Part 16

Half a teacupful of butter, the juice of half a lemon, the yolk of two eggs, a speck of cayenne pepper, half a cupful of boiling water, half a teaspoonful of salt; beat the butter to a cream, add the yolks of eggs one by one; then the lemon juice, pepper and salt, beating all thoroughly; place the bowl in which is the mixture in a saucepan of boiling water; beat with an egg-beater until it begins to thicken which will be in about a minute; then add the boiling water, beating all the time; stir until it begins to thicken like soft custard; stir a few minutes after taking from the fire; be careful not to cook it too long. This is very nice with baked fish.

CURRANT JELLY SAUCE.

Three tablespoonfuls of butter, one onion, one bay leaf, one sprig of celery, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, half a cupful of currant jelly, one tablespoonful of flour, one pint of stock, salt, pepper. Cook the butter and onion until the latter begins to color. Add the flour and herbs. Stir until brown; add the stock, and simmer twenty minutes. Strain and skim off all the fat. Add the jelly and stir over the fire until it is melted. Serve with game.

BROWN SAUCE.

Delicious sauce for meats is made in this way: Slice a large onion and fry in butter till it is brown; then cover the onion with rich brown gravy, which is left from roast beef; add mustard, salt and pepper, and if you choose a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce; let this boil up, and if too thick, thin it with a little stock or gravy, or even a little hot water with butter. Pour this when done through a fine sieve. Of course a larger quantity can be prepared at once than is mentioned here.

MUSHROOM SAUCE.

Wash a pint of small button mushrooms, remove the stems and outside skins, stew them slowly in veal gravy or milk or cream, adding an onion, and seasoning with pepper, salt and a little butter rolled in flour. Their flavor will be heightened by salting a few the night before, to extract the juice. In dressing mushrooms only those of a dull pearl color on the outside and the under part tinged with pale pink should be selected. If there is a poisonous one among them, the onion in the sauce will turn black. In such a case throw the whole away. Used for poultry, beef or fish.

APPLE SAUCE.

When you wish to serve apple sauce with meat prepare it in this way: Cook the apples until they are very tender, then stir them thoroughly so there will be no lumps at all; add the sugar and a little gelatine dissolved in warm water, a tablespoonful in a pint of sauce; pour the sauce into bowls, and when cold it will be stiff like jelly, and can be turned out on a plate. Cranberry sauce can be treated in the same way. Many prefer this to plain stewing.

Apples cooked in the following way look very pretty on a tea-table, and are appreciated by the palate. Select firm, round greenings; pare neatly and cut in halves; place in a shallow stewpan with sufficient boiling water to cover them, and a cupful of sugar to every six apples. Each half should cook on the bottom of the pan, and be removed from the others so as not to injure its shape. Stew slowly until the pieces are very tender; remove to a dish carefully; boil the syrup half an hour longer; pour it over the apples and eat cold. A few pieces of lemon boiled in the syrup adds to the flavor. These sauces are a fine accompaniment to roast pork or roast goose.

CIDER APPLE SAUCE.

Boil four quarts of new cider until it is reduced to two quarts; then put into it enough pared and quartered apples to fill the kettle; let the whole stew over a moderate fire four hours; add cinnamon if liked. This sauce is very fine with almost any kind of meat.

OLD-FASHIONED APPLE SAUCE.

Pare and chop a dozen medium-sized apples, put them in a deep pudding-dish; sprinkle over them a heaping coffeecupful of sugar and one of water. Place them in the oven and bake slowly two hours or more, or until they are a deep red brown; quite as nice as preserves.

CRANBERRY SAUCE.

One quart of cranberries, two cupfuls of sugar and a pint of water. Wash the cranberries, then put them on the fire with the water, but in a covered saucepan. Let them simmer until each cranberry bursts open; then remove the cover of the saucepan, add the sugar and let them all boil twenty minutes without the cover. The cranberries must never be stirred from the time they are placed on the fire. This is an unfailing recipe for a most delicious preparation of cranberries. Very fine with turkey and game.

APPLE OMELET.

Apple omelet, to be served with broiled sparerib or roast pork, is very delicate. Take nine large, tart apples, four, eggs, one cup of sugar, one tablespoonful of butter; add cinnamon or other spices to suit your taste; stew the apples till they are very soft; mash them so that there will be no lumps; add the butter and sugar while they are still warm; but let them cool before putting in the beaten eggs; bake this till it is brown; you may put it all in a shallow pudding-dish or in two tin plates to bake. Very good.

FLAVORED VINEGARS.

Almost all the flavorings used for meats and salads may be prepared in vinegar with little trouble and expense, and will be found useful to impart an acid to flavors when lemons are not at hand.

Tarragon, sweet basil, burnet, green mint, sage, thyme, sweet marjoram, etc., may be prepared by putting three ounces of either of these herbs, when in blossom, into one gallon of sharp vinegar, let stand ten days, strain off clear, and bottle for use.

Celery and cayenne may be prepared, using three ounces of the seed as above.

CUCUMBER VINEGAR.

_Ingredients_.--Ten large cucumbers, or twelve smaller ones, one quart of vinegar, two onions, two shallots, one tablespoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of pepper, a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne.

_Mode_.--Pare and slice the cucumbers, put them in a stone jar, or wide-mouthed bottle, with the vinegar; slice the onions and shallots, and add them, with all the other ingredients, to the cucumbers. Let it stand four or five days; boil it all up, and when cold, strain the liquor through a piece of muslin, and store it away in small bottles well sealed. This vinegar is a very nice addition to gravies, hashes, etc., as well as a great improvement to salads, or to eat with cold meat.

CURRY POWDER.

To make curry powder, take one ounce of ginger, one ounce of mustard, one ounce of pepper, three ounces of coriander seed, three ounces of turmeric, half an ounce of cardamoms, one-quarter ounce of cayenne pepper, one-quarter ounce of cinnamon, and one-quarter ounce of cumin seed. Pound all these ingredients very fine in a mortar; sift them and cork tight in a bottle.

This can be had ready prepared at most druggists, and it is much less trouble to purchase it than to make it at home.

CURRY SAUCE.

One tablespoonful of butter, one of flour, one teaspoonful of curry powder, one large slice of onion, one large cupful of stock, salt and pepper to taste. Cut the onion fine, and fry brown in the butter. Add the flour and curry powder. Stir for one minute, add the stock and season with the salt and pepper. Simmer five minutes; then strain and serve. This sauce can be served with a broil or _sauté_ of meat or fish.

TO BROWN BUTTER.

Put a lump of butter into a hot frying pan and toss it about until it browns. Stir brown flour into it until it is smooth and begins to boil. Use it for coloring gravies, and sauces for meats.

TO BROWN FLOUR.

Spread flour upon a tin pie-plate, set it upon the stove or in a _very_ hot oven, and stir continually, after it begins to color, until it is brown all through.

Keep it always on hand; put away in glass jars covered closely. It is excellent for coloring and thickening many dishes.

TO MAKE MUSTARD.

Boil some vinegar; take four spoonfuls of mustard, half of a teaspoonful of sugar, a saltspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of melted butter; mix well.

FRENCH MUSTARD.

Three tablespoonfuls of mustard, one tablespoonful of granulated sugar, well worked together, then beat in an egg until it is smooth; add one teacupful of vinegar, a little at a time, working it all smooth; then set on the stove and cook three or four minutes, stirring all the time; when cool, add one tablespoonful of the best olive oil, taking care to get it all thoroughly worked in and smooth. You will find this very nice. _Mrs. D. Riegel_.

KITCHEN PEPPER.

Mix one ounce of ground ginger, half an ounce each of black pepper, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, one teaspoonful of ground cloves, and six ounces of salt. Keep in a tightly corked bottle. _The Caterer_.

PREPARED COCOANUT. (For Pies, Puddings, etc.)

To prepare cocoanut for future use, first cut a hole through the meat at one of the holes in the end, draw off the milk, then loosen the meat by pounding the nut well on all sides. Crack the nut and take out the meat, and place the pieces of meat in a cool open oven over night, or for a few hours, to dry; then grate it. If there is more grated than is needed for present use, sprinkle it with sugar, and spread out in a cool dry place. When dry enough put away in dry cans or bottles. Will keep for weeks.

SPICES.

Ginger is the root of a shrub first known in Asia, and now cultivated in the West Indies and Sierra Leone. The stem grows three or four feet high and dies every year. There are two varieties of ginger--the white and black--caused by taking more or less care in selecting and preparing the roots, which are always dug in winter, when the stems are withered. The white is the best.

_Cinnamon_ is the inner bark of a beautiful tree, a native of Ceylon, that grows from twenty to thirty feet in height and lives to be centuries old.

_Cloves_.--Native to the Molucca Islands, and so called from resemblance to a nail (_clavis_). The East Indians call them "changkek" from the Chinese "techengkia" (fragrant nails). They grow on a straight, smooth-barked tree, about forty feet high. Cloves are not fruits, but blossoms, gathered before they are quite unfolded.

_Allspice_.--A berry so called because it combines the flavor of several spices--grows abundantly on the allspice or bayberry tree; native of South America and the West Indies. A single tree has been known to produce one hundred and fifty pounds of berries. They are purple when ripe.

_Black pepper_ is made by grinding the dried berry of a climbing vine, native to the East Indies. White pepper is obtained from the same berries, freed from their husk or rind. Red or cayenne pepper is obtained by grinding the scarlet pod or seed-vessel of a tropical plant that is now cultivated in all parts of the world.

_Nutmeg_ is the kernel of a small, smooth, pear-shaped fruit that grows on a tree in the Molucca Islands, and other parts of the East. The trees commence bearing in the seventh year, and continue fruitful until they are seventy or eighty years old. Around the nutmeg or kernel is a bright, brown shell. This shell has a soft, scarlet covering, which, when flattened out and dried, is known as mace. The best nutmegs are solid, and emit oil when pricked with a pin.

HERBS FOR WINTER.

To prepare herbs for winter use, such as sage, summer savory, thyme, mint or any of the sweet herbs, they should be gathered fresh in their season, or procure them from the market. Examine them well, throwing out all poor sprigs; then wash and shake them; tie into small bundles, and tie over the bundles a piece of netting or old lace (to keep off the dust); hang up in a warm, dry place, the leaves downward. In a few days the herb will be thoroughly dry and brittle. Or you may place them in a cool oven and let them remain in it until perfectly dry. Then pick off all the leaves and the tender tops of the stems; put them in a clean, large-mouthed bottle that is perfectly dry. When wanted for use, rub fine, and sift through a sieve. It is much better to put them in bottles as soon as dried, as long exposure to the air causes them to lose strength and flavor.

MEATS AND THEIR ACCOMPANIMENTS.

With roast beef: tomato sauce, grated horse-radish, mustard, cranberry sauce, pickles.

With roast pork: apple sauce, cranberry sauce.

With roast veal: tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, onion sauce and cranberry sauce. Horse-radish and lemons are good.

With roast mutton: currant jelly, caper sauce.

With boiled mutton: onion sauce, caper sauce.

With boiled fowls: bread sauce, onion sauce, lemon sauce, cranberry sauce, jellies. Also cream sauce. With roast lamb: mint sauce.

With roast turkey: cranberry sauce, currant jelly. With boiled turkey: oyster sauce.

With venison or wild ducks: cranberry sauce, currant jelly, or currant jelly warmed with port wine.

With roast goose: apple sauce, cranberry sauce, grape or currant jelly.

With boiled fresh mackerel: stewed gooseberries.

With boiled blue fish: white cream sauce, lemon sauce.

With broiled shad: mushroom sauce, parsley or egg sauce.

With fresh salmon: green peas, cream sauce.

Pickles are good with all roast meats, and in fact are suitable accompaniments to all kinds of meats in general.

Spinach is the proper accompaniment to veal; green peas to lamb. Lemon juice makes a very grateful addition to nearly all the insipid members of the fish kingdom. Slices of lemon cut into very small dice and stirred into drawn butter and allowed to come to the boiling point, served with fowls, is a fine accompaniment.

VEGETABLES APPROPRIATE TO DIFFERENT DISHES.

Potatoes are good with all meats. With fowls they are nicest mashed. Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with roast meats, as also are onions, winter squash, cucumbers and asparagus.

Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens and cabbage are generally eaten with boiled meat, and corn, beets, peas and beans are appropriate to either boiled or roasted meat. Mashed turnip is good with roast pork and with boiled meats. Tomatoes are good with almost every kind of meats, especially with roasts.

WARM DISHES FOR BREAKFAST.

The following of hot breakfast dishes may be of assistance in knowing what to provide for the comfortable meal called breakfast.

Broiled beefsteak, broiled chops, broiled chicken, broiled fish, broiled quail on toast, fried pork tenderloins, fried pig's feet, fried oysters, fried clams, fried liver and bacon, fried chops, fried pork, ham and eggs fried, veal cutlets breaded, sausages, fricasseed tripe, fricasseed kidneys, turkey or chicken hash, corn beef hash, beef croquettes, codfish balls, creamed codfish, stewed meats on toast, poached eggs on toast, omelettes, eggs boiled plain, and eggs cooked in any of the various styles.

VEGETABLES FOR BREAKFAST.

Potatoes in any of the various modes of cooking, also stewed tomatoes, stewed corn, raw radishes, cucumbers sliced, tomatoes sliced raw, water cress, lettuce.

To be included with the breakfast dishes: oatmeal mush, cracked wheat, hominy or corn-meal mush, these with cream, milk and sugar or syrup.

Then numberless varieties of bread can be selected, in form of rolls, fritters, muffins, waffles, corn-cakes, griddle-cakes, etc., etc.

For beverages, coffee, chocolate and cocoa, or tea if one prefers it; these are all suitable for the breakfast table.

When obtainable always have a vase of choice flowers on the breakfast table; also some fresh fruit, if convenient.

SALADS.

Everything in the make-up of a salad should be of the freshest material, the vegetables crisp and fresh, the oil or butter the very best, meats, fowl and fish well cooked, pure cider or white wine vinegar--in fact, every ingredient first class, to insure success.

The vegetables used in salad are: Beet-root, onions, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, lentils, haricots, winter cress, peas, French beans, radish, cauliflower--all these may be used judiciously in salad, if properly seasoned, according to the following directions.

Chervil is a delicious salad herb, invariably found in all salads prepared by a French _gourmet_. No man can be a true epicure who is unfamiliar with this excellent herb. It may be procured from the vegetable stands at Fulton and Washington markets the year round. Its leaves resemble parsley, but are more divided, and a few of them added to a breakfast salad give a delightful flavor.

_Chervil Vinegar_.--A few drops of this vinegar added to fish sauces or salads is excellent, and well repays the little trouble taken in its preparation. Half fill a bottle with fresh or dry chervil leaves; fill the bottle with good vinegar and heat it gently by placing it in warm water, which bring to boiling point; remove from the fire; when cool cork, and in two weeks it will be ready for use.

MAYONNAISE DRESSING.

Put the yolks of four fresh raw eggs, with two hard-boiled ones, into a cold bowl. Rub these as smooth as possible before introducing the oil; a good measure of oil is a tablespoonful to each yolk of raw egg. All the art consists in introducing the oil by degrees, a few drops at a time. You can never make a good salad without taking plenty of time. When the oil is well mixed, and assumes the appearance of jelly, put in two heaping teaspoonfuls of dry table salt, one of pepper and one of made mustard. Never put in salt and pepper before this stage of the process, because the salt and pepper would coagulate the albumen of the eggs, and you could not get the dressing smooth. Two tablespoonfuls of vinegar added gradually.

The _Mayonnaise_ should be the thickness of thick cream when finished, but if it looks like curdling when mixing it, set in the ice-box or in a _cold_ place for about forty minutes or an hour, then mix it again. It is a good idea to place it in a pan of cracked ice while mixing.

For lobster salad, use the _coral_, mashed and pressed through a sieve, then add to the above.

Salad dressing should be kept in a separate bowl in a cold, place, and not mixed with the salad until the moment it is to be served, or it may lose its crispness and freshness.

DRESSING FOR COLD SLAW. (Cabbage Salad.)

Beat up two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of sugar, add a piece of butter the size of half an egg, a teaspoonful of mustard, a little pepper, and lastly a teacup of vinegar. Put all of these ingredients into a dish over the fire and cook like a soft custard. Some think it improved by adding half a cupful of thick sweet cream to this dressing; in that case use less vinegar. Either way is very fine.

SALAD CREAM DRESSING. No. 1.

One cup fresh cream, one spoonful fine flour, the whites of two eggs beaten stiff, three spoonfuls of vinegar, two spoonfuls of salad oil or soft butter, two spoonfuls of powdered sugar, one teaspoonful salt, one-half teaspoonful pepper, one teaspoonful of made mustard. Heat cream almost to boiling; stir in the flour, previously wet with cold milk; boil two minutes, stirring all the time; add sugar and take from fire. When half cold, beat in whipped whites of egg; set aside to cool. When quite cold, whip in the oil or butter, pepper, mustard and salt; if the salad is ready, add vinegar and pour at once over it.

CREAM DRESSING. No. 2.

Two tablespoonfuls of whipped sweet cream, two of sugar and four of vinegar; beat well and pour over the cabbage, previously cut very fine and seasoned with salt.

FRENCH SALAD DRESSING.

Mix one saltspoon of pepper with one of salt; add three tablespoonfuls of olive oil and one even tablespoonful of onion scraped fine; then one tablespoonful of vinegar; when well mixed, pour the mixture over your salad and stir all till well mingled.

The merit of a salad is that it should be cool, fresh and crisp. For vegetables use only the delicate white stalks of celery, the small heart-leaves of lettuce; or tenderest stalks and leaves of the white cabbage. Keep the vegetable portion crisp and fresh until the time for serving, when add the meat. For chicken and fish salads use the "Mayonnaise dressing." For simple vegetable salads the French dressing is most appropriate, using onion rather than garlic.

MIXED SUMMER SALAD.

Three heads of lettuce, two teaspoonfuls of green mustard leaves, a handful of water cresses, five tender radishes, one cucumber, three hard-boiled eggs, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of made mustard, one teacupful of vinegar, half a teacupful of oil.

Mix all well together, and serve with a lump of ice in the middle.

"_Common Sense in the Household_."

CHICKEN SALAD.

Boil the fowls tender and remove all the fat, gristle and skin; mince the meat in small pieces, but do not hash it. To one chicken put twice and a half its weight in celery, cut in pieces of about one-quarter of an inch; mix thoroughly and set it in a cool place--the ice chest.

In the meantime prepare a "Mayonnaise dressing," and when ready for the table pour this dressing over the chicken and celery, tossing and mixing it thoroughly. Set it in a cool place until ready to serve. Garnish with celery tips, or cold hard-boiled eggs, lettuce leaves, from the heart, cold boiled beets or capers, olives.

Crisp cabbage is a good substitute for celery; when celery is not to be had use celery vinegar in the dressing. Turkey makes a fine salad.

LOBSTER SALAD. No. 1.

Prepare a sauce with the _coral_ of a fine, new lobster, boiled fresh for about half an hour. Pound and rub it smooth, and mix very gradually with a dressing made from the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, a tablespoonful of made mustard, three of salad oil, two of vinegar, one of white powdered sugar, a small teaspoonful of salt, as much black pepper, a pinch of cayenne and yolks of two fresh eggs. Next fill your salad bowl with some shred lettuce, the better part of two leaving the small curled centre to garnish your dish with. Mingle with this the flesh of your lobster, torn, broken or cut into bits seasoned with salt and pepper and a small portion of the dressing. Pour over the whole the rest of the dressing; put your lettuce-hearts down the centre and arrange upon the sides slices of hard-boiled eggs.

LOBSTER SALAD. No. 2.