The Myrtle Reed Cook Book Part 39

LUNCHEON BEVERAGES

Inasmuch as coffee usually appears both at breakfast and dinner, it is well to bar it out absolutely from the luncheon table. Too much coffee drinking is injurious, as the makers of imitation coffees a.s.sure us daily through the medium of expensive advertis.e.m.e.nts. Though nothing else is quite as good as coffee, yet there are many other beverages which will prove acceptable at luncheon.

MILK

Serve from an earthen pitcher, either hot or cold as preferred.

b.u.t.tERMILK

b.u.t.termilk is always served ice cold. On a hot day a gla.s.s of b.u.t.termilk, and a cracker or a bit of salted toast will often prove a sufficient luncheon.

TEA

Use the best tea. The cheap tea is dear at any price. Scald out the tea-pot, which should never be of metal, and put into it a teaspoonful of tea for each person and one for the pot. Add as many cupfuls of hot water as there are teaspoonfuls of tea. Cover and let steep for a moment, but never allow it to boil. The water for tea must be freshly boiled and taken at the first vigorous boil. When tea is boiled, tannin is extracted from the grounds, and tannin, even in the most minute quant.i.ties, has a very injurious effect upon the lining of the stomach.

VIENNA CHOCOLATE

Three heaping tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate mixed to a paste with cold water. Pour it into a double boiler with four cupfuls of milk boiling hot. Add sugar to taste, and let cook five minutes. Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth and put into the chocolate pot.

Put a teaspoonful of vanilla into the chocolate after taking from the fire, and pour the hot chocolate very slowly upon the eggs, stirring constantly with a silver spoon or the wooden stick which comes for the purpose. It makes a delicious, frothy chocolate. The cocoa which comes in packages may be used instead of grated chocolate.

COCOA

Directions are given on the package the cocoa comes in. If not, buy another kind next time.

LEMONADE

Select perfect lemons and roll until soft. Extract the juice, using a gla.s.s lemon squeezer, and rejecting the seeds and pulp. Rub cut loaf sugar over the peel of the lemon to extract the oil, and add to the lemon-juice. Fill a gla.s.s pitcher one third full of broken ice, pour the lemon-juice upon the ice, and add granulated sugar and water to taste.

ICED TEA

Make tea according to directions given above, using two or three extra teaspoonfuls of tea. Fill a gla.s.s pitcher half full of broken ice, and pour the tea, scalding hot, upon the ice, being careful that the stream strikes the ice, and not the pitcher. Serve with cut loaf sugar, and slices of lemon.

PINEAPPLE CUP

Put into a bowl the juice of three lemons, two oranges, sliced and seeded, one grated pineapple, and one cupful of sugar. Let stand an hour to extract the juice, then strain through a fruit press. Add to the juice as much cold water as desired, and two slices of pineapple, shredded. Pour into gla.s.ses half full of cracked ice.

RASPBERRY CUP

Mash and strain two cupfuls of currants stripped from the stems. Mash also an equal quant.i.ty of raspberries. Mix the juices, sweeten to taste, and serve in gla.s.ses with cracked ice and cold water.

PINEAPPLE LEMONADE

One cupful of sugar, one cupful of canned pineapple, one cupful of water and the juice of two lemons. Boil the sugar and water until it threads. Put the pineapple through the fruit press and add to the syrup with the juice of the lemons. When ready to serve, add water and sugar to taste. Serve ice cold.

GRAPE JUICE

Stem ripe Concord grapes. Do not wash unless necessary. Cover with cold water and put into a saucepan over a slow fire. Boil until the grapes are in pieces, then strain through coa.r.s.e cheese-cloth and sweeten to taste. Serve in gla.s.ses with plenty of cracked ice.

BLACKBERRY SHRUB

For every cupful of fruit juice take one half cupful of cider vinegar and two cupfuls of sugar. Put the fruit, sugar, and vinegar over the fire, stir until the sugar dissolves, and boil until a thick syrup.

Skim if necessary, strain, and bottle. When served, allow one fourth cupful of syrup to half or three fourths of a cupful of ice water.

RASPBERRY SHRUB

Use ripe red raspberries, and prepare according to directions given for Blackberry Shrub.

RASPBERRY DASH

Fill the tumbler half full of cracked ice. Add one tablespoonful of sweetened raspberry juice and one tablespoonful of cream. Fill the gla.s.s with soda water.

MINT SANGAREE

Crush two or three sprays of mint with a lump of sugar. Put into a gla.s.s half full of cracked ice. Add four tablespoonfuls of grape juice and fill the gla.s.s to the brim with charged water. Shake thoroughly and strain into another gla.s.s.

SELTZER LEMONADE

Squeeze the juice of a lemon into a tall gla.s.s, add two inches of shaved ice, two heaping teaspoonfuls of sugar and fill the gla.s.s with seltzer or Apollinaris.

TEMPERANCE PUNCH

Upon a tablespoonful of good tea pour two quarts of boiling water. In the meantime have ready the juice and peelings of three lemons and one orange in a pitcher. When the tea has steeped for five minutes, strain through a fine strainer into the pitcher. Add a cupful of sugar and cool slowly. At serving-time put into gla.s.ses with plenty of ice.

EATING AND DINING