperature of the cream enough to cause the butter to separate but not enough to make it oily. Remove the dish from warm water just as soon as butter begins to separate; pour off buttermilk and pour pure cold water over the butter. Work a little and pour water off; next pour on water with a little salt (1 teaspn. to the quart) and let it stand from 10 to 15 m. Remove butter to cold dish, add salt, about ½ tablespn. to the pound, if unsalted butter is not preferred; work a little, cover with a cloth wrung out of salt water, and let stand a few hours in a clean airy place. Then work a little and shape as desired. Do not work enough to spoil the grain and make the butter oily.

This is the method with which I have had the best success. The regular temperature for churning cream is from 58 to 60 degrees by the thermometer. Sterilized butter should be made fresh every day.

“Protein is the most costly of the food ingredients and the one most likely to be lacking in inexpensive meals, and is the nutrient which skim milk supplies in a cheap and useful form.”—R. D. Milner, Ph. B. Farmers’ Bulletin, 363, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.

“Sour milk is the safest form to use if milk is not Pasteurized, as the acid of the milk kills all the germs except the lactic acid germ.”—Dr. Rand.

“People who cannot digest fresh milk or in whom it produces a feeling of heaviness and discomfort, can eat large quantities of curdled milk without inconvenience.”—W. Brown, M. B., Ch. B., in Edinburgh Medical Journal.

“Lactic acid precipitates the casein (clabbers the milk) but does not affect the fats and salts. Its effect on the casein is to improve the digestibility of this important compound, the meat element, which is the most valuable constituent of milk.... As a matter of fact, sour milk is really a more healthful food than sweet milk, digesting more rapidly and more completely.”—W. M. Esten, in Storr’s Bulletin, No. 59.

Directions for making artificial buttermilk come with the tablets and preparations sold for that purpose.

As milk is a hearty food it should not be taken with other heavy foods such as nuts, legumes or eggs, but with bread, zwieback, crackers or rolls, parched or popped corn and other cereals.

Clear milk is coagulated by the gastric juice and should be taken slowly, in small amounts, so that the acid may have a chance to mix with it and form the curd in small particles. When drank rapidly, the curd will form in large pieces and be difficult of digestion, often causing distress and disease.

Some can digest sweet milk better if an acid is taken with it, but, as a rule, such individuals would better take nut milk and cream, preferably nuts, and plenty of juicy fruits.

In fact, considering the increase of disease among animals, it were better for us all to be learning more and more how to prepare foods without milk and eggs, educating ourselves and others away from them.

The next thing to copper or re-tinned vessels for heating milk to the boiling point without scorching, is a nice clean iron frying pan or round bottomed iron kettle. I have used a stone milk crock.

Brush the inside of whatever dish milk is to be heated in with oil or butter, as a still further precaution against scorching, for scorched milk is unusable.

Wash all utensils used for milk first in cold water, then with warm soapsuds, and then scald with perfectly boiling water. Wipe with clean dry towels and if possible put them in the sun.

When hot water is poured into vessels before they are washed clean, the casein is glued into the crevices, ready to make mischief with the next lot of milk.

Condensed milk, containing cane sugar, is thought by many physicians to be the cause of the great increase of diabetes, especially among children.

A pinch of salt added to rather thin cream will cause it to whip up light. Whip cream in a pitcher, the inner cup of a double boiler or even in a tin can, something deep and small around. Of course the cream and utensils should be very cold. Stop whipping while cream is smooth, before it begins to have any rough appearance.

Scalded, Devonshire or Clotted Cream

Let milk stand undisturbed in a cool, well ventilated place for 12 hours in summer, 24 in winter. Then set the pan carefully in some place over the fire where it will heat very slowly almost to the boiling point; it must not boil. (It is better to set the pan in water which will come up on the sides as high as the milk.) Let stand again in a cool place for 12 hours or until thoroughly cooled. Divide with a knife into squares, and skim by folding these squares over and over in rolls. Set in a cool place. This is a most delightful substitute for butter on bread, and it may also be used with cereals and fruits.

The cream may be placed by skimmerfuls in layers on a plate instead of being rolled.

USES OF SOUR CREAM WITHOUT SODA

Sour cream may be used without soda in—Pie Crust; Shortcake Crust; Dumplings for Pot Pies; Steamed Puddings, and all places where universal crust is used; Salad Dressings in all places where sweet cream is used; Soups, just before serving; Stewed Cabbage and Stewed Tomatoes; Gravy; Macaroni; Cottage Cheese—much better than sweet cream; Dominion Salad Dressing; Crackers; Cream Lemon Sauce; Lemon Cream Sauce; Sauce Antique; Pie Filling and Cake Fillings. With Green Peas, mixed with a little flour before putting it in, it can not be distinguished from sweet cream; and the same with all vegetables with which I have tried it excepting string beans: in those it tastes a little tart. It may be poured over Trumese in half-loaves or in slices to bake; and Whipped, when the slight tartness is desirable.

CHEESE

The process of “ripening” in cheese is a process of decay, and poisonous ptomaines are often developed. I have no doubt but it would be better if cheese were never taken into the human stomach. Our Father has given us such an abundance of clean, wholesome foods to select from that we can well afford to disregard the questionable ones.

Cottage Cheese

Skim a pan of well thickened sour milk, cut it carefully into 2-in. squares and set into a cool oven on an iron ring, or something to keep it from the bottom of the oven, and leave the door open. Turn the pan occasionally but do not stir the milk. Be careful not to let it get too warm. It should never be hot, only a little above blood heat. I have sometimes made it in the summer by setting the pan in the sun. When the curd and whey have separated, turn all into a bag and hang up to drain. Do not drain the curd too dry. Season with sweet or sour cream and a little salt; pile in a rocky mass in a glass dish and set in a cool place.

Pass Chili sauce, Sauce Amèricaine or improved mayonnaise dressing with it, in serving.

If milk is stirred while thickening or while heating, it will yield only about ⅓ as much cheese as it would otherwise.

If properly made the cheese will be soft and creamy, instead of rough, dry and tasteless. It should never be used in anything that is to be raised to a high temperature, as that would make it hard and indigestible.

Cottage cheese is a strong meat food, being the casein of the milk separated from the water.

Zeiger Cäse

1 gallon fresh milk, 1 pt. thick sour milk, 3 eggs. Beat eggs, and sour milk together and stir slowly into sweet milk just as it begins to boil. When curd rises to top, skim into colander and drain.

DRINKS

“Two-thirds of all the patients that come to my office come because they drink tea and coffee. When I can get them to give up tea and coffee, they can get well.”—Dr. Foote. Omaha.

Tea and coffee hinder the digestion of all the food elements, both nitrogenous and carbonaceous. They cause extreme nervousness and irritability.

“The second effect of tea drinking is headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling of the nerves and many other evils.”

“The influence of coffee is in a degree the same as that of tea, but the effect upon the system is still worse.”

Theobromine, the essential element of cocoa and chocolate, is identical with the thein and caffeine of tea and coffee.

“Some of the best authorities claim that the quantity of theobromine in chocolate is greater than that of theine or caffeine in tea or coffee, and also that in equal quantities, theobromine is a stronger drug than caffeine or theine.”—Dr. George.

A. B. Prescott, Ph. D., M. D., for many years Dean of the chemical department of the University of Michigan, says in his “Organic Analysis,” published by D. Van Nostrand Co., New York City in 1892, pp. 77 and 513: “Coffee contains 1 per cent. of caffeine.” “Dry cacao seeds contain 1.5 per cent. of theobromine.” “The physiological effects of theobromine are like caffeine but are obtained by smaller doses.”

The increasing use of chocolate and cocoa in and with everything is alarming, and we feel that we must raise our voices in warning against this “habit,” since many are innocent in regard to its nature.

“The use of unnatural stimulants is destructive to health and has a benumbing influence upon the brain, making it impossible to appreciate eternal things.”

As our bodies are made up so largely of water it is necessary to take a sufficient amount to keep the tissues bathed and built up, but it should not be taken with our meals, for solid foods cannot be digested until the liquids have been absorbed, and when retained in the stomach too long food ferments, making an inebriate of the water drinker.

Fluids also dilute the digestive juices so that they lose their power to act. Do not drink for a half hour or more before meals, or within 1 to 3 hours after—persons with slow digestion or subject to acidity, 3 hours.

If very cold or hot drinks are taken, the temperature at which digestion is carried on is affected, causing another delay.

As a rule, the body gets the greatest benefit from water taken early in the morning.

Pastor Kneipp recommended the use of small quantities of water (1 teaspoonful), often. If one is situated so as to be able to take a few swallows frequently, it is better than to deluge the stomach three or four times a day; as a steady, gentle rain is more beneficial than a torrent.

Hot water, at one time the great panacea, is responsible for many cases of serious indigestion by causing the muscles of the stomach to relax and become weak. A cup of hot water occasionally, when one feels that he has taken a little cold, will help to ward off the cold but it should not be often repeated.

The advice of one doctor of great sense and considerable reputation was “Drink cold water when thirsty.”

Pure Distilled Water is unquestionably the best drink. Mineral Waters sometimes have a beneficial effect when used for a short time, but that is lost by their continued use and after a few weeks the individual begins to suffer with serious stomach and kidney difficulties.

“Very Hard Water is not only unpleasant to the skin and difficult to make into a lather, but, what is more important still, it exerts a more or less harmful influence upon the digestive system. Constipation is not infrequently the direct result of the constant use of hard water. Wherever possible apparatus should be used for the purpose of distilling hard water. If this is impracticable, boiling the water will materially reduce the hardness. The flatness of boiled water is easily and quickly remedied by aerating it. Pouring water back and forth from one glass to another will speedily restore its oxygen.”—English Good Health.

The liberal use of Fresh Juicy Fruits helps out in the amount of fluids. I have known a few people who ate no meat and almost no vegetables, but did use juicy acid fruits in abundance, who never felt the pangs of thirst, and they were in exceptionally good health, with great powers of endurance.

The change of water in travelling affects many people unfavorably and often it is difficult to obtain pure water. The substitution of juicy fruits at such times banishes the difficulties.

Fruit Nectars

We make “fruit nectars” by adding lemon juice, sugar and water (the less sugar the better, a sugar syrup is preferable) to pure fruit juices and to combinations of fruit juices. Some, such as grape and black raspberry, will bear a good deal of water, but pineapple and other delicate flavored juices very little.

If pineapple is combined with another juice, let it be something without a strong, positive flavor (as orange or strawberry), or the pineapple juice will be wasted. A strong and a neutral flavored juice, red raspberry and currant for instance, go well together. Lemon juice gives character to all. Peach and grape juice, or apple and grape juice are good combinations.

Banana Lemon Nectar

Syrup—3–4 cups water, ½ cup sugar, boil; add ½ cup lemon juice, cool. Cut 1 large banana in small pieces; pour syrup over, let stand in refrigerator 2 hours or longer; strain or not; serve with thin slices of lemon.

Orange Banana Nectar

Cut half a small orange into sections, rind and all and add to banana syrup about 20 m. before serving. Before straining, put sections into glasses, pour the strained syrup over them and serve.

Orange Nectar

Mint Orange Nectar

Lemonades

Lemonade, with but little sugar, has no equal as a drink because of the purifying effect of the lemon juice upon both the water and the individual.

A strong lemonade requires less sugar in proportion than one having a large quantity of water. A sugar syrup is best for sweetening, and the less used the better.

Mint—Sprinkle fine cut spearmint into lemonade 10 to 15 m. before serving. Very cooling and refreshing.

Egg—1 egg, 2 tablespns. sugar, 2½ tablespns. lemon juice, water to make 2 glasses. Beat egg and sugar, add lemon juice and beat, then add water.

White of Egg—2–2½ tablespns. lemon juice, white of 1 egg, 1 tablespn. sugar. Beat white of egg and sugar, add lemon juice, then water.

Milk and Egg—1 egg, ¼–½ cup milk, 1 teaspn. or more lemon juice, a little grated rind of lemon. Beat yolk of egg and add cold milk, turn into glass; beat white of egg with a trifle of salt and add half the lemon juice; add remainder of lemon juice to the yolk and milk, lay white on top and serve at once.

Egg Orangeade

To Prepare Fruit Juices

The most desirable juices for drinks are made from fresh, ripe, uncooked fruits by crushing, and straining through a cloth. It is better to pour cold water over some fruits and let them stand for a while before straining. Apples may be sliced or chopped and water added.

For canning fruit juices, see pp. 60, 61. The liquid from soaking acid dried fruits in water for several hours (without cooking) is refreshing; also the juice in which chopped raisins have been steeped.

Cranberry Juice

Crush or grind 1 qt. of cranberries, pour 1 qt. of boiling water over, cool; add sugar after straining and stir until it is dissolved.

Cereal Coffees or Drinks

The bulk of the so-called “cereal” drinks on the market have some commercial coffee in them, as well as chicory. There are a few, however, made of combinations of grains, or of fruits, nuts and grains, only. Those containing chicory require a long boiling, according to the directions on the packages, to destroy the rank, harsh flavor of the chicory; and the ones made of parched grains without caramel in any form are improved by long steeping to develop the mild flavor. But it is a great mistake to boil those having a characteristic, agreeable flavor any more than we used to boil Java or Mocha. To make these, put the cereal (from 1 teaspn. to 1½ tablespn. to each cup of water according to taste) into perfectly boiling water, allow it to just boil up, then stand on the back of the range where it cannot boil, for from 5–10 m. Serve with nice rich sterilized cream (hot better). When cream is not obtainable and the drink must be served, hot scalded milk gives a better flavor than unscalded milk, but as a rule, it is better to omit the coffee when you have no cream.

Never make cereal coffee in a tin coffee pot that commercial coffee has been made in. It would ruin the flavor.

We do not advise the drinking of even cereal coffee, but use it to win people from injurious beverages.

To Make a Cereal Drink

It is very convenient to know how to make a cereal coffee, though if one’s time is worth much and a good coffee is to be obtained, it is cheaper to buy it. The following recipe is one that I have used for years and it is excellent. None of the whole grains equal bran for the drink.

Mix bran and corn meal and pour over them the molasses and hot water which have been combined. Rub all together with the hands until smooth; set in a warm oven and stir occasionally until well dried out, then increase the heat of the oven, stirring the mixture often; at the last have the oven very hot and stir almost constantly until cereal is a dark chestnut brown, which will take but a short time at the last. Remove from the oven and stir until cooled a little so that it will not brown more by its own heat, and put into a close covered can.

When preparing to serve, use ½–1 cup of the coffee to each quart of boiling water, let it just boil up and stand for 5 m. Different combinations of grains are browned and ground for drinks. Barley is much liked by some, rye by others. Carrot and celery roots dried and browned are good, and browned peas are excellent.

Tea-Hygiene

Celery and raspberry leaf tea have been served in some of the restaurants in New York City for several years and are both good. Either the tops (fresh or dry) or seeds of celery may be used. Crush the seeds before steeping. I have also used mint, anise, tarragon, catnip and thyme for tea and found them all pleasant drinks. Steep them for 15–20 m., strain and serve with cream only. You will be surprised I am sure when you try them. Do not allow catnip tea to stand with the leaves if to be re-heated.

Bran Tea

Brown bran delicately. Take 2 tablespns. for each cup of water, boil up well or steep for 20 m. Dried unbrowned bran may be used with longer cooking.

Cold Cereal Coffee

Eggnog

1 egg, ½–¾ cup of milk, 1 teaspn. or no sugar, flavoring or not. Beat or shake until foamy, pour into glass and serve with or without whipped cream on top. Eggnog does not necessarily contain liquor.

Hot Eggnog

Beat 1 egg with or without a teaspn. of sugar and a few drops of vanilla. Pour ½–¾ cup of hot milk over, stirring. Turn into warm glass and serve at once.

Cream for Coffee

Beat 1 egg to a foam, add 1 tablespn. white sugar and pour a pint of boiling hot milk over, stirring briskly. Prepare at night for morning.

Cream for Coffee No. 2

Pour 1 pt. boiling milk on beaten yolk of 1 egg mixed with 2 tablespns. cold milk. Set back on the stove to scald but not boil.

“Food should not be washed down. No drink is needed with the meals. Eat slowly and allow the saliva to mingle with the food. Hot drinks are debilitating. Do not eat largely of salt; give up bottled pickles; keep fiery spiced food out of your stomach; eat fruit with your meals, and the irritation which calls for so much drink will cease to exist. But if anything is needed to quench thirst, pure water drunk some little time before or after a meal is all that nature requires.”

INVALID FOODS

“Diet in the hands of an expert is far more effective than drugs. I speak from a large experience in both systems.”—“Food and Condition.” Dr. Yorke Davis, London.

“In many cases of sickness the very best remedy is for the patient to fast for a meal or two, that the overworked organs of digestion may have an opportunity to rest.”

“A fruit diet for a few days has often brought great relief to brain workers.”

“Many times a short period of entire abstinence from food, followed by simple, moderate eating, has led to recovery through nature’s own recuperative effort. An abstemious diet for a month or two would convince many sufferers that the path of self-denial is the path to health.”

“There are some who would be benefited more by abstinence from food for a day or two every week than by any amount of treatment or medical advice. To fast one day a week would be of incalculable benefit to them.”

Suggestions

Whatever food is taken to the sick should be prepared and served daintily and neatly. If the tray cloth is ever so coarse or only a paper napkin, have it clean; use the daintiest and prettiest china to be found and serve the food in small quantities, without any drops or streaks on the edge of the dishes. A flower or leaf by the side of the plate, will give zest to the food.

Food should be simple, nutritious and easily digested. Suitable dishes are scattered all through the book. Among the soups are the broths and others, supplying the needs of different cases. There are toasts in variety; they may be served in delicate squares, triangles and crescents.

Rice flour blanc mange, sea moss blanc mange, buttermilk, parched grains, egg creams, fruit whips and ices are suggestive of some of the especially suitable dishes. Fruits and fruit juices are nearly always indicated. Baked apples, sweet and sour, without sugar, are staple invalid dishes. Before serving grapes, remove the seeds with two silver forks on a plate, then put the pulp and juice into a sauce dish or glass. Serve the pulp only, of oranges. (p. 42.)

The most desirable gruels are those made of the dextrinized or parched cereals, but when the undextrinized grains are used they should be cooked as long as for porridges, in a somewhat larger quantity of water, strained, and thinned with milk, or cream and water. They may sometimes be cooked in milk. Cold porridges may be used.

Granella Malted Milk Gruel

Cook granella in water to soften, strain, add malted milk, cream and salt which have been blended; heat, serve.

Egg Gruel

Poached yolks of 3 eggs, 1–2 cups milk. Rub yolks of eggs smooth, add hot milk, gradually, strain, reheat, salt, serve.

Parched Corn Broth

Pour hot milk over parched corn meal or cracked parched corn; let stand 5–10 m., strain. May use water and cream.

Almond Gruel

1 tablespn. almond butter, 1 cup water, salt. Mix butter with water, add salt, boil, serve.

Raisin Gruel

Boil 1½ cup raisins in 1 qt. milk and water, equal parts, for ½ hour; strain, squeezing well, thicken with 1–2 teaspns. flour blended with water, add salt.

White of Egg

Dissolve the whites of 2 or 3 eggs in a glass of water and give a few teaspoonfuls every 2 or 3 hours.

CONFECTIONS

Children are not naturally fond of sweets, but with few exceptions their taste has been educated to them from the cradle. I have known children who were so unaccustomed to candies that if they were given them they would merely play with them, never thinking of putting them into their mouths, and others who would say when a sweet dessert was given them, “I don’t like that, it is too sweet.”

Much life-long suffering would be avoided if children were given plenty of good ripe fruit, sweet and sour, instead of confections. If, however, it seems best sometimes to make something in this line, select the simplest and least harmful.

Stuffed Dates

Mix unsalted roasted nut butter with powdered sugar and a little vanilla, form into pieces the size and shape of date stones and put inside each date; roll in sugar or not, serve on grape or maple leaves.

Almond or Brazil nut butter may be used instead of peanut butter, and rose or other flavoring. Grated cocoanut may be mixed with the almond butter. Fill the dates with marshmallow paste for Marshmallow Dates.

Cream Stuffed Dates

Make a roll the size of the stone of confection cream and insert in date. The roll may be larger and allowed to show in the opening.

Stuffed Figs

Stuff pulled figs by removing the inside and mixing it with sweetened and flavored nut butter or with coarse chopped English walnuts, almonds and pecans, one or all, and replacing in the skin.

Pile in the center of a dessert plate and surround with sticks or beaten biscuit. Serve with or without cereal coffee.

Stuffed Prunes

Soak and steam choice, plump California prunes until tender, cover close until cool, remove stones and fill space with a paste made by kneading together almond butter, white of egg and powdered or confectioner’s sugar.

Sweetmeats—Fruits and Nuts

1 part each Brazil nuts, almonds and hickory nuts or filberts or English walnuts, and 1 or 2 parts raisins, figs or dates. Grind fruit through finest cutter of mill and mix with nut butter or meal or chopped nuts. Form into caramel shape, small rolls or cones, or into a large roll and slice. Two or more of the sweet fruits may be used, sometimes a little citron. Or, 3 parts chopped hickory nut meats, 2 parts figs and other fruits.

A Sweetmeat—Fruits

1 lb. each of figs, from which the stems and hard part have been cut, stoned dates and raisins; mix and grind through food cutter; sprinkle board with confectioner’s sugar, knead mixture, roll to ½ in. thick, cut into any desired shape and size and roll in sugar.

Kisses

Whites of 6 eggs, 1 cup powdered sugar. Beat the whites of eggs with a little salt, adding the sugar gradually while whipping until the mixture is stiff enough to hold its shape; add flavoring if desired and drop by spoonfuls on to paraffine paper laid on boards of a size to fit the oven, or on baking tins. Dry in warm oven for about an hour, then brown slightly. If the oven is too warm, they may now be put into the warming oven or on a shelf over the stove until thoroughly dried. If the kisses stick to the paper, turn them over and moisten the paper slightly and they will come off in a little while.

Cocoanut Candy

2 cups granulated sugar, ½ cup milk, 1 cup shredded cocoanut. Boil sugar and milk together for 4 m., add cocoanut, flavor to taste and cool in buttered tins.

Candy Puffs

Boil sugar and water till they spin a heavy thread, then pour the syrup over the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs, stirring constantly. When all the syrup is in, beat until the mass begins to harden; add flavoring and nuts, mix thoroughly and place by teaspoonfuls on buttered plates.

Confection, or Bonbon Cream

Beat the white of an egg to a stiff froth, add gradually 8 tablespns. sifted powdered sugar, beat well together and flavor with vanilla or any desired flavoring. Or, one half its bulk of water may be added to the white of egg without beating, with enough confectioner’s sugar to make stiff enough to mold into balls. Different colors and flavorings may be used in cream.

Nut Creams

Halve English walnut or pecan meats and put confection cream between the halves; press together and set away to harden.

★ Confection Potatoes

Add a little cocoanut to second confection cream, and form into small potato shapes, making dents for eyes; roll in fine powdered coriander or anise seed, or in brown sugar with a little anise mixed with it.

Marshmallows

Another recipe gives 2 cups powdered sugar and the white of 1 egg only, with the other ingredients.

Soak the gum arabic in the water until soft, strain into inner cup of double boiler, add sugar and cook, stirring until thick and white. Try in ice water and when it will form a firm, not hard, ball, remove from the fire and chop and beat in the stiffly-whipped whites of the eggs with the flavoring. Turn the paste into a shallow pan covered thick with corn starch, leaving it 1 inch in thickness. When cool or in about 12 hours, cut into inch cubes, dust with confectioner’s sugar and pack in boxes. Marshmallows are better to be made as soft as they can be handled.

Old Fashioned Molasses Candy

2 cups molasses, 2 cups granulated sugar, 1 tablespn. butter. Boil over not too hot fire until a little will harden as soon as it drops into cold water. Pour into buttered tins and pull when cool enough to handle. Candy may have hickory nut or black walnut meats pressed into it when partly cooled, without pulling.

The most important thing for the candy is to get a good flavored molasses. The real Porto Rico is best. Do not be induced to add soda to the syrup. It spoils the rich golden color which belongs to molasses candy, besides making it more unwholesome. Brush the kettle with butter before putting ingredients in.

Everton Taffy

Boil until a little dropped in water will make fine, brittle threads; pour into buttered pans ¼–⅓ in. thick and cut in squares.

Lemon Taffy—to pull

Boil sugar and water until nearly done; add lemon juice and cook until a little will harden in cold water; flavor and turn on to buttered plate. Fold the edges toward the center as they cool and pull as soon as cool enough to handle.

Penosia

Shell, blanch and chop the walnuts; boil sugar and milk until syrup will harden when dropped into water but will not become brittle; just before it is done, add the butter and vanilla; then the chopped nuts, stirring them in well; pour into buttered pans and with sharp knife mark off the squares. Cool.

Lozenges—Wintergreen or Peppermint

Boil sugar and water rapidly for 5 m. after they begin to boil, add the flavoring and remove from the fire. Stir briskly until the mixture begins to thicken and to have a whitish appearance, then drop on to a cold tin dish, oiled paper or a marble slab as fast as possible, in as large or small lozenges as desired. If the mixture hardens too rapidly, set the dish in a pan of hot water. Do not place the lozenges so close that they will run together. The wintergreen drops may be tinted pink with fruit color.

Maple Candy Cream

Boil all together for 12 m., pour into another dish, stir until mixture thickens, pour into buttered tins and cut in squares.

Hoarhound Candy

3 cups water, 2 oz. dried hoarhound, 3 lbs. (2¼ qts.) brown sugar. Steep the dried herb in the water for a half hour; strain, add the sugar and boil until a little will harden when dropped in cold water; pour on to buttered tins and when sufficiently cool cut into sticks with oiled knife.

MEALS AND MENUS

“Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!”

“Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness.” Eccl. 10:16, 17.

Many have been greatly benefited by eating the first meal, breakfast, 3–5 hours after rising, according to their work.

“Three meals a day and nothing between meals, not even an apple should be the utmost limit of indulgence. Those who go further violate nature’s laws and will suffer the penalty.”

“The stomach, when we lie down to rest, should have its work all done, that it may enjoy rest as well as other portions of the body. The work of digestion should not be carried on through any period of the sleeping hours. If you feel that you must eat at night, take a drink of cold water and in the morning you will feel much better for not having eaten.”

“It is not well to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal. If the digestion is feeble, the use of both will often cause distress, and inability to put forth mental effort. It is better to have the fruit at one meal and the vegetables at another.”

“In order to have healthy digestion, food should be eaten slowly.... If your time to eat is limited, do not bolt your food, but eat less and eat slowly.”

Masticate food to creaminess. “Enjoy to the full every mouthful of food as long as any taste remains in it.”—C. C. H.

“Custom has decided that the food shall be placed upon the table in courses. Not knowing what is coming next, one may eat a sufficiency of food which perhaps is not the best suited to him. When the last course is brought on he often ventures to overstep the bounds and take the tempting dessert, which, however, proves anything but good for him. If all the food intended for a meal is placed on the table at the beginning, one has opportunity to make the best choice.”

For some time I have practised either putting the food all on the table or having what was not on the table in sight on the sideboard, or letting guests know in some way the full menu, as I have always felt that while teaching temperance, we were encouraging intemperance by the customary manner of serving.

Perfect rest without sleep for 15–30 m. after meals is a great aid to digestion.

“We should not provide for the Sabbath a more liberal supply or a greater variety of food than for other days. Instead of this, the food should be more simple and less should be eaten in order that the mind may be clear and vigorous to comprehend spiritual things. Overeating befogs the brain. The most precious words may be heard and not appreciated because the mind is confused by an improper diet.”

“Do not have too great a variety at a meal; three or four dishes are a plenty. At the next meal you can have a change. The cook should tax her inventive powers to vary the dishes she prepares for the table, and the stomach should not be obliged to take the same kinds of food meal after meal.”

Three or four dishes, each perfect of its kind, are more satisfying than a great number, not one of which is perfectly prepared and served.

MENUS

The suggestive menus given will admit of variation according to the season and circumstances.

Nut, olive or cooking oil with salt; nut butter of any kind; or cream, may be used instead of dairy butter.

Macaroni baked in cream sauce left from dinner may be heated and served for the next morning’s breakfast with the addition of tomato or more milk.

Where the two pies are served for dessert, two small pieces should be served on one plate. They introduce to the guests two kinds of crust without lard, and mince pie without meat.

When a hearty soup or dessert are on the menu the other dishes of the meal may be lighter.

Dainty dishes and spotless linen, will have much to do in fitting for that city which has foundations of precious stones and the paving of whose streets is gold.

BREAKFAST

First Day

Second Day

Third Day

Fourth Day

Fifth Day

Sixth Day

Seventh Day

DINNER

First Day

Second Day

Third Day

Fourth Day

Fifth Day

Sixth Day

Seventh Day

SUPPER

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four

Number Five

Number Six

Number Seven

Number Eight

Number Nine

Number Ten

MIDDAY LUNCHEON

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four

Number Five

Number Six

Number Seven

PUBLIC OR ENTERTAINMENT DINNERS

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four

Number Five

Number Six

SIMPLE COMPANY LUNCHEONS

Number One

Number Two

EVENING LUNCHEONS

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four

Number Five

NON-STARCH MEALS

Number One

Breakfast

Dinner

Supper

Number Two

Breakfast

Dinner

Supper

Number Three

Breakfast

Dinner

Supper

Number Four

Breakfast

Dinner

Supper

Number Five

Breakfast

Dinner

Supper

Number Six

Breakfast

Dinner

Supper

These meals may be easily changed to sugarless as well as starchless by substituting vegetables that contain no sugar for those that have some, and tart fruits for sweet ones.

The custard may be made without sugar. Gluten biscuit used as meat with fruit and vegetables give more of a variety, when obtainable.

One may take large quantities of fruit in place of starchy foods, since they are not so concentrated.

PICNIC AND TRAVELLING LUNCHES

Save waxed paper from cracker boxes and other sources and have a certain place for it so as to know just where to find it. Quite a large roll can be bought in the stationery stores for five cents.

Keep small tin boxes for packing strong flavored sandwiches, and vaseline bottles and cold cream jars for salad dressings, or for sandwich fillings which must be spread upon the bread the last thing.

For a picnic or a long journey, be sure to take everything that may be needed, corkscrew, can opener, nut picks, paring knives, spoons, a case knife, a knife large enough and sharp enough to cut bread, cups for drinking, and a small saucepan or large cup for heating drinks or anything necessary. As far as possible, carry dishes that may be thrown away, as wood or paper plates and cups. A spirit lamp is very desirable.

Be sure to take plenty of lemons and other fruits, as the trains will not often stop long enough for one to buy them at the stations, and they may not be at the proper stage of ripeness and the price will be high.

Carry salt in a vaseline bottle, or if in a salt shake, screw a piece of thick paper under the top and wrap well. Have sugar in a wide-mouthed bottle or jar, also ripe olives. Rice or custard puddings can be carried in cups.

Bottled fruit juices are invaluable. Lemon juice sufficient for one day may be bottled.

A jar of cold cereal coffee or of tea-hygiene with cream would be highly prized by many.

Trumese in Tomato or Sauce Imperial, well dried in the oven, is excellent. Fruit buns retain their moisture nicely.

Wrap sandwiches, buns, cakes, eggs and nut foods in waxed paper, and if there are different kinds of sandwiches mark them.

For a simple luncheon without a knife or spoon, pare oranges and break them into sections, and pare, quarter and core apples, and wrap all in waxed paper. These fruits with a trumese and egg sandwich (p. 472) make an ideal midday luncheon when spending the day in the city on business.

One lady who has travelled a great deal tells me that she has found a small white apron with a pocket a great convenience in serving and eating lunches on trains, and a gentleman suggests that a short apron with a bib and strap and a pocket for the napkin would be a great convenience for those of his sex.

Some of the strong pasteboard boxes that package foods come in, make good lunch boxes. We have one about 22 in. long, 9 in. wide and 6 in. deep that we can carry in a shawl strap, which we prize.

The dining car has no attractions compared with the comforts of a nice home luncheon for travelling.

INDEX

ERRATA

The sauce number 72 given for Peanut and Rice Croquettes (page 152), and for Mashed Beans (page 186), should be 75.

Transcriber’s Notes.

Punctuation has been standardised and simple typographical errors have been repaired. Hyphenation and obsolete/variant spelling have been preserved as printed.

The corrections noted in the book’s Errata have been applied to the text; the Errata section itself has been moved from after the Table of Contents to the end of the book.

Repeated text in tables was indicated by dittos in the original book; here, the text is copied in full.

Commas were printed as periods in the series of sauces on pages 159, 183, and 190 and have been changed to match similar series.

The following changes have also been made:

Page 6: “Breads—Unleavened, Without Chemicals”
for “Breads—Unleaved, Without Chemicals”
Page 11: “time and strength in using.”
[added period]
Page 21: “Sometimes leave them whole”
for “Sometimes leaves them whole”
Page 38: “dip them, one at a time”
for “dip them, one at a a time”
Page 39: “grapes and juice do not agree with every one.”
[changed comma to period]
Page 42: “the several divisions have been carefully made”
for “the several divisions heve been carefully made”
Page 44: “The use of pineapple in diphtheria”
for “The use of pineapple in diptheria”
Page 55: “Gooseberries, green”
for “Gooseberrries, green”
Page 57: “covers down if necessary”
for “covers down if neccessary”
Page 63: “the meringue, may be made with”
for “the meringue, may be made wit”
Page 65: “Boil 5 m.; add ¾ pt. sugar”
[added period]
Page 78: “2½ qts. boiling water.”
[added period]
Page 79: “browned flour may be used.”
[added period]
Page 80: “Heat to boiling, add rice, onion,”
[added comma]
Page 84: “among the French in Switzerland.”
for “among the French in switzerland.”
Page 92: “When boiling, thicken and add corn”
for “when boiling, thicken and add corn”
Page 92: “and the water thickened with flour.”
for “and the water thickened with flour;”
Page 97: “The proportion of water may be varied.”
[added period]
Page 104: “stirring until smooth.”
[changed comma to period]
Page 115: “Cook celery and mushrooms”
for “Cook celery and mushroons”
Page 121: “(or ½ cream and ½ oyster liquor)”
[added closing parenthesis]
Page 126: “3 cups rich consommé”
for “3 cups rich consomme”
Page 141: “They are at their best unground, as”
for “They are at their best unground, as as”
Page 146: “Keep in glass jars”
for “keep in glass jars”
Page 149: “or butternuts, hazelnuts, and hickory nuts”
[added comma]
Page 151: “may be substituted for potato”
for “may be substituted for pototo”
Page 156: “calculate the quantity, and”
for “calculate the quantity, and and”
Page 164: “added a little cream,”
[added comma]
Page 166: “bake in a rather hot oven 1–1¼ hour.”
[added period]
Page 170: “the cuttings may be chopped”
for “the cuttings may chopped”
Page 172: “are a delicate brown.”
[changed comma to period]
Page 175: ““nutmete”, “nutcysa””
[added comma]
Page 178: “Heat in moderate oven.”
[changed comma to period]
Page 187: “red and white kidney beans”
for “red and and white kidney beans”
Page 188: “sprinkle with crumbs”
for “sprinkle with with crumbs”
Page 190: “Substitute chick peas for lentils”
for “Subtitute chick peas for lentils”
Page 195: ““Our common split pea”
[added opening quotation mark]
Page 199: “whatever you wish to serve them on.)”
[added closing parenthesis]
Page 219: “½ cup consommé or milk”
for “½ cup consomme or milk”
Page 219: “1½ cup water (part mushroom liquor if any)”
[added closing parenthesis]
Page 225: “1 pt. consommé”
for “1 pt. consomme”
Page 226: “1 tablespn. flour”
for “1 tablespn. our”
Page 228: “liquid in drawn butter”
for “liquid n drawn butter”
Page 243: “15–30 m., according to age”
[added period]
Page 252: “and boil 5 m.”
[added period]
Page 253: “cabbage sprouts, young beet tops”
[added comma]
Page 271: “10–20 m., drain, serve plain”
[added period]
Page 274: “Wipe it dry before cutting”
for “wipe it dry before cutting”
Page 282: “Whip cream, sugar and salt together”
[added comma]
Page 285: “radish lilies on lettuce”
for “radish lilies n lettuce”
Page 285: “fill the center with green mayonnaise”
for “fill the enter with green mayonnaise”
Page 289: “grated cucumbers”
for “grated cucmbers”
Page 289: “the large end of boiled carrots.”
[changed comma to period]
Page 301: “(1 cup grape juice and 1½ cup water if convenient)”
[added closing parenthesis]
Page 307: “in double boiler for 20 m.”
[added period]
Page 311: “in very slow oven for 40 m.”
[changed comma to period]
Page 312: “turn with silver fork,”
[added comma]
Page 316: “cook 5 m.; remove from fire”
[added period]
Page 317: “boil 3–5 m.”
[added period]
Page 317: “or if sweet with cream.”
[changed comma to period]
Page 318: “boil 5 m.”
[added period]
Page 321: “Beat eggs for 3 m.”
[added period]
Page 326: ““o.” or “p.””
[added period]
Page 328: “Cook raisins 20 m.”
[added period]
Page 329: “and ½ cup water 5 m.”
[added period]
Page 332: “2 tablespns. sugar”
[added period]
Page 340: “1 tablespn. lemon juice”
[changed comma to period]
Page 344: “Simmer all together 10–15 m.”
[added period]
Page 356: “with or without the coriander”
for “with or without the coriandar”
Page 357: “Raisin Meringue”
for “Raisin Merangue”
Page 385: “place for 15–20 m.”
[added period]
Page 398: “spread quickly”
for “spreadly quickly”
Page 398: “beat for 20 m.”
[added period]
Page 400: “Flavor sugar with oil of orange”
for “Flavor sugar wth oil of orange”
Page 413: “1 part to 4½ or 5”
[added "or"]
Page 414: “onion the same as pilau,”
[changed period to comma]
Page 416: “When thoroughly dried”
for “When throughly dried”
Page 423: “tomato also may be added”
for “tomato also may be be added”
Page 431: “or sugar may be omitted”
for “or sugar may may be omitted”
Page 445: “the air we breathe,” for it is”
for “the air we breathe.” for it is”
Page 463: “kneading it very stiff.”
[added period]
Page 465: “sharp pointed Japanese toothpicks.”
[added period]
Page 484: “To Make a Cereal Drink”
for “To Make a Cerial Drink”
Page 494: “all the food intended for”
for “all the food intended or”
Page 494: “should be eaten in order”
for “should be eaten in in order”
Page 505: “no attractions compared”
for “no attractions campared”
Page 506: “Beadles, 443”
[added comma]
Page 506: “Crumb, 444”
[changed period to comma]

	PAGE
Introduction	3
General Cooking Utensils, their Uses and Care Things to Do Beforehand Economy Miscellaneous Measurements Flavorings Garnishings	9
Fruits Fresh Cooked To Can Jellies Jams	34
To Can Vegetables	69
To Dry Vegetables	72
Soups Suggestions Water Soups Cream and Milk Soups Bisques Chowders Purees Our Famous Soups Fruit Soups Soup Garnishes and Accompaniments	74
Entrees	109
True Meats Nuts and Nut Foods Trumese Trumese Dishes Nutmese Nutmese Dishes Trumese and Nutmese Dishes Roasts Legumes Eggs	139
Mushrooms	216
Stuffings and Dressings	221
Meat and Vegetable Gravies and Sauces	223
Vegetables	237
Chestnuts	271
Salads Secrets of Success Cooked Dressings Uncooked Dressings True Meat Salads Vegetable Salads Fruit Salads	273
Puddings Without Eggs	294
Puddings With Eggs	309
Pudding Sauces	324
Gelatine—Vegetable	335
Pies	347
Cakes Icings and Fillings	370
Ice Cream and Fruit Ices	402
Cereals	409
Macaroni	419
Breads—Leavened	424
Breads—Unleavened, Without Chemicals	445
Sandwiches	465
Milk, Cream, Butter and Cheese	473
Drinks	479
Invalid Foods	486
Confections	488
Meals and Menus	493
Picnic and Travelling Lunches	504

A speck	equals ¼ saltspn.
1 saltspn	equals ¼ teaspn.
2 teaspns	equals 1 dessert spn.
1½ dessert spn	equals 1 tablespn.
3 teaspns	equals 1 tablespn.
1 tablespn. sugar or corn starch	equals 1½ level tablespn.
3 level tablespns. cracker crumbs	equals ¼ cup.
9½ tablespns. granulated sugar	equals 1 cup.
15¼ level tablespns. granulated sugar	equals 1 cup.
3 tablespns. liquid	equals ¼ cup.
4 tablespns. liquid	equals ⅓ cup.
4½ level tablespns. butter	equals ⅓ cup.
3 rounded tablespns. butter	equals ⅓ cup.
12 tablespns. liquid	equals 1 cup.
1 wine glass	equals ¼ cup.
1 gill	equals ½ cup.
1 cup	equals ½ pint.
1 tumbler	equals ½ pint.
4 gills–2 cups	equals 1 pint.
2 pints	equals 1 quart.
4 quarts	equals 1 gallon.
2 cups (1 pint) granulated sugar	equals 1 pound.
2½ cups powdered sugar	equals 1 pound.
3⅔ cups light or medium brown sugar	equals 1 pound
2 cups butter	equals 1 pound
4 cups good pastry flour	equals 1 pound
3½–3⅞ cups good bread flour	equals 1 pound
3½ plus, cups rice	equals 1 pound
3 cups seeded raisins	equals 1 pound
3¼ cups currants	equals 1 pound
4 cups desiccated cocoanut	equals 1 pound
1 pint milk or water	equals 1 pound
1 rounded tablespn. butter	equals 1 ounce
Butter size of a walnut	equals 1 ounce
Butter size of an egg	equals 2 ounces
2 tablespns. oil	equals 1⅛ ounce
1 cup of oil	equals 6¾ ounces
2 rounded tablespns. flour	equals 1 ounce
1 rounded tablespn. sugar	equals 1 ounce
1½ level tablespn. table salt	equals 1 ounce
8 eggs in shell	equals 1 pound
10 eggs out of shell	equals 1 pound
12 ears of corn	equals 3 cups grated corn
1 ear of corn	equals ¼ cup grated corn
18 roots of oyster plant	equals 1¼ qt. sliced
1 bunch of oyster plant	equals ⅔ qt. sliced
1 bunch of oyster plant	equals 1 pt. after cooking

The Laurel Health Cookery

INTRODUCTION

CONTENTS

GENERAL

COOKING UTENSILS, THEIR USES AND CARE

THINGS TO DO BEFOREHAND

ECONOMY

MISCELLANEOUS

MEASUREMENTS

FLAVORINGS

Brown Onion Flavor

FOR SWEETS

SALAD FLAVORINGS

GARNISHING

Radish Lilies

Potato Balls

Egg Daisies

Oxeye Daisies

Pastry Bag

COLORINGS

Pokeberry—Carmine

ARRANGEMENT AND GARNISHING OF SALADS

FRUITS

FRUITS—FRESH

APPLES

BANANAS

BLACKBERRIES

CANTALOUPE

CURRANTS

Frosted Currants

DATES AND NUTS

DATES AND CREAM

DATES OR FIGS AND MILK

FIGS

GOOSEBERRIES

GRAPES

TO PACK GRAPES

GRAPE FRUIT

GRAPE FRUIT WITH MALAGA GRAPES

GRAPE FRUIT AMBROSIA

OLIVES

ORANGES

PEACHES

PEACHES AND CREAM

PEACH SNOW

PINEAPPLES

SHREDDED PINEAPPLE

PINEAPPLE AND GRAPE FRUIT

PINEAPPLE AND WHIPPED CREAM

PINEAPPLE AND STRAWBERRY AMBROSIA

PINEAPPLE AND ORANGE AMBROSIA

RAISINS

RASPBERRIES—RED

RASPBERRIES—BLACK

STRAWBERRIES

ORANGE STRAWBERRIES

WATERMELON

WHORTLEBERRIES

FRUITS—COOKED

APPLE SAUCE

STRAINED APPLE SAUCE

BAKED APPLE SAUCE

BAKED QUARTERS OF APPLES

BAKED APPLES

LEMON APPLES, ORANGE APPLES, AND OTHERS

BAKED SWEET APPLES

“MOTHER” CRANSON’S STEWED SWEET APPLES

STEWED BANANAS

BANANAS IN BUTTER

BANANAS AND RAISINS

BAKED BANANAS

BAKED CRUMBED BANANAS

BANANAS BAKED WITH TOMATOES

CRANBERRIES

Stewed Cranberries

Baked Cranberries.

Cranberries With Raisins

BAKED PEACHES

BAKED QUINCES—Delicious

PLAIN BAKED QUINCES