The Century Cook Book Part 49

Buy one and a quarter pounds of leg of veal at ten cents a pound; cut the meat into dice, and place it in a stew-pan with a piece of mace and a pint of milk. Place it back of the fire so that it will not burn, and thicken it before serving with a teaspoonful of flour.

_Stuffed Potatoes._--Bake four large potatoes until nearly done; then cut in half, remove the insides, beat them up with milk, replace in the skins, and serve in a pyramid.

_Purified Cabbage._--Cut a cabbage into thin strips as if for salad; boil it in salted water, but every time the water comes to the boiling point throw it away for three successive times; after the third boiling use milk instead of water, and add a little nutmeg. If nicely cooked in this way, cabbage is as palatable and as digestible as cauliflower.

=DINNER No. 3=

STEWED CARROTS, CHOPS WITH PARSLEY SAUCE, CREAM POTATOES, APPLE DUMPLINGS

Chops cut from the shoulder of mutton are cheaper than either neck or loin chops, and are as good, perhaps better, for boiling. Put the chops on in enough cold water to cover them; let them simmer for half an hour, and at the end of that time come just to a boil; pour off the liquor into the stock-pot, and lay the chops on a hot dish; make some white sauce of one ounce of b.u.t.ter, one teaspoonful of flour, and a cup of milk; add chopped parsley, and pour over the chops.

To stew carrots cut them in very thin rounds, lay them in a stew-pan with enough water to more than cover. Let them boil till tender, about one quarter of an hour; then thicken the liquor with flour, and add a tiny bit of b.u.t.ter.

=DINNER No. 4=

BOILED ONIONS, CURRY, RICE, STEWED PRUNES

Curry can be made of a variety of materials. The best for the purpose are the white meats, veal, pork, or chicken; and although curried cooked meat is a satisfactory subst.i.tute for hash, it is not on the whole commendable. The Indian receipt for ordinary curry is as follows:

Cut the fowl or meat into joints or fair-sized pieces; dip each piece in curry powder, or sprinkle freely with it; cut up a large onion, and have a clove of garlic. Put all together in a frying-pan, the bottom of which is covered with melted b.u.t.ter (drippings or lard will do); fry until thoroughly brown, turning continually. When brown, remove meat into a stew-pan; make a gravy with flour and water (or stock) in the frying-pan from which the meat was taken; strain it over the meat, and then add a few drops of lemon, or a little Worcester sauce--and set the stew-pan on the side of the stove and let it simmer for two hours. The meat should be so tender that it can be readily separated by a fork. A knife should never be used. Eggs make a delicious curry. Boil them hard, sh.e.l.l, and cut in halves; make a curry gravy as above, and pour over them. Serve with rice around the dish.

_Rice._--The proper way to serve rice with curry is perfectly dry, and this is best secured by throwing a cupful (for an ordinary dish) into water which is already boiling hard. Let it continue to boil rapidly until the water has all boiled away, leaving the lid off. The rice will then be almost tender, and by removing to the side of the stove the evaporation will continue, and the rice drying off will be easily separable grain from grain, which is the proper way. The success of this method depends upon having plenty of water in the first instance.

_Madras_ curry is differently made, and is served dry. For it, proceed as for the other curry by frying all the ingredients together in b.u.t.ter or drippings, but when brown continue to fry until the meat is done; then at the last moment add a sprinkling of curry powder, shake the pan, and turn all the contents onto a hot dish. Serve with rice.

=DINNER No. 5=

BRUSSELS SPROUTS, LIVER SAUTe, POTATOES, RICE PUDDING

Calf's liver can be so cooked as to be both delicate and easily digested. The German method is a very good one. Remove any outer skin, and cut the liver into very thin slices. Have a pan with salted boiling water and throw in the liver. It will require only about five minutes'

cooking if the slices are thin enough. Take them out, lay them on a hot dish, and make a gravy by frying a cut-up onion and when brown pouring in the liquor used to boil the liver, thickening with flour and browning if necessary. Add at the last moment one half a large spoonful of vinegar.

Liver b.a.l.l.s may be made by using the liver left over, chopping it very fine with an onion, some sage, or thyme (as may be preferred), bread-crumbs and a beaten egg, and frying in hot lard.

Liver should be accompanied by a green vegetable, for which reason Brussels sprouts are suggested. They should be cooked in salted water, drained, and served with white sauce, flavored with nutmeg.

=DINNER No. 6=

FRIED SWEET POTATOES, BREAST OF MUTTON, CAPER SAUCE, STRING-BEANS (TEN CENTS A CAN), APPLE PIE

Breast of mutton is the cheapest of all mutton, and being very fat, is considered unprofitable, but by care it can be made both palatable and economical. Buy about three pounds of breast; place it in a pan over a slow fire until a good deal of the fat has melted, but avoid letting it brown; pour away the fat as it melts, and when fairly free of it place the meat in a stew-pan with an onion cut up, and enough water to cover it, and a little thyme. Let it cook very slowly, only simmering for two hours; then lay on a hot dish, and pour caper sauce over it. If it is still fat skim often while simmering.

=SOME CHEAP SOUPS=

_Tomato._--Turn a can of tomatoes into a stew-pan, and let come to a boil; fry some bread in dice, place them at the bottom of a soup tureen, and rub the tomatoes through a colander over them; put the pulp left in the colander back into the stewpan; add water, let it boil up, and strain again into the tureen; stir in a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter, season with pepper and salt, and serve.

_Carrot._--Boil half a dozen large carrots until quite tender; then rub them through a colander into a saucepan; add a pint and a half of water to the pulp, and boil; thicken with a little flour, and add a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt.

_Potato._--Boil half a dozen large potatoes; rub them through a sieve (coa.r.s.e hair is the best) into a saucepan in which there have been placed a shredded onion, some chopped parsley, and about a cupful of milk. Stir in the potato pulp, and thin with water. Season with pepper and salt.

_Bean._--Soak some beans over night, boil for one hour; add an onion when nearly soft, rub them through a colander into a tureen in which have been already placed some onions fried in b.u.t.ter or lard, and add water if too thick.

_Celery._--Take the cast-off leaves and hard ends of a bunch of celery, and let them boil until perfectly shredded; then strain the water into some thickened milk, and let it all come to the boiling point, but not boil. Season with b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt. It is a very good addition to this soup to break an egg into the tureen, and pour the soup upon it.

Stock can be used in any of these soups instead of water.

PART III

MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS

=STERILIZED MILK=

The subject of bacteria in foods has of late become a matter of careful scientific study, and the fact has been established that milk is one of the most subtle of disease-carriers. Hence every careful mother, before giving it to her children, subjects it to the sterilizing process, which is simply raising it to the degree of heat which destroys the germs. It is found, however, that this does not kill the spores or seeds of the bacilli, and so the operation is but a partially successful expedient.

(To render it really sterile requires heating several times on successive days.) It has also been found that sterilizing milk robs it of its antis...o...b..tic qualities, and that children fed entirely upon it are subject to bleeding gums and other symptoms of scurvy. Milk should be fresh as possible, as the longer it stands the greater will be the number of bacteria, and less rich the milk in the substances on which they feed. The first point to emphasize in the simple process of sterilization is perfect cleanliness. Rounded bottles should be used, as they are easier to clean. They should be well rinsed as soon as emptied, and left to soak in soda and water, and before use they should be subjected to a good scrubbing with scalding water and a piece of cloth tied onto a stick or wire. The brushes made for cleaning bottles should be avoided, as they are more than likely to be full of germs themselves.

Turn the fresh milk into the bottles as soon as cleaned. Fill them to within an inch of the top, and stop them with antiseptic cotton. The sterilizing is effected by keeping the bottles in boiling water or in live steam for at least half an hour. The water in the boiler should be cold at first, and the heat raised gradually. This, as well as not letting the bottles rest on the bottom of the kettle, will prevent their breaking. Sterilizers are made which are both cheap and convenient, but any kettle well covered will answer the purpose. The time for cooking should be counted from the moment the water boils. Let the bottles remain in the water until cooled, and do not remove the stopper until the milk is to be used.

=DEVONs.h.i.+RE CREAM, No. 1=

(RECEIPT OBTAINED IN ENGLAND.)

Put a panful of milk in a cold place for twenty-four hours, or in summer for twelve hours. Then place it on the fire, and let it come very slowly to the scalding-point, but do not let it boil. Put it again in a cool place for six or twelve hours, and then take off the cream, which will be firm and of a peculiarly sweet flavor.

=DEVONs.h.i.+RE CREAM, No. 2=

Put the fresh milk on the fire, and let it very slowly come to the scalding-point, but do not let it boil. Leave it on the fire for about half an hour, then remove to a cold place, and let it stand for six hours, or until the cream has all risen.

Devons.h.i.+re cream is thick and clotted, and is used on fruits, mush, etc.

It will keep for some time, and is particularly delicious.

=FRESH b.u.t.tER=

The French use for table b.u.t.ter that which is freshly made and without salt. One soon learns to prefer it to the best salted b.u.t.ter. It is very easy to make fresh b.u.t.ter, but not always easy to buy it, for it keeps only a day at its best, and therefore the surest way of having it good is to make it. Take a half pint of double cream; turn it into a bowl, and with a wire whip beat it until the b.u.t.ter forms. This will take but a few minutes, if the cream is of the right temperature (65). (If very cold, it will whip to froth as it is prepared for whipped cream.) Turn off the milk; add some ice water, and work the b.u.t.ter until it is firm and free from milk; then press it into pats, and keep it in a tight jar on the ice until ready to use.

This amount of cream, which costs ten cents, will, if rich, give a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter. Put some fresh gra.s.s or some clover blossoms in the jar with the b.u.t.ter, and it will absorb their flavor.

(See ill.u.s.tration facing page 256.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: b.u.t.tER PATS AND MOLDED b.u.t.tER. (SEE PAGE 258.)