Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers Part 12

Mush, Mush Cakes, and Fried Mush.

Mush will keep for several days in cool weather; the best way of making it is to have a pot of boiling water, and stir in corn meal, mixed with water, and salt enough to season the whole; let it boil, and if it is not thick enough you can add more meal; keep stirring all the time to prevent it from being lumpy. It should boil an hour.

To make the cakes, take a quart of cold mush, mix in it half a pint of wheat flour, and a little b.u.t.ter or lard, make it out in little cakes with your hands, flour them and bake them on a griddle or in a dripping pan. Fried mush is a good plain dessert, eaten with sugar and cream. Cut the cold mush in slices, half an inch thick, or make them into small cakes, dip them in flour, and fry them in hot lard.

Journey Cake.

Pour boiling water on a quart of meal, put in a little lard and salt, and mix it well, have an oak board with a rim of iron at the bottom, and an iron handle fastened to it that will prop it up to the fire; put some of the dough, on it, dip your hand in cold water and smooth it over; score it with a knife, and set it before coals to bake.

Corn Batter Cakes.

Take a quart of good milk, three eggs, a little salt, and as much sifted corn meal as will make a thin batter; beat all well together, with a spoonful of wheat flour to keep them from breaking, bake in small cakes, keep them hot, and b.u.t.ter just as you send to table. Another way to make corn batter cakes, is to take a quart of corn meal, two eggs, a small lump of b.u.t.ter or lard, and mix it up with milk, or half water, if milk is scarce, and bake them either thin or thick.

Rice Cakes.

Take a pint of soft boiled rice, a pint of milk, a little salt, and as much corn meal as will make a thin batter with two eggs; beat all together, and bake as corn batter cakes, or make it thicker and bake it in a pan.

Corn Bannock.

To one quart of sour milk, put a tea-spoonful of salaeratus, dissolved in water; warm the milk slightly, beat up an egg, and put in corn meal enough to make it as thick as pudding batter, and some salt; grease a pan and bake it, or you may put it in six or eight saucers.

Virginia Pone.

Beat three eggs, and stir them in a quart of milk, with a little salt, a spoonful of melted b.u.t.ter, and as much sifted corn meal as will make it as thick as corn batter cakes; grease the pans and bake quick.

Lightened Pone.

Take half a gallon of corn meal, and pour boiling water on one-third of it; mix it together with warm water till it is a thick batter; put in two table-spoonsful of lively yeast, and one of salt; stir it well and set it by the fire to rise; when it begins to open on the top, grease the dutch-oven and put it to bake, or bake it in a pan in a stove.

Cold Water Pone.

Make a stiff batter with a quart of Indian meal, cold water and a little salt; work it well with the hand; grease a pan or oven, and bake it three-quarters of an hour. Eat it hot at dinner, or with milk at supper.

Indian Bread with b.u.t.ter-milk.

To one quart of b.u.t.ter-milk, slightly warmed, put a tea-spoonful of salaeratus, dissolved in water, two eggs, well beaten, a table-spoonful of melted b.u.t.ter or lard, a little salt; stir in with a spoon as much Indian meal as will make a thick batter; beat it for a few minutes, grease your pans, and bake quickly. If you bake this quant.i.ty in two pans, a half hour will be sufficient, or if in one, it will take an hour. Look at it often while baking, as it is liable to burn. An excellent recipe.

Little Indian Cakes.

Put a spoonful of lard in a quart of meal, and two tea-spoonsful of salt, pour boiling water on half the meal, stir it; then add as much cold water as will enable you to make it out in cakes of a convenient size, bake on the bake-iron over the fire.

Maryland Corn Cakes.

Mix a pint of corn meal with rich milk, a little salt, and an egg, it should be well beaten with a spoon, and made thin enough to pour on the iron; take in cakes the size of a breakfast plate; b.u.t.ter and send them hot to table.

A Virginia Hoe Cake.

Pour warm water on a quart of Indian meal, stir in a spoonful of lard or b.u.t.ter, some salt, make it stiff, and work it for ten minutes, have a board about the size of a barrel head, (or the middle piece of the head will answer,) wet the board with water, and spread on the dough with your hand, place it before the fire, prop it aslant with a flat-iron, bake it slowly, when one side is nicely brown, take it up and turn it, by running a thread between the cake and the board, then put it back, and let the other side brown. These cakes used to be baked in Virginia on a large iron hoe, from whence they derive their name.

Batter Bread with Yeast.

Rub a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg, into a quart of com meal, add a little salt, make it in a batter with two eggs and some new milk, add a spoonful of yeast, set it by the fire an hour to rise, b.u.t.ter little pans, and bake with a quick heat.

Carolina Corn Rolls.

Take a pint of corn meal; pour over it sufficient boiling water to make a very stiff dough, then add a table-spoonful of salt, and permit it to stand until about milk-warm; work it well with the hand, then make out the rolls, of an oblong shape, and bake them from half to three-quarters of an hour, according to their size. The addition of a small lump of b.u.t.ter or lard is an improvement. If they are rightly made, they will split on the top in baking, and can be eaten by those who cannot partake of other preparations made of corn flour.

Mixed Bread.

Put a little salt, and a spoonful of yeast, into a quart of flour; make it sufficiently soft with corn meal gruel; let it rise; bake in a mould.

New England Hasty Pudding, or Stir-about.

Boil three quarts of water in an iron pot; mix a pint of Indian meal in cold water, and make it thin enough to pour easily; when the water boils, pour it in; stir well with a wooden stick kept for the purpose; it takes about an hour to boil; salt to your taste; stir in dry meal to make it thick enough, beating it all the time. Eat it with milk or mola.s.ses, or b.u.t.ter and sugar. This is said to be a wholesome diet for dyspeptic patients, and makes a good meal for children.

Corn m.u.f.fins.

Warm three pints of milk, and stir into it as much corn meal as will make it as thick as pudding batter, add two handsful of wheat flour, two tea-spoonsful of salt, three eggs, and a tea-cup of yeast. Beat the whole well together, and let it rise about six hours, when bake as other m.u.f.fins.

Soaked Crackers for Tea.

Pour boiling water on crackers, put in some b.u.t.ter and a little salt; cover them close and keep them warm till tea is ready; if you have milk, boil it, and pour over instead of water. This is easily prepared.

PIES, PUDDINGS, CAKES, &c.