Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus Part 1

Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus.

by Rufus Estes.

FOREWORD

That the average parent is blind to the faults of its offspring is a fact so obvious that in attempting to prove or controvert it time and logic are both wasted. Ill temper in a child is, alas! too often mistaken for an indication of genius; and impudence is sometimes regarded as a sign of precocity. The author, however, has honestly striven to avoid this common prejudice. This book, the child of his brain, and experience, extending over a long period of time and varying environment, he frankly admits is not without its faults--is far from perfect; but he is satisfied that, notwithstanding its apparent shortcomings, it will serve in a humble way some useful purpose.

The recipes given in the following pages represent the labor of years.

Their worth has been demonstrated, not experimentally, but by actual tests, day by day and month by month, under dissimilar, and, in many instances, not too favorable conditions.

One of the pleasures in life to the normal man is good eating, and if it be true that real happiness consists in making others happy, the author can at least feel a sense of gratification in the thought that his attempts to satisfy the cravings of the inner man have not been wholly unappreciated by the many that he has had the pleasure of serving--some of whom are now his stanchest friends. In fact, it was in response to the insistence and encouragement of these friends that he embarked in the rather hazardous undertaking of offering this collection to a discriminating public.

To s.n.a.t.c.h from his daily toil a few moments, here and there, in order to arrange with some degree of symmetry, not the delicacies that would awaken the jaded appet.i.te of the gourmet, but to prepare an ensemble that might, with equal grace, adorn the home table or banquet board, has proven a task of no mean proportions. Encouraged by his friends, however, he persevered and this volume is the results of his effort.

If, when gathered around the festal board, in camp or by fireside, on train or s.h.i.+p, "trying out" the recipes, his friends will pause, retrospectively, and with kindly feelings think from whence some of the good things emanated, the author will feel amply compensated for the care, the thought, the labor he has expended in the preparation of the book; and to those friends, individually and collectively, it is therefore dedicated.

SKETCH OF MY LIFE

I was born in Murray County, Tennessee, in 1857, a slave. I was given the name of my master, D. J. Estes, who owned my mother's family, consisting of seven boys and two girls, I being the youngest of the family.

After the war broke out all the male slaves in the neighborhood for miles around ran off and joined the "Yankees." This left us little folks to bear the burdens. At the age of five I had to carry water from the spring about a quarter of a mile from the house, drive the cows to and from the pastures, mind the calves, gather chips, etc.

In 1867 my mother moved to Nashville, Tennessee, my grandmother's home, where I attended one term of school. Two of my brothers were lost in the war, a fact that wrecked my mother's health somewhat and I thought I could be of better service to her and prolong her life by getting work.

When summer came I got work milking cows for some neighbors, for which I got two dollars a month. I also carried hot dinners for the laborers in the fields, for which each one paid me twenty-five cents per month. All of this, of course, went to my mother. I worked at different places until I was sixteen years old, but long before that time I was taking care of my mother.

At the age of sixteen I was employed in Nashville by a restaurant-keeper named Hemphill. I worked there until I was twenty-one years of age. In 1881 I came to Chicago and got a position at 77 Clark Street, where I remained for two years at a salary of ten dollars a week.

In 1883 I entered the Pullman service, my first superintendent being J.

P. Mehen. I remained in their service until 1897. During the time I was in their service some of the most prominent people in the world traveled in the car a.s.signed to me, as I was selected to handle all special parties. Among the distinguished people who traveled in my care were Stanley, the African explorer; President Cleveland; President Harrison; Adelina Patti, the noted singer of the world at that time; Booth and Barrett; Modjeski and Paderewski. I also had charge of the car for Princess Eulalie of Spain, when she was the guest of Chicago during the World's Fair.

In 1894 I set sail from Vancouver on the Empress of China with Mr. and Mrs. Nathan A. Baldwin for j.a.pan, visiting the Cherry Blossom Festival at Tokio.

In 1897 Mr. Arthur Stillwell, at that time president of the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gould Railroad, gave me charge of his magnificent $20,000 private car. I remained with him seventeen months when the road went into the hands of receivers, and the car was sold to John W. Gates syndicate. However, I had charge of the car under the new management until 1907, since which time I have been employed as chef of the subsidiary companies of the United States Steel Corporation in Chicago.

HINTS TO KITCHEN MAIDS

It is always necessary to keep your kitchen in the best condition.

-Breakfast---If a percolator is used it should first be put into operation. If the breakfast consists of grapefruit, cereals, etc., your cereal should be the next article prepared. If there is no diningroom maid, you can then put your diningroom in order. If hot bread is to be served (including cakes) that is the next thing to be prepared. Your gas range is of course lighted, and your oven heated. Perhaps you have for breakfast poached eggs on toast, Deerfoot sausage or boiled ham. One of the above, with your other dishes, is enough for a person employed indoors.

When your breakfast gong is sounded put your biscuits, eggs, bread, etc., in the oven so that they may be ready to serve when the family have eaten their grapefruit and cereal.

-Luncheon---This is the easiest meal of the three to prepare.

Yesterday's dinner perhaps consisted of roast turkey, beef or lamb, and there is some meat left over; then pick out one of my receipts calling for minced or creamed meats; baked or stuffed potatoes are always nice, or there may be cold potatoes left over that can be mashed, made into cakes and fried.

-Dinner---For a roast beef dinner serve vegetable soup as the first course, with a relish of vegetables in season and horseradish or chow-chow pickle, unless you serve salad.

If quail or ducks are to be served for dinner, an old Indian dish, wild rice, is very desirable. Prepare this rice as follows:

Place in a double boiler a cupful of milk or cream to each cupful of rice and add salt and pepper to taste. It requires a little longer to cook than the ordinary rice, but must not be stirred. If it becomes dry add a little milk from time to time.

Do not serve dishes at the same meal that conflict. For instance, if you have sliced tomatoes, do not serve tomato soup. If, however, you have potato soup, it would not be out of place to serve potatoes with your dinner.

Fish should never be served without a salad of some kind.

The above are merely suggestions that have been of material a.s.sistance to me.

GOOD THINGS TO EAT

SOUPS

-ASPARAGUS SOUP---Take three pounds of knuckle of veal and put it to boil in a gallon of water with a couple of bunches of asparagus, boil for three hours, strain, and return the juice to the pot. Add another bunch of asparagus, chopped fine, and boil for twenty minutes, mix a tablespoonful of flour in a cup of milk and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper, let it come to a boil, and serve at once.

-BEAN SOUP---One-half pound or one cup is sufficient for one quart of soup. Soups can be made which use milk or cream as basis. Any kind of green vegetable can be used with them, as creamed celery or creamed cauliflower. The vegetable is cooked and part milk and part water or part milk and part cream are used.

-BISQUE OF CLAMS---Place a knuckle of veal, weighing about a pound and one-half, into a soup kettle, with a quart of water, one small onion, a sprig of parsley, a bay leaf, and the liquor drained from the clams, and simmer gradually for an hour and a half, skimming from time to time; strain the soup and again place it in the kettle; rub a couple of tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter with an equal amount of flour together and add it to the soup when it is boiling, stirring until again boiling; chop up twenty-five clams very fine, then place them in the soup, season and boil for about five minutes, then add a pint of milk or cream, and remove from the fire immediately, and serve.

-BISQUE OF LOBSTER---Remove the meat of the lobster from its sh.e.l.l and cut the tender pieces into quarter-inch dice; put the ends of the claw-meat and any tough portions in a saucepan with the bones of the body and a little cold water and boil for twenty minutes, adding a little water from time to time as may be necessary; put the coral to dry in a moderate oven, and mix a little flour with some cold milk, and stir the milk, which should be boiling, stirring over the fire for ten minutes, then strain the water from the bones and other parts, mix it with milk, add a little b.u.t.ter, salt, pepper and cayenne to taste, and rub the dry coral through a fine-haired sieve, putting enough into the soup having it a bright pink color. Place the grease fat and lobster dice in a soup tureen, strain the boiling soup over them, and serve at once.

-BISQUE OF OYSTERS---Place about thirty medium-sized oysters in a saucepan together with their own juice and poach them over a hot fire, after which drain well; then fry a shallot colorless in some b.u.t.ter, together with an onion, sprinkle over them a little curry and add some of the oyster juice, seasoning with salt and red pepper. Pound the oysters to a good firm paste, moistening them with a little of their juice, and strain through fine tammy cloth. Warm them over the fire, but do not let them boil; add a small quant.i.ty of thickening of potato flour mixed with a little water. When about to serve incorporate some cream and fine b.u.t.ter, garnis.h.i.+ng with some chopped oysters and mushrooms, mixed with breadcrumbs and herbs. Add a little seasoning of salt, pepper and nutmeg, some raw egg yolks, and roll this mixture into ball-shape pieces, place them on a well-b.u.t.tered baking sheet in a slack oven and poach them, then serve.

-BLACK BEAN SOUP---Wash one pint of black beans, cover with one quart of cold water and let soak over night. In the morning pour off the water and pour over three pints of cold water. Cook, covered, until tender, four or five hours, add one tablespoonful of salt the last hour, rub through a strainer, add the strained beans to the water in which they were boiled, return to the soup kettle. Melt one tablespoonful of flour, stir this into the hot soup, let boil, stirring constantly; add a little pepper, slice thinly one lemon, put all the slices into the tureen and pour the soup over. Serve very hot.

-CHESTNUT SOUP---Peel and blanch the chestnuts, boil them in salted water until quite soft, pa.s.s through a sieve, add more water if too thick, and a spoonful of b.u.t.ter or several of sweet cream. Season to taste and serve with small squares of bread fried crisp in b.u.t.ter or olive oil.

-CHICKEN GUMBO, CREOLE STYLE---For about twelve or fifteen, one young hen chicken, half pound ham, quart fresh okra, three large tomatoes, two onions, one kernel garlic, one small red pepper, two tablespoons flour, three quarts boiling water, half pound b.u.t.ter, one bay leaf, pinch salt and cayenne pepper. To mix, mince your ham, put in the bottom of an iron kettle if preferred with the above ingredients except the chicken.

Clean and cut your chicken up and put in separate saucepan with about a quart or more of water and teaspoonful of salt; set to the side of the fire for about an hour; skim when necessary. When the chicken is thoroughly done strip the meat from the bone and mix both together; just before serving add a quart of shrimps.