Fifty-Two Sunday Dinners Part 53

PLUM PUDDING--BRANDY SAUCE

CHOCOLATE CAKE

BON BONS--NUTS AND RAISINS--FRUITS

CAFe NOIR--WATER BISCUIT--CHEESE

OYSTER c.o.c.kTAILS

1 tablespoon fresh grated horseradish.

1 tablespoon vinegar.

2 tablespoons lemon juice.

1 tablespoon Worcesters.h.i.+re Sauce.

3 tablespoons tomato catsup.

1 teaspoon salt.

Few drops Tobasco Sauce.

PROCESS: Mix ingredients in the order given. Chill thoroughly and pour over oyster c.o.c.ktails. Place six small oysters in each c.o.c.ktail gla.s.s, add sauce and serve very cold. This sauce is sufficient for six c.o.c.ktails. Oyster c.o.c.ktails may be served very attractively in tomato cups.

CREAM OF ALMOND SOUP

2 quarts chicken or white stock.

1-1/2 tablespoons b.u.t.ter.

3/4 cup blanched almonds.

2 tablespoons cornstarch.

1 cup hot cream.

Salt, pepper.

Few grains nutmeg.

PROCESS: Cook the b.u.t.ter and flour together in a sauce-pan; add gradually hot stock until of the consistency to pour; then add remaining stock, let cook gently twenty minutes. Chop almonds fine, then pound them to a paste, add to first mixture and beat until thoroughly blended. Add hot cream and seasoning. Serve en ta.s.se; sprinkle each portion with finely chopped parsley.

ROAST BRACE OF DUCKS

Dress and clean a brace (two) young domestic or wild ducks. Truss same as goose. If domestic ducks are used they may be stuffed. In the wild ducks place in each a head of celery; this is thought to improve their flavor. Domestic ducks should always be cooked "well done" and twice as long as wild ducks. Place the ducks on rack in dripping pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover breast and legs with very thin slices of fat salt pork. Place in a hot oven and roast one and one-quarter hours, basting every five minutes (with fat in pan) for the first half hour, afterwards every ten minutes. Domestic ducks require a hotter oven than wild ducks or fowl. When tender, remove string and skewers. Place on hot serving platter, surround with Thorn Apples and serve with Olive sauce.

STUFFING

2 cups cracker crumbs.

1 cup English walnut meats broken in small bits.

1 cup thick cream.

1/2 cup b.u.t.ter.

1 onion finely chopped.

1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley.

1/2 teaspoon celery salt.

1/4 teaspoon salt.

1/8 teaspoon black pepper.

PROCESS: Crush crackers with the hands, not too fine. Add nut meats, b.u.t.ter melted, cream, onion and parsley; mix well with a fork; add seasonings. If stuffing appears too dry add more cream (a cup of chopped apple or celery may be added). This is sufficient stuffing for one duck.

OLIVE SAUCE

4 tablespoons b.u.t.ter.

1 slice onion.

5-1/2 tablespoons flour.

2 cups Brown Stock.

1/2 teaspoon salt.

1/4 teaspoon pepper.

1 dozen olives.

PROCESS: Melt b.u.t.ter in sauce-pan, add onion and cook until delicately browned; remove onion and stir b.u.t.ter until well browned; add flour sifted with seasonings, stir to a smooth paste and continue browning.

Add stock gradually, beating constantly. Pare the meat from olive pits, leaving it in one continuous curl. Cover with boiling water and cook six or seven minutes. Drain and add to Sauce.

GLAZED SWEET POTATOES

Wash and pare six medium-sized sweet potatoes. Parboil ten minutes in boiling salted water; drain and cut lengthwise in halves. Arrange them in a well-b.u.t.tered granite dripping pan. Make a syrup by boiling one cup sugar with one-half cup water and two tablespoons b.u.t.ter three or four minutes. Dip each piece of potato into syrup and arrange in dripping pan. Bake until potatoes are tender (about forty minutes) basting two or three times with remaining syrup. Oven should not be too hot as these potatoes will scorch easily.

"THORN" APPLES

Prepare a syrup by boiling two cups sugar and one and three-fourths cups water ten minutes. Wash, wipe, core and pare the desired number of apples (about eight for this quant.i.ty of syrup). Drop apples into syrup when pared, to prevent discoloration. Cook until tender, skimming syrup when necessary. Use a deep sauce-pan for this purpose, as apples cook better when covered with syrup. Better cook four apples at a time. Drain from syrup and fill the cavities with quince jelly and stick apples thickly with blanched and shredded almonds slightly toasted. Cut the almonds lengthwise in three pieces, then divide, making six "thorns." It is best to toast them in the oven until they are a golden brown.

HAWAIIAN SALAD

Arrange slices of canned Hawaiian pineapple, drained from the liquor in the can, in nests of crisp lettuce heart leaves. Pile on these Malaga grapes peeled, cut in halves lengthwise and seeds removed, mixed with an equal quant.i.ty of English walnut meats broken in pieces. Sprinkle thickly with candied cherries, cut in fine shreds or chopped. Moisten with French Dressing No. 2.

FRENCH DRESSING NO. 2

1/4 teaspoon salt.

1/4 teaspoon paprika.

Few grains cayenne.

6 tablespoons olive oil.

2 tablespoons lemon juice or 1 tablespoon Tarragon vinegar and 1 of lemon juice.

PROCESS: Put dry ingredients in bowl, add oil, mix well, then add lemon juice slowly while stirring constantly. Chill thoroughly and use on Fruit Salad.

PLUM PUDDING

1/2 lb. stale bread crumbs.

1 cup scalded milk.

1/3 cup soft brown sugar.

5 eggs.

1 cup raisins seeded and shredded.