Vaughan's Vegetable Cook Book Part 9

[Ill.u.s.tration]

It is said a muskmelon can be chosen by its odor. If it has none, it is not good, if sweet and musky it is quite sure to be ripe. Another indication of ripeness is when the smooth skin between the rough sections is yellowish green. To serve, cut the melons crosswise and fill with chopped ice an hour before using. Try pouring a little strained honey into the melon when eating.

CANTALOUPE FRAPPE.

Select two large cantaloupes that are ripe and of fine flavor; cut into halves and sc.r.a.pe the pulp from same after removing the seeds (not using any of the rind); put the pulp through a potato ricer, which will keep out all the stringy parts; add to the pulp a pinch of salt, four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a gill of cherry juice (sweetened with a spoonful of sugar), or use some other nice tart juice. Soak a tablespoonful of gelatine in a quarter-cupful of water; then set cup in pan of boiling water until it is dissolved; add this to the prepared cantaloupe and when cold turn into a freezer and freeze slowly. Serve in sherbet gla.s.ses.

MRS. SADETTE HARRINGTON.

COOKED MUSKMELON.

Miss Corson, in one of her lectures, gives the following directions for making a very nice dessert from muskmelons:--Make a rich syrup from a pound of white sugar to half a pint of water. Pare and slice the melon and boil it gently in the syrup five to ten minutes flavoring with vanilla or lemon. Then take it up in the dish in which it is to be served, cool the syrup and pour it on the melon. To be eaten cold.

MELON MANGOES. (See Mangoes.)

MUSKMELON PICKLE.

Use ripe muskmelons, pare, remove seeds, and cut in pieces and put into a stone jar. Cover with scalded vinegar and let them stand until the next day, when the vinegar must be reheated and poured over them again; repeat this until the fourth day, then weigh the melons and to every five pounds of the fruit allow three pounds of sugar and one quart of vinegar with spices to suit. Let all simmer together until the fruit is tender. The second day pour off this syrup, and boil down until it shall only just cover the melons. The result justifies the pains taken.

MELON, WATER.

The following is said to be an infallible sign of a ripe watermelon, it takes close inspection to find sometimes, but the sign is there if the condition for it exists. When the flesh of the melon changes color and its seeds begin to turn black a small scale or blister appears on the rind. They increase in number and size as the melon ripens, until a ripe one shows them thickly strewn over the surface. A small crop of blisters indicates unripe fruit. A melon must be served ice cold. Cut it through the middle, scoop out the flesh with a tablespoon in a circle as much as possible that the pieces may be conical or egg shaped. Cover the platter with grape leaves and pile the fruit upon them, allowing the tendrils of the grapes to wander in and out among the melon cones.

WATERMELON ICE.

Cut a watermelon in halves, scoop out the entire center, taking out the seeds; chop in tray; add a cup of sugar. Pack the freezer, turn a few minutes. It will be like soft snow and delicious.

WATERMELON PICKLES.

Eat the flesh and save the rind. Cut the rind into finger lengths and about an inch in width, pare and cut out all the red flesh, throw into a strong salt brine and let stand over night. In the morning drain, boil in water until the pickles are clear, drain again and put into a stone jar. To one gallon of fruit, allow one quart of sugar and one pint of vinegar. Do up cinnamon and cloves in little bags, in ratio of two of cinnamon to one of cloves and boil them in the syrup. Pour the boiling syrup over the pickles, tie up close and in a few days they are ready for use.

MINT SAUCE.

Four dessert spoons of chopped mint, two of sugar, one quarter pint of vinegar. Stir all together; make two or three hours before needed.

MINT VINEGAR.

Fill a bottle loosely with fresh, clean mint, pour over good vinegar, cork tightly and let stand two or three weeks. Then pour off and keep well corked. Use this vinegar as a condiment, or put a small quant.i.ty into drawn b.u.t.ter sauce for mutton.

MUSHROOMS.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The highest authorities say an edible mushroom can easily be distinguished from a poisonous one by certain characteristics;--a true mushroom grows only in pastures, never in wet, boggy places, never in woods, never about stumps of trees, they are of small size, dry, and if the flesh is broken it remains white or nearly so and has a pleasant odor. Most poisonous varieties change to yellow or dark brown and have a disagreeable odor, though there is a white variety which grows in woods or on the borders of woods, that is very poisonous. The cap of a true mushroom has a frill, the gills are free from the stem, they never grow down against it, but usually there is a small channel all around the top of the stem, the spores are brown-black, or deep purple black and the stem is solid or slightly pithy. It is said if salt is sprinkled on the gills and they become yellow the mushroom is poisonous, if black, they are wholesome. Sweet oil is its antidote.

BAKED MUSHROOMS.

Hold the mushrooms by the stems, dip them in boiling hot water a moment to help loosen the skin, cut off their stems. Boil the parings and stems and strain. Pour this water over the mushrooms chopped fine, add parsley and stew about forty minutes. Then add six eggs well beaten. Pour this mixture into b.u.t.tered cups and bake quickly. Serve with cream sauce.

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

Boil one peck of mushrooms fifteen minutes in half a pint of water, strain, or not, through a sieve to get all the pulp; add a pint of vinegar to the juice, two tablespoonfuls of salt, one half a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, two tablespoonfuls of mustard, one of cinnamon and one of cloves. Let the mixture boil twenty minutes; bottle and seal tightly.

FRIED MUSHROOMS.

Pare the mushrooms, cut off their stems, lay them on their heads in a frying pan in which a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter has been melted, put a bit of b.u.t.ter into each cap, let them cook in their own liquor and the b.u.t.ter until thoroughly done. Season with salt and b.u.t.ter and serve hot.

MUSHROOMS WITH MACARONI.

Boil half a pound of macaroni. Put a pint of water, one small onion, a sprig of parsley, the juice of half a lemon, a teaspoonful of salt and a quarter as much pepper into a saucepan. When boiling add a quart of mushrooms and cook five minutes. Beat three eggs, stir in and take from the fire. Drain the macaroni, put a layer in the bottom of a baking dish, then a layer of the mushroom mixture, and thus alternately until the dish is full. Have mushrooms on top, and set in a hot oven for five minutes.

MRS. ELIZA PARKER.

MARROW WITH MUSHROOMS.

Procure a s.h.i.+nbone and have the butcher split it; remove the marrow and cut it into inch-thick slices; then boil it one and one-half minutes in a quart of salted water, using a teaspoonful of salt. Into a frying-pan put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter; when hot add five tablespoonfuls of chopped mushrooms and toss for five minutes, sprinkling them with three shakes of salt and a speck of cayenne. Drain the marrow; squeeze over it ten drops of lemon juice; then mix with it the mushrooms; spread on slices of hot, crisp toast and serve immediately.

CHICAGO RECORD.

MUSHROOM OMELET.

Cook a dozen small, even sized mushrooms in a saucepan with half an ounce of b.u.t.ter and half a saltspoonful of salt sprinkled over them.

Make ready a plain omelet, as it cooks at the edges place the mushrooms over one half of it, fold over the other half, slip from the pan on to a hot dish and serve immediately.

MUSHROOMS ON TOAST.

Prepare enough mushrooms to measure one half-pint when chopped, and enough of raw ham to fill a tablespoon heaping full. Mix these and add a teaspoonful of parsley, a trifle of chopped onion if liked, a teaspoonful of lemon juice, pepper and salt. Fry in two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, add a half-cupful of milk or cream, boil up again, and add an egg thoroughly beaten. Serve on small squares of toast. This with the addition of bread crumbs before the milk is added and with the use of some of the relis.h.i.+ng herbs makes an excellent stuffing.

MUSHROOM SOUP.

Get your butcher to crack for you a shank of beef. Put over it four quarts of water. Let it boil hard for a few moments until all the sc.u.m has risen and has been removed. Set it back on the stove now to simmer five hours. At the end of the fourth hour add one carrot, one turnip, one small onion, one bunch of parsley, two stalks of celery, twelve cloves and two bay leaves. Let all these boil together one hour, then strain and set away until the next day, when all the grease must be skimmed off. To every quart of the stock add a quart of milk thickened with two tablespoonfuls of flour and two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, one saltspoonful of salt and a dust of pepper, add to this a half-pint of canned mushrooms or small mushrooms stewed thoroughly in the liquor obtained from boiling and straining the stems and parings.