Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus Part 11

-RICE A LA GEORGIENNE FOR FIVE PERSONS---Wash one pound of rice in several changes of cold water until water is clear, and cook until soft, but not soft enough to mash between the fingers. Let it drip, cool and drip again. Add it to one-quarter pound of melted b.u.t.ter, not browned, season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly; bake in covered dish for twenty minutes.

-RICE IN TOMATOES---Cook some rice in boiling salted water until tender and season highly with pepper. Cut a small slice from the top of each ripe tomato, take out the seeds, fill with the seasoned rice, put a bit of b.u.t.ter on each, set in the oven and bake until the tomato is tender.

-RICE SERVED IN ITALIAN STYLE WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE---Steam or boil one-half pound of rice until done, then drain. Remove meat from mushroom sauce. Drop rice into mushroom sauce and cook about five minutes. Pour on platter and sprinkle heavy with grated cheese.

-SCALLOPED TOMATOES---Drain a half can of tomatoes from some of their liquor and season with salt, pepper, a few drops of onion juice and one teaspoonful sugar. Cover the bottom of a small b.u.t.tered baking dish with b.u.t.tered cracker crumbs, cover with tomatoes and sprinkle the top thickly with b.u.t.tered crumbs. Bake in a hot oven. b.u.t.tered cracker crumbs are made by simply rolling common crackers with a rolling pin and allowing one-third cupful of melted b.u.t.ter to each cupful of crumbs.

This recipe takes about one and one-third cupfuls of crumbs.

-SPAGHETTI A L'ITALIENNE---Let it cook until the water nearly boils away and it is very soft. The imported spaghetti is so firm that it may be cooked a long time without losing its shape. When the water has boiled out, watch it and remove the cover so it will dry off. Then draw the ma.s.s to one side and put in a large lump of b.u.t.ter, perhaps a tablespoon, and let it melt, then stir in until the b.u.t.ter is absorbed, and pour on one cup of the strained juice from canned tomatoes. Season with salt and paprika, and let it stew until the spaghetti has absorbed the tomato. The spaghetti, if cooked until soft, will thicken the tomato sufficiently and it is less work than to make a tomato sauce. Turn out and serve as an entree, or a main dish for luncheon and pa.s.s grated sap sago or other cheese to those who prefer it. When you have any stock like chicken or veal, add that with the tomato or alone if you prefer and scant the b.u.t.ter.

-STUFFED CABBAGE---Cut the stalk out of two or more young cabbages and fill with a stuffing made from cooked veal, chopped or ground very fine, seasoned well with salt and pepper, and mixed with the beaten yolk of an egg. Tie a strip of cheese cloth round each cabbage, or if small, twine will hold each together. Put into a kettle with boiling water to cover and cook until tender. Drain, unbind and serve hot.

-STUFFED EGG PLANT---Wash a large egg plant, cut in halves the long way and scoop the inside out with a teaspoon, leaving each sh.e.l.l quite empty, but unbroken. Cook the inside portion in one-half cup of water, then press through a strainer and mix with one-half cup of bread crumbs, one rounding tablespoon of b.u.t.ter and season with salt and pepper. The sh.e.l.ls should lie in salt and water after sc.r.a.ping, and when ready to fill them wipe them dry and pack the filling. Scatter fine crumbs over the top, dot with b.u.t.ter and bake twenty minutes.

-STUFFED POTATOES---Select smooth, even sized potatoes and bake until done. Remove one end, carefully sc.r.a.pe out the center of each mash and season with salt and b.u.t.ter, add a generous portion of nut meat and fill the sh.e.l.ls with the mixture. Cover with the piece that was cut off, wrap each potato in tissue paper and serve.

-CORN STEWED WITH CREAM---Select a half dozen ears of Indian corn, remove the silks and outer husks, place them in a saucepan and cover with water. Cook, drain, and cut the corn off the cobs with a sharp knife, being very careful that none of the cob adheres to the corn.

Place in a stewpan with one cup of hot bechamel sauce, one-half breakfast-cupful of cream and about one-quarter of an ounce of b.u.t.ter.

Season with pepper and salt and a little grated nutmeg. Cook gently on a stove for five minutes, place in a hot dish and serve.

SAUCES

-CUc.u.mBER SAUCE---Pare two good sized cuc.u.mbers and cut a generous piece from the stem end. Grate on a coa.r.s.e grater and drain through cheese cloth for half an hour. Season the pulp with salt, pepper and vinegar to suit the taste. Serve with broiled, baked or fried fish.

-GHERKIN SAUCE---Put a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, a clove of garlic, two finely chopped shallots, and a cayenne pepper, and salt into a saucepan, with one breakfast cup of vinegar. Place pan on fire and when contents have boiled for thirty minutes, add a breakfast cup of stock or good broth. Strain it through a fine hair sieve and stir in one and one-half ounces of liquefied b.u.t.ter mixed with a little flour to thicken it. Place it back in the saucepan and when it boils stir in it a teaspoonful or so of parsley very finely chopped, two or three ounces of pickle gherkins, and a little salt if required.

-GIBLET SAUCE---Put the giblets from any bird in the saucepan with sufficient stock or water to cover them and boil for three hours, adding an onion and a few peppercorns while cooking. Take them out, and when they are quite tender strain the liquor into another pan and chop up the gizzards, livers, and other parts into small pieces. Take a little of the thickening left at the bottom of the pan in which a chicken or goose has been braised, and after the fat has been taken off, mix it with the giblet liquor and boil until dissolved. Strain the sauce, put in the pieces of giblet, and serve hot.

-GOOSEBERRY SAUCE---Pick one pound of green gooseberries and put them into a saucepan with sufficient water to keep them from burning, when soft mash them, grate in a little nutmeg and sweeten to taste with moist sugar. This sauce may be served with roast pork or goose instead of apple sauce. It may also be served with boiled mackerel. A small piece of b.u.t.ter will make the sauce richer.

-HALF-GLAZE SAUCE---Put one pint of clear concentrated veal gravy in a saucepan, mix it with two wine-gla.s.sfuls of Madeira, a bunch of sweet herbs, and set both over the fire until boiling. Mix two tablespoonfuls of potato flour to a smooth paste with a little cold water, then mix it with the broth and stir until thick. Move the pan to the side of the fire and let the sauce boil gently until reduced to two-thirds of its original quant.i.ty. Skim it well, pa.s.s it through a silk sieve, and it is ready for use.

-HAM SAUCE---After a ham is nearly all used up pick the small quant.i.ty of meat still remaining, from the bone, sc.r.a.pe away the uneatable parts and trim off any rusty bits from the meat, chop the bone very small and beat the meat almost to a paste. Put the broken bones and meat together into a saucepan over a slow fire, pour over them one-quarter pint of broth, and stir about one-quarter of an hour, add to it a few sweet herbs, a seasoning of pepper and one-half pint of good beef stock. Cover the saucepan and stir very gently until well flavored with herbs, then strain it. A little of this added to any gravy is an improvement.

-HORSERADISH SAUCE---Place in a basin one tablespoonful of moist sugar, one tablespoonful of ground mustard, one teacupful of grated horseradish, and one teaspoonful of turmeric, season with pepper and salt and mix the ingredients with a teacupful of vinegar or olive oil.

When quite smooth, turn the sauce into a sauceboat, and it is ready to be served.

-LEMON b.u.t.tER---Cream four level tablespoons of b.u.t.ter and add gradually one tablespoon of lemon juice mixing thoroughly.

-LEMON SAUCE FOR FISH---Squeeze and strain the juice of a large lemon into a lined saucepan, put in with it one-fourth pound b.u.t.ter and pepper, and salt to taste. Beat it over the fire until thick and hot, but do not allow to boil. When done mix with sauce the beaten yolks of two eggs. It is then ready to be served.

-LOBSTER b.u.t.tER---Take the head and sp.a.w.n of some hen lobsters, put them in a mortar and pound, add an equal quant.i.ty of fresh b.u.t.ter, and pound both together, being sure they are thoroughly mixed. Pa.s.s this through a fine hair sieve, and the b.u.t.ter is then ready for use. It is very nice for garnis.h.i.+ng or for making sandwiches.

-MAITRE D'HOTEL b.u.t.tER---Cream one-fourth cup of b.u.t.ter. Add one-half teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper and a tablespoon of fine chopped parsley, then, very slowly to avoid curdling, a tablespoon of lemon juice. This sauce is appropriate for beefsteak and boiled fish.

-SAUCE A LA METCALF---Put two or three tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter in a saucepan, and when it melts add about a tablespoonful of Liebig's Extract of Beef; season and gradually stir in about a cupful of cream.

After taking off, add a wine-gla.s.sful of Sherry or Madeira.

-PARSLEY AND LEMON SAUCE---Squeeze the juice from a lemon, remove the pips, and mince fine the pulp and rind. Wash a good handful of parsley, and shake it as dry as possible, and chop it, throwing away the stalks.

Put one ounce of b.u.t.ter and one tablespoonful of flour into a saucepan, and stir over fire until well mixed. Then put in the parsley and minced lemon, and pour in as much clear stock as will be required to make the sauce. Season with a small quant.i.ty of pounded mace, and stir the whole over the fire a few minutes. Beat the yolks of two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of cold stock, and move the sauce to the side of the fire, and when it has cooled a little, stir in the eggs. Stir the sauce for two minutes on the side of the fire, and it will be ready for serving.

-POIVRADE SAUCE---Put in a stewpan six scallions, a little thyme, a good bunch of parsley, two bay-leaves, a dessert-spoonful of white pepper, two tablespoons of vinegar and two ounces of b.u.t.ter, and let all stew together until nearly all the liquor has evaporated; add one teacupful of stock, two teacupfuls of Spanish sauce. Boil this until reduced to one-half, then serve.

-ROYAL SAUCE---Put four ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter and the yolks of two fresh eggs into a saucepan and stir them over the fire until the yolks begin to thicken, but do not allow them to cook hard. Take sauce off the fire and stir in by degrees two tablespoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, two tablespoons of Indian soy, one finely chopped green gherkin, one small pinch of cayenne pepper, and a small quant.i.ty of salt. When well incorporated keep sauce in a cold place. When cold serve with fish.

-SAUCE FOR FISH---Simmer two cups of milk with a slice of onion, a slice of carrot cut in bits, a sprig of parsley and a bit of bay-leaf for a few minutes. Strain onto one-quarter cup of b.u.t.ter rubbed smooth with the same flour. Cook five minutes and season with a level teaspoon of salt and a saltspoon of pepper.

-SAUCE MAYONNAISE---Place in an earthen bowl a couple of fresh egg yolks and one-half teaspoonful of ground English mustard, half pinch of salt, one-half saltspoonful red pepper, and stir well for about three minutes without stopping, then pour in, one drop at a time, one and one-half cupfuls of best olive oil, and should it become too thick, add a little at a time some good vinegar, stirring constantly.

-SAUCE TARTARE---Use one-half level teaspoon of salt and mustard, one teaspoon of powdered sugar, and a few grains of cayenne beaten vigorously with the yolks of two eggs. Add one-half cup of olive oil slowly and dilute as needed with one and one-half tablespoon of vinegar.

Add one-quarter cup of chopped pickles, capers and olives mixed.

-TARTAR SAUCE---Mix one tablespoon of vinegar, one teaspoon of lemon juice, a saltspoon of salt, a tablespoon of any good catsup and heat over hot water. Heat one-third cup of b.u.t.ter in a small saucepan until it begins to brown, then strain onto the other ingredients and pour over the fish on the platter.

-SHRIMP SAUCE---Pour one pint of poivrade sauce and b.u.t.ter sauce into a saucepan and boil until somewhat reduced. Thicken the sauce with two ounces of lobster b.u.t.ter. Pick one and one-half pints of shrimps, put them into the sauce with a small quant.i.ty of lemon juice, stir the sauce by the side of the fire for a few minutes, then serve it.

-SAUCE FOR FRIED PIKE---Peel and chop very fine one small onion, one green pepper, half a peeled clove, and garlic. Season with salt, red pepper and half a wine-gla.s.sful of good white wine. Boil about two minutes and add a gill of tomato sauce and a small tomato cut in dice shaped pieces. Cook about ten minutes.