SOLD TO AID THE FAMILIES
OF ITALIAN SOLDIERS
COPYRIGHTED, 1917
n this world war we are learning many lessons
from our Allies beside those of the battle field. The housewives of the
old world have much to teach us in thrift, especially in the kitchen.
Italian cooking—not that of the large hotel or restaurant, but the
cucina casalinga of the little roadside hostelry and of
the home where the mother, or some deft handmaid trained in the art from
infancy, is priestess at the tiny charcoal stove—is at once so
frugal and so delicious that we do well to study it with close attention.
If you have ever sat at a snowy table in the garden of some wayside inn in the Appennines, a savory dish of risotto before you and the music of the mountain torrent far below in your ears; or sipped a zabaione in the portico of a cafe on the sun-baked piazza of some brown old town clinging to a hillside of Umbria; or eaten fritto misto on a pensione terrace overhanging the sapphire Gulf of Naples, one of those inimitable haunts of comfort kept by a handsome Italian dame who served her apprenticeship in Anglo-Saxon ways as an English lady's maid; if any of these experiences have been yours you do not need to be convinced of the inimitable charms of the Italian cuisine.
The Italian housewife uses quantities of vegetables, many soups and made dishes containing only a small proportion of meat and that the inexpensive cuts. Vegetable salads are a staple, while fresh or dried fruits, coffee, cheese and nuts are the regular dessert. The elaborate creations for which the Italian confectioner is justly famous are reserved for festal occasions.
At first reading many of the recipes may sound elaborate, but in using them it is well to bear in mind the general plan of the Italian menu. Each dish is usually served as a course in itself. A good soup, a savory dish of spaghetti, rice or vegetables combined with meat, a crisp salad dressed with oil and vinegar, followed by a piece of fruit, a bit of cheese and black coffee make a characteristic Italian meal and one with which an epicure could find no fault. It is a meal, moreover, in keeping with the suggestions of our Food Administrator that we use a minimum of meats and sweets and a maximum of soups, fruits, vegetables, made dishes and cheese.
This little venture is launched in the hope that the booklet may pay its way in new suggestions to American homemakers while it is earning money to prevent Italian homes from being destroyed. The expenses incident to publication have been contributed, so that every penny from the sale of every copy is forwarded direct to responsible people in Italy who will use it for food and clothing for the families of Italian soldiers.
Additional copies may be had at fifty cents apiece, from Julia Lovejoy Cuniberti, 14 West Milwaukee street, Janesville, Wisconsin.
TOMATO PASTE. This is a concentrated paste made from tomatoes and spices to be had of importers or grocers in Italian neighborhoods. Thinned with water, it is a much used ingredient in Italian recipes. Catsup and concentrated tomato soup do not make satisfactory substitutes as they are too sweet in flavor, but canned tomatoes seasoned with salt and a bit of bay leaf, cooked down to a thick cream and rubbed through a sieve, serve very well in lieu of tomato paste.
PARMESAN CHEESE. When an Italian recipe calls for grated cheese it usually means Parmesan. This is practically unobtainable now, except the grated, bottled cheese, which is inferior in flavor. Gruyère, our own brick cheese, or any skim milk cheese dried and grated fresh as needed makes a good substitute.
DRIED MUSHROOMS. These may be had of importers or small groceries in foreign neighborhoods. They sound expensive until one realizes that a very few ounces go a long way. They make a pleasing variety added to soups or sauces, and are much cheaper and more highly flavored than the canned mushrooms. They should be thoroughly washed and softened in warm water before using.
ANCHOVIES. These recipes do not call for the filets of anchovy prepared for hors-d'oeuvres, but the less expensive and larger whole anchovies in salt to be had in bulk or cans at large dealers. To clean them plunge in boiling water. This loosens the skin and removes superfluous salt. Remove head, tail, backbone and skin and they are ready for use.
GARLIC. Garlic is an inoffensive and wholesome ingredient if properly handled. Used in small quantities and thoroughly cooked it gives an indescribable flavor that is never disagreeable. By "a clove of garlic" is meant one of the tiny sections of a whole garlic peeled down to its white, fleshy core.
SUBSTITUTION OF OTHER INGREDIENTS. Many of the recipes which have been written down just as they were given can be made more economical and no less delicious by the substitution of clarified drippings, vegetable shortenings and corn or nut oils for salt pork, butter or bacon. Corn-starch is recommended for thickening instead of flour. Anyone who does not care for as much cheese or tomato as the Italian likes, may omit them entirely or greatly reduce the quantity in most of the recipes and still have an excellent dish.
Chop the pork and put it in the bottom of a saucepan. Next add the onion, celery and carrot chopped. Dot with butter and over this place the meat cut into small pieces. Add any trimmings from steaks, roasts or chops that may be on hand and any bits of left over cooked meat. Season with salt and the cloves. Put over the fire without stirring. When you smell the onions getting very brown turn the meat and when everything is extremely brown add a cup of water and let it cook almost dry. Repeat this operation of adding the water three times. Finally add three pints of boiling water and let it boil gently five or six hours, when the stock will be reduced to a few cupfuls. Strain, cool and skim off the fat which will form a cake on top of the liquid.
The meat may afterwards be used for a Flam, for Polpettone or croquettes. The stock may be kept for some days and forms the basis for many dishes. In soups it is far superior to beef extract or bouillon cubes which may be substituted for it.
Cut off the rind of the pork and put it into 2 quarts of water to boil. Cut off a small slice of the pork and beat it to a paste with the parsley and garlic. Add this paste to the pork and water. Slice the carrots, cut the rib out of the cabbage leaves. Add the carrots, cabbage leaves, other vegetables, seasoning and butter to the soup, and let it boil slowly for 2½ hours. The last ½ hour add 1 small handful of rice for each person.
When the pork is very soft, remove and slice in little ribbons and put it back.
This is equally good eaten cold. Three bouillon cubes may be used instead of pork, or may be added if a richer soup is desired.
Mme. Varesi.
Peel the onions and slice them very thin. Fry them slowly in the fat until they are a uniform golden brown, using a kettle deep enough to hold the water afterwards. When the onions are thoroughly fried add the hot water, cover and let simmer at least three-quarters of an hour, seasoning to taste. The onions will make a clean brown liquor without the use of any meat but soup stock may be used instead of water, or beef extract or bouillon cubes may be added to the water if a meat soup is preferred.
Put the soup in a hot tureen, add the toast cut into triangles and sprinkle it over with the grated cheese. Serve as soon as the toast and cheese have been added.
Beat the whites of the eggs, then beat in the yolks. Add the breadcrumbs gradually, then the grated cheese, a pinch of salt and a grating of nutmeg. These ingredients should form a thin batter.
Have the broth boiling and drop the batter into it by spoonfuls. Let it boil three or four minutes and serve immediately. The batter will poach in soft, curdled lumps in the clear soup.
This soup is much used as a delicacy for invalids. In this case the cheese may be scanted or omitted entirely. By way of variety a tablespoonful of finely chopped parsley may be added to the batter, or a half a cup of spinach drained and rubbed through a sieve may be substituted for half of the breadcrumbs.
When stock or broth is not available, it may be made from bouillon cubes and a lump of butter dissolved in boiling water and seasoned with celery salt, onion salt and pepper.
Signora Maria Ronchi-Cuniberti.
Chop fine or put through a meat grinder the ham, onion, carrot and celery, add the parsley chopped or clipped fine with scissors, and the bay leaf. Fry all this in the oil until it is golden brown, but not at all scorched. Add one pint of boiling water and the peas. If this cooks away add more water as needed until the peas are tender. Rub the soup through a sieve. Serve this soup garnished with croutons or toast triangles, and send a dish of grated cheese to the table with it to be added according to individual taste.
Soak the beans over night. Boil until tender. Many cooks put the beans to cook in cold water with a pinch of soda. When they come to a boil, pour off this water and add fresh.
Chop fine the onion, garlic, parsley and celery and put them to fry in the oil with salt and a generous amount of pepper. When the vegetables are a delicate brown add to them two cups of the broth from the beans, and the tomatoes. Let all come to a boil and pour the mixture into the kettle of beans from which some of the water has been drained, if they are very liquid. This soup may be served as it is or rubbed through a sieve before serving. Croutons or triangles of dry toast make an excellent addition.
Grind the meat and almonds in a meat grinder, or chop very fine. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk, and rub all these ingredients to a very smooth paste. Add the hot broth. If you wish the soup to be richer and have a more milky consistency use the yolk of an egg, which should be beaten and have a few tablespoons of the hot broth stirred into it before adding to the soup. Do not let the soup boil after the egg is added or it will curdle.
Cut the stale bread into cubes and fry in deep fat. Put these croutons in the soup, and send it to the table with a dish of grated cheese.
Many kinds of vegetables may be used for this soup, carrots, celery, cabbage, turnips, onions, potatoes, spinach, the outside leaves of lettuce or greens of any variety.
Select three or four kinds of vegetables. Shred or chop coarsely cabbage or greens, and slice or cut in cubes the root vegetables. Put them over the fire with a small quantity of cooking oil or butter substitute, and let them fry until they have absorbed the fat. Then add broth and cook until the vegetables are very tender. Fry croutons of stale bread in oil and serve them in the soup.
In this, as in other recipes, water may be used instead of broth if the latter is not available, and bouillon cubes or beef extract added just as the hot soup is removed from the fire.
Grind the meat very fine and make a highly seasoned mixture of it and all the other ingredients. The ground meat may be sautéed in a little butter or drippings before it is mixed with the other ingredients to improve the flavor. Cut rounds measuring about three inches in diameter from a thin sheet of paste made according to the recipe on page 20. Place a spoonful of the filling in the middle of each circle of paste. Fold over and moisten the edge of the paste with the finger dipped in water to make it stay securely closed. These cappelletti should be cooked in chicken or turkey broth until the paste is tender, and served with this broth as a soup.
This is a time-honored Christmas dainty in Italy.
Chop the onion very fine, or put it through a meat grinder. Put it to cook in the butter, until it is soft and yellow. Wash the rice and add it to the onion and butter, stirring constantly so that it will not stick. Salt it and add boiling water, a little at a time, until the rice is cooked tender, yet not too soft, with each grain distinct. Dissolve the curry powder in a tablespoon of cold water and add to the rice. Take from the fire and serve very hot after mixing into it a handful of grated cheese. The delicacy of this dish is lost if it is overcooked or allowed to cool.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
The broth for this Risotto may be made by cooking together the giblets, neck and tips of wings of a chicken which is to be roasted, or it may be made from the remnants of roast fowl.
Boil the rice until it is about half done in salted water. Then let the water cook away and begin adding the broth, in such quantity that the rice will be nearly dry when it is tender. Fry the chopped onion in the oil or fat. Some mushrooms cut up small are a very good addition to this "soffritto." Mince the chicken giblets and add to the onion. Stir this mixture into the rice. Add grated cheese and a beaten egg just as the rice is taken from the fire.
Clean the rice. Chop the onion fine and fry it a golden color in the oil. Put in the rice and stir it until it has absorbed all the oil. Salt and add boiling water. Boil until the rice is tender, taking care to keep plenty of water on it until the very end when it should cook almost dry. Drain the peas and add them toward the end of the cooking. Grated cheese is a good addition to this dish.
String the beans and parboil them in salted, boiling water. Drain, cut up into inch pieces and season with butter, salt and pepper. Beat the egg yolk in a sauce pan. Beat in the flour and lemon juice, add the stock (cold water will do) and cook the mixture over a moderate fire until it thickens. Pour over the hot beans and let remain over the fire a moment so that they will absorb the flavor of the sauce but not long enough to curdle the egg.
Cut the outside stalks of celery into pieces 3 to 4 inches long, and strip off the coarsest fibres. Cook in water until soft and transparent. Drain in colander. When it is as dry as possible roll each piece separately in flour, and sauté separately, not in a mass, in butter, vegetable oil or drippings, with salt and pepper. Each piece must be turned to cook on both sides.
Swiss chard may be cooked in the same way.
Mme. Varesi.
Cook the outside stalks of celery, cut into small pieces, in boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and sauté in a very little butter. Add a few tablespoons of brown stock and simmer until tender. Sprinkle with grated cheese if desired, before serving.
Chop fine the onion and salt pork, and brown together, adding the butter and spices. Add enough tomato paste and boiling water to moisten the mixture thoroughly, and let it boil a few minutes. Then add the finely chopped sausage and more water as necessary to keep it boiling.
Wash and quarter the cauliflower and cook it for ten minutes in boiling, slightly salted water. Drain it and add it to the sauce, and simmer slowly until tender. Be careful not to cook it so long that it gets mushy. Grated cheese may be sprinkled over it before serving.
Cabbage may be cooked in the same way.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Zucchini are a kind of small squash for sale in groceries and markets of the Italian neighborhoods of our large cities. Summer or winter squash, ripe cucumber or even pumpkin make good substitutes.
Chop the onion and fry in oil. The other vegetables should be in proportion to each other. For example, if there is a cupful of each of the other vegetables when they are cut up, use a cupful of tomatoes unless you wish the tomato flavor to be very pronounced. Peel and cube the potatoes, eggplant and squash. Remove the seeds and stems from the peppers and slice or shred them coarsely. Add the tomatoes to the onion and oil. After that has cooked a few minutes add the potatoes. When they are half done, put in the peppers, lastly the eggplant, squash, and salt and pepper. Continue cooking until the vegetables are tender but still whole and firm.
Roma Pavilion Restaurant, Chicago.
Peel and cut up the eggplant. Salt it and let it stand for an hour or so to draw out the bitter juices. Drain and sauté in a little oil or drippings. Add tomato sauce[2] and simmer a few moments until tender.
The eggplant should be prepared as for ordinary frying, that is, it should be peeled, sliced and the slices sprinkled with salt and left under a weighted plate for some time to extract the bitter juices. Sauté the slices in oil or lard. Line a baking dish with them. Fill the center of the dish with hard boiled eggs and cheese cut into little pieces. Add to this filling enough grated cheese and tomato sauce to flavor it to taste. Cover the top with another layer of the fried eggplant and a little more tomato sauce. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Roma Pavilion Restaurant, Chicago.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into little pieces. Cook in boiling water for ten minutes. Take them out, drain thoroughly, and put in a saucepan, sprinkling them with flour, then adding the butter and milk. Cover the pan and let the potatoes cook slowly for a quarter of an hour or until thoroughly done. Season well with salt and pepper and a generous amount of grated cheese before serving.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
String the beans. Blanch them by throwing them into boiling water. As soon as the water has boiled again drain the beans and plunge them into cold water. Fry the finely chopped onion, parsley and celery in a tablespoon of oil. When the onion is a golden color add the beans and let them absorb the oil. Add just enough water to keep them from burning until the beans have simmered tender.
Make a white sauce of the milk, flour and one tablespoon of oil. Beat the eggs. Let the beans and sauce cool a little. Then add the eggs, beans and a few tablespoons of grated cheese to the white sauce. Pour into a buttered mould. Bake or steam as a custard until firm, and serve hot.
Peas are good cooked in the same way. Canned peas and beans may be used. This makes a very satisfactory luncheon dish.
Make a smooth white sauce of the milk, butter and flour. Let it cook until it is thick and the flour is thoroughly cooked. Add to the sauce the spinach (drained, rinsed and chopped very fine) a few tablespoons of grated cheese, two eggs beaten, a few tablespoons of brown stock (or a bouillon cube dissolved in a little hot water) and salt. Mix thoroughly and pour into a buttered mould. Steam as a custard until it is firm. Brown stock or tomato sauce may be poured over this, but it is excellent served hot just as it is. For the recipes for Brown Stock and Tomato Sauce see pages 7 and 23.
Pensione Santa Caterina, Siena.
Hard boil the eggs. Make a white sauce of the flour, milk and butter. Be sure to cook it thoroughly. Add the whites of the eggs diced very fine. Pour this out on a platter and cover with the yolks forced through a sieve or potato ricer.
Pensione Santa Caterina, Siena.
Peel the tomatoes. Cut a slice from the top of each, and scoop out the core. Break a raw egg into each and replace the top. Put in a baking dish and bake until the eggs are set. Serve with a cream sauce or brown gravy.
The day before this dish is to be served, cook cornmeal very thoroughly with only enough water to make it very stiff. Turn out to cool in just the shape of the dish in which it has cooked.
Next day take this same dish, butter it and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cut the mould of cornmeal in horizontal slices about ¼ inch thick. Lay the top slice in the bottom of the dish where it fits. Dot with two or three small pieces of butter and three or four dried mushrooms which have had boiling water poured over them and soaked some time. Moisten with cream and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Repeat slice by slice until the shape is complete. On the last slice put only two dots of butter.
Put in a moderate oven and bake three hours. If at the end of this time there should be too much liquid on top pour this off to use for the seasoning of some other dish, such as spaghetti, rice or noodles, and continue cooking until the liquid ceases to ooze.
Make a very stiff mush of the cornmeal. Salt it well and when it is cooked spread it out to cool on a bread board in a sheet about an inch thick. Make a smooth white sauce of the milk, cornstarch and butter. Prepare the Bolognese Sauce according to its recipe. When the cornmeal is cold slice it down in half inch slices and cut into diamonds or squares. Butter a baking dish. Put in a layer of the cornmeal, sprinkle it with cheese and a few tablespoons each of the white sauce and the meat sauce. Repeat until the dish is full. Bake until the top is nicely browned. This seems like an elaborate dish, but it is very delicious and a meal in itself.
Let the milk come to a boil, salt it and add the farina gradually, stirring constantly so it will not become lumpy. Take from the fire and add a tablespoon of butter and several tablespoons of grated cheese, also the egg slightly beaten. Mix well and spread out on a moulding board in a sheet about ¾ inch thick. When it is cold cut it in squares or diamonds. Put a layer of these on a shallow baking dish or platter that has been buttered. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Make another layer and so on until the dish is filled. Bake in the oven until the crust is well browned.
Put the anchovies into a colander and dip quickly into boiling water to loosen the skins, and remove the salt. Skin and bone them. Chop them and put over the fire in a sauce-pan with a generous quantity of oil and some pepper. Do not let them boil, but when they are hot add two tablespoons of butter and three or four tablespoons of concentrated tomato juice made by cooking down canned tomatoes and rubbing through a sieve. Boil the spaghetti in water that is only slightly salted and take care not to let it become too soft. Drain thoroughly and put it into the hot dish in which it is to be served. Pour the sauce over the spaghetti, and if you have left the latter unbroken in the Italian style mix by lifting the spaghetti with two silver forks until sauce has gone all through it. Serve with grated cheese.
Grind the salt pork and try it out in a saucepan. While it is frying put the onion through the grinder. As soon as the pork begins to brown add the onion, the parsley chopped, the garlic shredded fine, and the mushrooms which have been softened by soaking in warm water. When the vegetables are very brown (great care must be taken not to burn the onion, which scorches very easily) add the meat ground coarsely or cut up in little cubes. When the meat is a good brown color, add about one pint of tomatoes and simmer slowly until all has cooked down to a thick creamy sauce. It will probably take ¾ hour. The sauce may be bound together with a little flour if it shows a tendency to separate.
This sauce is used to dress all kinds of macaroni and spaghetti, also for boiled rice. Spaghetti should be left unbroken when it is cooked. If it is too long to fit in the kettle immerse one end in the boiling salted water and in a very few minutes the ends of the spaghetti under the water will become softened so that the rest can be pushed down into the kettle. Be careful not to overcook it and it will not be pasty, but firm and tender. Drain it carefully and put in a hot soup tureen. Sprinkle a handful of grated cheese over it and pour on the sauce. Lift with two forks until thoroughly mixed.
The best and most tender paste is made simply of eggs and flour and salt. Water may be substituted for part of the eggs, for economy, or when a less rich paste is needed. Allow about a cup of flour to an egg. Put the flour on a bread board, make a hole in the middle and break in the egg. Use any extra whites that are on hand. Work it with a fork until it is firm enough to work with the hands. Knead it thoroughly, adding more flour if necessary, until you have a paste you can roll out. Roll it as thin as a ten cent piece. If the sheet of paste is too large to handle with an ordinary rolling pin, a broom handle which has been sawed off, scrubbed and sandpapered, will serve in lieu of the long Italian rolling pin.
This paste may be cut in ribbons to be cooked in soup as Tagliatelli, or cut in squares or circles and filled with various mixtures to make Cappelletti, Ravioli, etc.
Any bits that are left or become too dry to work may be made into a ball and kept for some time to be grated into soup, in which it makes an excellent thickening.
Drain and chop the greens. Mix well with the curds, egg, a little grated cheese, salt and nutmeg. Make a paste such as that described in the recipe for Pasta fatta in Casa, page 20. Roll out this paste very thin and mark it off in two or three inch squares. Place a spoonful of the mixture on each square. Fold together diagonally. Moisten the edges with the finger dipped in cold water, to make them stick together, and press them down with the fingers or the tines of a fork. Another method is to put the spoonfuls of the mixture in a row two inches from the edge of the paste and two inches apart. Fold over the edge of the paste. Cut off the whole strip thus formed, and cut into squares with the mixture in the middle of each square.
Boil these ravioli in salted water, being careful not to break them open. Drain and serve with a tomato sauce containing mushrooms[6], either fresh ones, or the dried mushrooms soaked and simmered until tender. Arrange the ravioli on a platter, pour the hot sauce over them and finish with a sprinkling of grated cheese.
Chop the meat and spinach fine and work to a stiff mixture with the egg. Season with cheese, nutmeg and salt to taste. Enclose in little squares of the home made paste described above, and cook and serve as in the preceding recipe for Ravioli.
Cut the ham into little pieces. Chop carrot and celery to equal the ham in quantity. Put them all on the fire with some butter. When the mixture is brown add a few tablespoons of tomato paste dissolved in a cup of hot water.
Cook the noodles in water that is only slightly salted. Drain and dress with the sauce and grated cheese. The quantities to use in the sauce must be determined by the amount of noodles to be cooked.
Chop the meat and vegetables fine and put them over the fire with the butter. When the meat has browned add the flour and wet the mixture with hot water or broth, allowing it to simmer from half an hour to an hour. It is done when it is the consistency of a thick gravy.
This is enough sauce for 1 lb. of macaroni or spaghetti. Dried mushrooms are a good addition to this sauce. They may be soaked, drained and chopped with other vegetables. This sauce forms the basis for the dish of scalloped cornmeal called Polenta Pasticciata.
Pellegrino Artusi, the inimitable author of that droll yet practical manual of cooking SCIENCE IN THE KITCHEN AND THE ART OF EATING WELL (La Scienza in Cucina e l'Arte di mangiar bene) has the following to say about tomato sauce.
"There was once a good old priest in a village of the Romagna who stuck his nose into everything; in every family circle and in every domestic affair he wanted to have his finger in the pie. Aside from this he was a kindly old party and as his zeal was the source of more good than bad people let him go his way; but the wiseacres dubbed him Don Pomidoro (Sir Tomato) to indicate that tomatoes enter into everything; therefore a good tomato sauce is an invaluable aid in cooking."
Chop fine together a quarter of an onion, a clove of garlic, a piece of celery as long as your finger, a few bay leaves and just parsley enough. Season with a little oil, salt and pepper, cut up seven or eight tomatoes and put everything over the fire together. Stir it from time to time and when you see the juice condensing into a thin custard strain it through a sieve, and it is ready for use."
This sauce serves many purposes. It is good on boiled meat; excellent to dress macaroni, spaghetti or other pastes which have been seasoned with butter and cheese, or on boiled rice seasoned in the same way. Mushrooms are a great addition to it.
Melt half the butter, add the flour and cook until it begins to brown. Add the water slowly, stirring meanwhile, the vinegar and the rest of the butter. Take from the fire and add the beaten egg yolk. This sauce should be smooth like a thin custard.
Wash, skin and bone the anchovies. Chop the parsley very fine with the onion. Rub a bowl with the cut side of a clove of garlic. Put in the anchovies and rub to a paste. Add the parsley and onion, a tablespoon each of lemon juice and vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the mixture until it is smooth and thick. Capers may be added by way of variety. This is delicious as a sauce for plain boiled meat or fish.
Signorina Cornelia Cuniberti.
Boil the piece of salmon for half an hour with the parsley, garlic, sage and bay leaf. Bone and roll into fillets ¾ inch thick. If the fish has boiled very tender it may be necessary to tie the fillets in shape with string or strips of cheese cloth. Dip in beaten egg, then in flour, salt and pepper. Sauté a delicate brown. Serve with oil mayonnaise. The white from the egg used in the mayonnaise may serve for dipping the fillets if only a small piece of salmon is cooked.
Freshen and soak the codfish in cold water, changing the water two or three times. Heat the oil, with the parsley finely chopped. Add the tomato paste, pepper and enough water to make sufficient liquid to cover the fish. Add the fish and let it simmer over a slow fire until it is done.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Flake the codfish and put it on the fire in cold water. When it has come to a boil remove from fire and drain. Clean the anchovies and chop them together with the codfish and parsley. Add enough hot water to the bread crumbs and butter to moisten thoroughly. Mix with the other ingredients Form into croquettes and dip into egg and crumbs and fry in deep fat.
Serve with tomato sauce or simply garnish with lemon.
Take any piece of veal and slice it as thin as possible in small irregular slices like chipped beef. Roll in flour, put butter in frying pan; when hot add the vinegar and stir hard. Lay in the slices of veal and sprinkle salt, pepper and chopped parsley over it. sauté first on one side, then on the other, turning each piece separately. Serve hot with its own butter and vinegar sauce poured over it.
Mme. Varesi.
Into the bottom of a baking dish put a layer of thinly sliced onion, salt, pepper, a sprinkling of flour and a few dots of butter, then a layer of the cooked meat sliced very thin, another layer of onion and seasoning, and then one of meat, moistening it occasionally with a tablespoon of soup stock or hot water in which a bouillon cube has been dissolved. Repeat this until the dish is nearly full. Last put in a layer of raw tomatoes (canned tomatoes may be made to serve the purpose) and cover the top with bread crumbs, salt, pepper and bits of butter. Bake in the oven for one-half hour.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Make the butter, flour and milk into a white sauce by melting the butter, cooking the flour in it until the mixture bubbles and begins to brown, then adding the milk and cooking until it is smooth. Let this cool. Brown the meat in a saucepan with a little fat or drippings, salt and pepper. Take it from the fire and add the white sauce and the eggs well beaten. Season with grated cheese, salt and pepper. Butter a mould and sprinkle it with bread crumbs, fill with the mixture and steam or bake as a custard for an hour. Serve with any good meat or tomato sauce.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Chop or grind cold boiled meat and form into an oval cake after mixing it with enough slightly beaten egg and bread crumbs (soaked in hot water and seasoned with butter) to make it hold its shape. Sauté on one side in a frying pan. To turn it use a plate or cover so as not to break it. Sauté on the other side. Lift it from the pan and with the fat remaining in the pan make a gravy to pour over it, which may be enriched by the addition of a beaten egg and a dash of lemon juice just as it is taken from the fire.
A Polpettone from left over soup meat often forms the second course to a meal, the first course of which has been the soup made from this meat with vegetables or macaroni cooked in it.
Cut the meat into little pieces and season each piece with salt and pepper. Chop the onions very fine or put them through the meat grinder, and fry them brown in the fat. Put in the meat and let it cook until it has absorbed all the fat and is slightly browned. Add the broth or milk and let it cook over a moderate fire.
As a vegetable with this stew serve macaroni boiled, drained and seasoned with tomato sauce[10] and butter.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Make a stiff cornmeal mush, thoroughly cooked. Cut the pigeons in quarters or even smaller pieces. Brown them in butter with salt, pepper and a little chopped onion. Cover with stock, add a bit of sage and stew slowly for an hour and a half. If the birds are young less time will do.
Line a round dish with the mush, hollowed out. Lay the pigeons with their sauce inside of this and serve hot.
Cut up the chicken, rub it with the lard and brown it in the other half of the fat. Add the strained tomato, then the finely chopped onion, finally the carrot and celery cut into small pieces, and season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer slowly until perfectly tender, adding hot water enough to keep it moist, from time to time, as the strained tomato cooks away.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Grind or chop the salt pork and put in a large frying pan with the onions sliced thin. Fry the onions slowly and carefully until they are golden brown. Skim them out. Cut up the chicken, sprinkle the pieces with flour, salt and pepper, and sauté in the fat which remains in the frying pan. When the chicken is brown add the tomatoes and green peppers and put back the onions. When the vegetables have cooked down to a thick gravy keep adding enough hot water to prevent their burning. Cover the pan tightly and simmer until the chicken is very tender. This an excellent way to cook tough chickens. Fowls which have been boiled may be cooked in this way, but of course young and tender chickens will have the finer flavor.
Cut up the fowl and boil until it is tender. Wash the rice and blanch it by letting it come to a boil and cook a few minutes in salted water. Finish cooking it in the broth from the boiled fowl. Do not cook it too long or it will be mushy. Add the broth a little at a time to be sure the rice is not too wet when it is done. Season with cheese and butter and add the egg yolk to bind it just as it is taken from the fire. Serve as a border around the fowl.
Brown the sausages and giblets in drippings. Add a cup of boiling water and simmer until cooked. Skim them from their broth and put the bread crumbs to soak in it. Skin the sausages and chop or grind them together with the giblets, chestnuts and the mushrooms which have been washed and soaked in warm water. Mix thoroughly with the bread crumbs. Add more bread crumbs or hot water if it is not the right consistency. Double the quantity for a turkey. This dressing is very nice sliced cold.
Make a custard of the eggs, milk, sugar and chocolate. Cook it in a double boiler until it thickens. Take from the fire and add the finely ground macaroons, stirring and beating the mixture until it is smooth. Pour into a buttered mould and chill thoroughly on the ice.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Beat the eggs, beat in the sugar, add the wine. Cook over a slow fire, beating constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Take from the fire and continue to beat a moment so the mixture will not cook to the side of the hot vessel. It should be a smooth, frothy cream. It is eaten hot, poured over sponge cake or served in tall glasses. A scant teaspoon of cinnamon may be added by way of variety.
It is best to cook Zabaione in a double boiler or in a dish set into a larger one of boiling water, to prevent its curdling.
Orange or other fruit juice may be substituted for the wine, but Marsala is the original and authentic ingredient. Made with fruit juice it becomes an acceptable pudding sauce.
Pensione Santa Caterina, Siena.
Boil the chestnuts for two hours and then peel off the shells and inner skins. Put them over the fire with a little milk, and mash them to a paste, adding more milk if necessary, to make them of about the consistency of mashed potatoes. Flavor with sugar and cinnamon. Pass them through a sieve or potato ricer to form a mound on the plate on which the Mont Blanc is to be served. Decorate with a generous quantity of whipped cream just before serving. Vanilla or a little wine may be used for flavoring instead of cinnamon.
Marietta Ieri
Blanch the almonds and filberts and dry them thoroughly. Grind them very fine and mix with the rice flour and two tablespoons of the sugar. Beat the eggs light and beat in the rest of the sugar. Pour the eggs into the other mixture and beat all very light. Add the melted butter and continue to beat. Pour into a buttered loaf-cake tin and bake in a moderate oven.
Beat the egg yolks thoroughly and beat in the sugar. Then add the flour and lemon juice and beat in all ½ hour. Beat the whites of the eggs dry and fold them into the rest. Butter a mould and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Pour into the mould and bake. When it is cool turn out of the mould and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Boil the water and melt the butter in it. Salt it, add the flour and let it cook a little while. Cool and add the beaten eggs. Form this into 12 Bigné, (little cakes or cookies) and bake them in the oven. When they are baked split them open and fill with a custard flavored with vanilla and sprinkle them with powdered sugar.
Signorina Irene Merlani.
Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.
The Table of Contents was not present in the original text and has been produced for the reader's convenience.