Part 26

Make a batter in the proportion of one cup sweet milk to two cups flour, a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder, two eggs beaten separately, one tablespoonful of sugar and a saltspoon of salt; heat the milk a little more than milk-warm, add it slowly to the beaten yolks and sugar; then add flour and whites of the eggs; stir all together and throw in thin slices of good sour apples, dipping the batter up over them; drop into boiling hot lard in large spoonfuls with pieces of apple in each, and fry to a light brown. Serve with maple syrup, or a nice syrup made with clarified sugar.

Bananas, peaches, sliced oranges and other fruits can be used in the same batter.

PINEAPPLE FRITTERS.

Make a batter as for apple fritters; then pare one large pineapple, cut it in slices a quarter of an inch thick, cut the slices in halves, dip them into the batter and fry them, and serve them as above.

PEACH FRITTERS.

Peel the peaches, split each in two and take out the stones; dust a little powdered sugar over them; dip each piece in the batter and fry in hot fat. A sauce to be served with them may be made as follows: Put an ounce of butter in a saucepan and whisk it to a cream; add four ounces of sugar gradually. Beat the yolks of two eggs; add to them a dash of nutmeg and a gill each of cold water and rum; stir this into the luke-warm batter and allow it to heat gradually. Stir constantly until of a smooth, creamy consistency, and serve. The batter is made as follows: Beat the yolks of three eggs; add to them a gill of milk, or half of a cupful, a saltspoonful of salt, four ounces of flour; mix. If old flour is used a little more milk may be found necessary.

GOLDEN-BALL FRITTERS.

Put into a stewpan a pint of water, a piece of butter as large as an egg and a tablespoonful of sugar. When it boils stir into it one pint of sifted flour, stirring briskly and thoroughly. Remove from the fire, and when nearly cooled beat into it six eggs, each one beaten separately and added one at a time, beating the batter between each. Drop the stiff dough into boiling lard by teaspoonfuls. Eat with syrup, or melted sugar and butter flavored.

Stirring the boiling lard around and around, so that it whirls when you drop in the fritters, causes them to assume a round shape like balls.

CANNELONS, OR FRIED PUFFS.

Half a pound of puff paste, apricot or any kind of preserve that may be preferred, hot lard.

Cannelons, which are made of puff paste rolled very thin, with jam enclosed, and cut out in long, narrow rolls or puffs, make a very pretty and elegant dish. Make some good puff paste, roll it out very thin, and cut it into pieces of an equal size, about two inches wide and eight inches long; place upon each piece a spoonful of jam, wet the edges with the white of egg and fold the paste over _twice_; slightly press the edges together, that the jam may not escape in the frying, and when all are prepared, fry them in boiling lard until of a nice brown, letting them remain by the side of the fire after they are colored, that the paste may be thoroughly done. Drain them before the fire, dish on a d'oyley, sprinkle over them sifted sugar and serve. These cannelons are very delicious made with fresh instead of preserved fruit, such as strawberries, raspberries or currants; they should be laid in the paste, plenty of pounded sugar sprinkled over and folded and fried in the same manner as stated above.

GERMAN FRITTERS.

Take slices of stale bread cut in rounds or stale cake; fry them in hot lard, like crullers, to a _light_ brown. Dip each slice when fried in boiling milk, to remove the grease; drain quickly, dust with powdered sugar or spread with preserves. Pile on a hot plate and serve. Sweet wine sauce poured over them is very nice.

HOMINY FRITTERS.

Take one pint of hot boiled hominy, two eggs, half a teaspoonful of salt and a tablespoonful of flour; thin it a little with cold milk; when cold add a teaspoonful of baking powder, mix thoroughly, drop tablespoonfuls of it into hot fat and fry to a delicate brown.

PARSNIP FRITTERS.

Take three or four good-sized parsnips. Boil them until tender. Mash and season with a little butter, a pinch of salt and a slight sprinkling of pepper. Have ready a plate with some sifted flour on it. Drop a tablespoonful of the parsnip in the flour and roll it about until well coated and formed into a ball. When you have a sufficient number ready, drop them into boiling drippings or lard, as you would a fritter; fry a delicate brown and serve hot. Do not put them in a covered dish, for that would steam them and deprive them of their crispness, which is one of their great charms.

These are also very good fried in a frying pan with a small quantity of lard and butter mixed, turning them over so as to fry both sides brown.

GREEN CORN FRITTERS.

One pint of grated, young and tender, green corn, three eggs, two tablespoonfuls of milk or cream, one tablespoonful of melted butter, if milk is used, a teaspoonful of salt. Beat the eggs well, add the corn by degrees, also the milk and butter; thicken with just enough flour to hold them together, adding a teaspoonful of baking powder to the flour. Have ready a kettle of hot lard, drop the corn from the spoon into the fat and fry a light brown. They are also nice fried in butter and lard mixed, the same as fried eggs.

CREAM SHORT-CAKE.

Sift one quart of fine white flour, rub into it three tablespoonfuls of cold butter, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of white sugar. Add a beaten egg to a cup of sour cream, turn it into the other ingredients, dissolve a teaspoonful of soda in a spoonful of water, mix all together, handling as little as possible; roll lightly into two round sheets, place on pie-tins and bake from twenty to twenty-five minutes in a quick oven.

This crust is delicious for fruit short-cake.

STRAWBERRY SHORT-CAKE.

Make a rule of baking powder biscuit, with the exception of a little more shortening; divide the dough in half; lay one-half on the molding board (half the dough makes one short-cake), divide this half again, and roll each piece large enough to cover a biscuit-tin, or a large sized pie-tin; spread soft butter over the lower one and place the other on top of that; proceed with the other lump of dough the same, by cutting it in halves, and putting on another tin. Set them in the oven; when sufficiently baked take them out, separate each one by running a large knife through where the cold soft butter was spread. Then butter plentifully each crust, lay the bottom of each on earthen platters or dining-plates; cover thickly with a quart of strawberries that have been previously prepared with sugar, lay the top crusts on the fruit. If there is any juice left pour it around the cake. This makes a delicious short-cake.

Peaches, raspberries, blackberries and huckleberries can be substituted for strawberries. Always send to the table with a pitcher of sweet cream.

ORANGE SHORT-CAKE.

Peel two large oranges, chop them fine, remove the seeds, add half a peeled lemon and one cup of sugar. Spread between the layers of short-cake while it is hot.

[Illustration: ICING THE CAKES.]

LEMON SHORT-CAKE.

Make a rich biscuit dough, same as above recipe. While baking, take a cup and a quarter of water, a cup and a half of sugar, and two lemons, peel, juice and pulp, throwing away the tough part of the rind; boil this for some little time; then stir in three crackers rolled fine; split the short-cakes while hot, spread with butter, then with the mixture. To be eaten warm.

HUCKLEBERRY SHORT-CAKE.

Two cupfuls of sugar, half a cupful of butter, one pint of sweet milk, one tablespoonful of salt, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder sifted into a quart of flour, or enough to form a thick batter; add a quart of the huckleberries; to be baked in a dripper; cut into squares for the table and served hot with butter. Blackberries may be used the same.

FRIED DINNER-ROLLS.

When making light raised bread, save out a piece of dough nearly the size of a small loaf. Roll it out on the board, spread a tablespoonful of melted butter over it. Dissolve a quarter of a teaspoonful of soda in a tablespoonful of water and pour that also over it; work it all well into the dough, roll it out into a sheet not quite half an inch thick. Cut it in strips three inches long and one inch wide. Lay them on buttered tins, cover with a cloth and set away in a cool place until an hour before dinner time; then set them by the fire where they will become light. While they are rising, add to a frying-pan a tablespoonful of cold butter and one of lard; When it boils clear and is _hot_, lay as many of the rolls in as will fry nicely. As soon as they brown on one side turn them over and brown the other; then turn them on the edges and brown the sides. Add fresh grease as is needed. Eat them warm in place of bread. Nice with warm meat dinner.

NEWPORT BREAKFAST-CAKES.

Take one quart of dough from the bread at an early hour in the morning; break three eggs, separating yolks and whites, both to be whipped to a light froth; mix them into the dough and gradually add two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, one of sugar, one teaspoonful of soda, and enough warm milk with it until it is a batter the consistency of buckwheat cakes; beat it well and let it rise until breakfast time. Have the griddle hot and nicely greased, pour on the batter in small round cakes and bake a light brown, the same as any griddle cake.

PUFF BALLS.

To a piece of butter as large as an egg stirred until soft; add three well-beaten eggs, a pinch of salt and half a teacupful of sour cream. Stir well together, then add enough flour to make a very thick batter. Drop a spoonful of this into boiling water. Cook until the puffs rise to the surface. Dish them hot with melted butter turned over them. Nice accompaniment to a meat dinner as a side-dish--similar to plain macaroni.

BREAKFAST PUFFS.

Two cups of sour milk, one teaspoonful of soda, one teaspoonful of salt, one egg and flour enough to roll out like biscuit dough. Cut into narrow strips an inch wide and three inches long, fry brown in hot lard like doughnuts. Serve hot; excellent with coffee. Or fry in a spider with an ounce each of lard and butter, turning and browning all four of the sides.

ENGLISH CRUMPETS.

One quart of warm milk, half a cup of yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, flour enough to make a stiff batter; when light, add half a cupful of melted butter, a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little water and a very little more flour; let it stand twenty minutes or until light. Grease some muffin-rings, place them on a hot griddle and fill them half full of the batter; when done on one side turn and bake the other side. Butted them while hot; pile one on another and serve immediately.

PLAIN CRUMPETS.

Mix together thoroughly while dry one quart of sifted flour, loosely measured, two heaping teaspoonfuls baking powder and a little salt; then add two tablespoonfuls of melted butter and sweet milk enough to make a thin dough. Bake quickly in muffin-rings or patty-pans.

PREPARED BREAD CRUMBS.

Take pieces of stale bread, break them in small bits, put them on a baking pan and place them in a moderate oven, watching closely that they do not scorch; then take them while hot and crisp and roll them, crushing them. Sift them, using the fine crumbs for breading cutlets, fish, croquettes, etc. The coarse ones may be used for puddings, pancakes, etc.

CRACKERS.

Sift into a pint of flour a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder, four tablespoonfuls of melted butter, half a teaspoonful salt and the white of an egg beaten and one cup of milk; mix it with more flour, enough to make a very stiff dough, as stiff as can be rolled out; pounded and kneaded a long time. Roll very thin like pie crust and cut out either round or square. Bake a light brown.

Stale crackers are made crisp and better by placing them in the oven a few moments before they are needed for the table.

FRENCH CRACKERS.

Six eggs, twelve tablespoonfuls of sweet milk, six tablespoonfuls of butter, half a teaspoonful of soda; mold with flour, pounding and working half an hour; roll it thin. Bake with rather quick fire.

CORN MEAL MUSH OR HASTY PUDDING.

Put two quarts of water into a clean dinner-pot or stewpan, cover it and let it become boiling hot over the fire; then add a tablespoonful of salt, take off the light scum from the top, have sweet, fresh yellow or white corn meal; take a handful of the meal with the left hand and a pudding-stick in the right, then with the stick, stir the water around and by degrees let fall the meal; when one handful is exhausted, refill it; continue to stir and add meal until it is as thick as you can stir easily, or until the stick will stand in it; stir it awhile longer; let the fire be gentle; when it is sufficiently cooked, which will be in half an hour, it will bubble or puff up; turn it into a deep basin. This is eaten cold or hot, with milk or with butter and syrup or sugar, or with meat and gravy, the same as potatoes or rice.

FRIED MUSH.

Make it like the above recipe, turn it into bread tins and when cold slice it, dip each piece in flour and fry it in lard and butter mixed in the frying pan, turning to brown well both sides. Must be served hot.

GRAHAM MUSH.

Sift Graham meal slowly into boiling salted water, stirring briskly until thick as can be stirred with one hand; serve with milk or cream and sugar, or butter and syrup. It will be improved by removing from the kettle to a pan, as soon as thoroughly mixed, and steaming three or four hours. It may also be eaten cold, or sliced and fried, like corn meal mush.

OATMEAL.

Soak one cup of oatmeal in a quart of water over night, boil half an hour in the morning, salted to taste. It is better to cook it in a dish set into a dish of boiling water.

RICE CROQUETTES.

Boil for thirty minutes one cup of well-washed rice in a pint of milk; whip into the hot rice the following ingredients: Two ounces of butter, two ounces of sugar, some salt, and when slightly cool add the yolks of two eggs well beaten; if too stiff pour in a little more milk; when cold, roll into small balls and dip in beaten eggs, roll in fine cracker or bread crumbs, and fry same as doughnuts. Or they may be fried in the frying pan, with a tablespoonful each of butter and lard mixed, turning and frying both sides brown. Serve very hot.

HOMINY.

This form of cereal is very little known and consequently little appreciated in most Northern households. "Big hominy" and "little hominy," as they are called in the South, are staple dishes there and generally take the place of oatmeal, which is apt to be too heating for the climate. The former is called "samp" here. It must be boiled for at least eight hours to be properly cooked, and may then be kept on hand for two or three days and warmed over, made into croquettes or balls, or fried in cakes. The fine hominy takes two or three hours for proper cooking, and should be cooked in a dish set into another of boiling water, and kept steadily boiling until thoroughly soft.

HOMINY CROQUETTES.

To a cupful of cold boiled hominy, add a teaspoonful of melted butter, and stir it well, adding by degrees a cupful of milk, till all is made into a soft, light paste; add a teaspoonful of white sugar, a pinch of salt, and one well-beaten egg. Roll it into oval balls with floured hands, dipped in beaten egg, then rolled in cracker crumbs, and fry in hot lard.

The hominy is best boiled the day or morning before using.

BOILED RICE.

Take half or quarter of a pound of the best quality of rice; wash it in a strainer, and put it in a saucepan, with a quart of clean water and a pinch of salt; let it boil slowly till the water is all evaporated--see that it does not burn--then pour in a teacupful of new milk; stir carefully from the bottom of the saucepan, so that the upper grain may go under, but do not smash it; close the lid on your saucepan carefully down, and set it on a cooler part of the fire, where it will not boil; as soon as it has absorbed the added milk, serve it up with fresh new milk, adding fruit and sugar for those who like them.

Another nice way to cook rice is to take one teacupful of rice and one quart of milk, place in a steamer, and steam from two to three hours; when nearly done, stir in a piece of butter as large as the yolk of an egg, and a pinch of salt. You can use sugar if you like. The difference in the time of cooking depends on your rice--the older the rice, the longer it takes to cook.

SAMP, OR HULLED CORN.

An old-fashioned way of preparing hulled corn was to put a peck of old, dry, ripe corn into a pot filled with water, and with it a bag of hardwood ashes, say a quart. After soaking a while it was boiled until the skins or hulls came off easily. The corn was then washed in cold water to get rid of the taste of potash, and then boiled until the kernels were soft. Another way was to take the lye from the leaches where potash was made, dilute it, and boil the corn in this until the skins or hulls came off. It makes a delicious dish, eaten with milk or cream.

CRACKED WHEAT.

Soak the wheat over night in cold water, about a quart of water to a cup of wheat; cook it as directed for oatmeal; should be thoroughly done. Eaten with sugar and cream.

OAT FLAKES.

This healthful oat preparation may be procured from the leading grocers and is prepared as follows: Put into a double saucepan or porcelain-lined pan a quart of boiling water, add a saltspoonful of salt, and when it is boiling add, or rather stir in gradually, three ounces of flakes. Keep stirring to prevent burning. Let it boil from fifteen to twenty minutes and serve with cream and sugar.

Ordinarily oatmeal requires two hours' steady cooking to make it palatable and digestible. Wheaten grits and hominy one hour, but a half hour longer cooking will not injure them and makes them easier of digestion. Never be afraid of cooking cereals or preparations from cereals too long, no matter what the directions on the package may be.

STEAMED OATMEAL.

To one teacupful oatmeal add a quart of cold water, a teaspoonful of salt; put in a steamer over a kettle of cold water, gradually heat and steam an hour and a half after it begins to cook.

HOMINY.

Hominy is a preparation of Indian corn, broken or ground, either large or small, and is an excellent breakfast dish in winter or summer. Wash the hominy thoroughly in on 3 or two waters, then cover it with twice its depth of cold water and let it come to a boil slowly. If it be the large hominy, simmer six hours; if the small hominy, simmer two hours. When the water evaporates add hot water; when done it may be eaten with cream, or allowed to become cold and warmed up in the frying pan, using a little butter to prevent burning.

TOAST.

Toast should be made of stale bread, or at least of bread that has been baked a day. Cut smoothly in slices, not more than half an inch thick; if the crust is baked very hard, trim the edges and brown very evenly, but if it happens to burn, that should be scraped off. Toast that is to be served with anything turned over it, should have the slices first dipped quickly in a dish of hot water turned from the boiling tea-kettle, with a little salt thrown in. Cold biscuits cut in halves, and the under crust sliced off, then browned evenly on both sides, make equally as good toast. The following preparations of toast are almost all of them very nice dishes, served with a family breakfast.

MILK TOAST.

Put over the fire a quart of milk, put into it a tablespoonful of cold butter, stir a heaping teaspoonful of flour into half a gill of milk; as soon as the milk on the fire boils, stir in the flour, add a teaspoonful of salt; let all boil up once, remove from the fire, and dip in this slices of toasted bread. When all are used up, pour what is left of the scalded milk over the toast. Cover and send to the table hot.

CREAM TOAST.

Heat a pint of milk to boiling and add a piece of butter the size of an egg; stir a tablespoonful of flour smoothly into a cup of rich cream, and add some of the boiling milk to this; heat it gradually and prevent the flour from lumping; then stir into the boiling milk and let it cook a few moments; salt to taste. After taking from the fire stir in a beaten egg; strain the mixture on to toast lightly buttered.

AMERICAN TOAST.

To one egg thoroughly beaten, put one cup of sweet milk and a little salt. Slice light bread and dip into the mixture, allowing each slice to absorb some of the milk; then brown on a hot buttered griddle or thick-bottomed frying pan; spread with butter and serve hot.

NUNS' TOAST.

Cut four or five hard-boiled eggs into slices. Put a piece of butter half the size of an egg into a saucepan and when it begins to bubble add a finely chopped onion. Let the onion cook a little without taking color, then stir in a teaspoonful of flour. Add a cupful of milk and stir until it becomes smooth; then put in the slices of eggs and let them get hot. Pour over neatly trimmed slices of hot buttered toast. The sauce must be seasoned to taste with pepper and salt.

CHEESE TOAST. No. 1.

Toast thin slices of bread an even, crisp brown. Place on a warm plate, allowing one small slice to each person, and pour on enough melted cheese to cover them. Rich new cheese is best. Serve while warm. Many prefer a little prepared mustard spread over the toast before putting on the cheese.

CHEESE TOAST. No. 2.