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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29982-0.txt b/29982-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..075b20d --- /dev/null +++ b/29982-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4342 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Culture and Cooking, by Catherine Owen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Culture and Cooking + Art in the Kitchen + +Author: Catherine Owen + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29982] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CULTURE AND COOKING *** + + + + +Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's note: | + | | + | If bÅ“uf is not displayed correctly please | + | change the coding in your text reader to | + | Utf-8 (Unicode). | + | | + | Discrepancies between chapter names in | + | CONTENTS and in chapter headings have been | + | retained as shown in the original book. | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + + + + + CULTURE AND COOKING; + + OR, + + ART IN THE KITCHEN. + + BY + + CATHERINE OWEN + + + "Le Créateur, en obligeant l'homme à manger pour vivre, l'y invite + par l'appétit et l'en récompense par le plaisir." + + --BRILLAT SAVARIN. + + + CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO., + NEW YORK, LONDON, AND PARIS. + 1881 + + + COPYRIGHT, + 1881, + BY O. M. DUNHAM. + + + + PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO., + NOS. 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +THIS is not a cookery book. It makes no attempt to replace a good one; +it is rather an effort to fill up the gap between you and your household +oracle, whether she be one of those exasperating old friends who +maddened our mother with their vagueness, or the newer and better lights +of our own generation, the latest and best of all being a lady as well +known for her novels as for her works on domestic economy--one more +proof, if proof were needed, of the truth I endeavor to set forth--if +somewhat tediously forgive me--in this little book: that cooking and +cultivation are by no means antagonistic. Who does not remember with +affectionate admiration Charlotte Bronté taking the eyes out of the +potatoes stealthily, for fear of hurting the feelings of her purblind +old servant; or Margaret Fuller shelling peas? + +The chief difficulty, I fancy, with women trying recipes is, that they +fail and know not why they fail, and so become discouraged, and this is +where I hope to step in. But although this is not a cookery book, +insomuch as it does not deal chiefly with recipes, I shall yet give a +few; but only when they are, or I believe them to be, better than those +in general use, or good things little known, or supposed to belong to +the domain of a French _chef_, of which I have introduced a good many. +Should I succeed in making things that were obscure before clear to a +few women, I shall be as proud as was Mme. de Genlis when she boasts in +her Memoirs that she has taught six new dishes to a German housewife. +Six new dishes! When Brillat-Savarin says: "He who has invented _one_ +new dish has done more for the pleasure of mankind than he who has +discovered a star." + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE + + PRELIMINARY REMARKS 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + ON BREAD. + + Sponge for bread.--One cause of failure.--Why home-made + bread often has a hard crust.--On baking.--Ovens.--More + reasons why bread may fail to be good.--Light + rolls.--Rusks.--Kreuznach horns.--Kringles.--Brioche + (Paris Jockey Club recipe).--Soufflée bread.--A novelty 12 + + + CHAPTER III. + + PASTRY. + + Why you fail in making good puff paste.--How to + succeed.--How to handle it.--To put fruit pies together so + that the syrup does not boil out.--Ornamenting fruit + pies.--Rissolettes.--Pastry tablets.--Frangipane + tartlets.--Rules for ascertaining the heat of your oven 22 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + WHAT TO HAVE IN YOUR STORE-ROOM. + + Mushroom powder (recipe).--Stock to keep, or glaze + (recipe).--Uses of glaze.--Glazing meats, hams, tongues, + etc.--Mâitre d'hôtel butter (recipe).--Uses of + it.--Ravigotte or Montpellier butter (recipe).--Uses of + it.--Roux.--Blanc (recipes).--Uses of both.--Brown flour, + its uses 28 + + + CHAPTER V. + + LUNCHEONS. + + Remarks on what to have for luncheons.--English meat + pies.--Windsor pie.--Veal and ham pie.--Chicken + pie.--Raised pork pie.--(Recipes).--Ornamenting meat + pies.--Galantine (recipe).--Fish in jelly.--Jellied + oysters.--A new mayonnaise luncheon for small + families.--Potted meats (recipes).--Anchovy butter.--A new + omelet.--Potato snow.--Lyonnaise potatoes 35 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A CHAPTER ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN VERY SMALL FAMILIES. + + How to have little dinners.--Hints for bills of fare, + etc.--Filet de bÅ“uf Chateaubriand (recipe).--What to do + with the odds and ends.--Various recipes.--Salads.--Recipes 47 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + FRYING. + + Why you fail.--Panure or bread-crumbs, to prepare.--How to + prepare flounders as filets de sole.--Fried oysters.--To + clarify dripping for frying.--Remarks.--Pâte à frire à la + Carême.--Same, à la Provençale.--Broiling 55 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + ROASTING 62 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + BOILING AND SOUPS. + + Boiling meat.--Rules for knowing exactly the degrees of + boiling.--Vegetables.--Remarks on making soup.--To clear + soup.--Why it is not clear.--Coloring + pot-au-feu.--Consommé.--_Crême de celeri_, a little known + soup.--Recipes 65 + + + CHAPTER X. + + SAUCES. + + Remarks on making and flavoring sauces.--Espagnole or + brown sauce as it should be.--How to make fine white sauce 70 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + WARMING OVER. + + Remarks.--Salmi of cold meats.--BÅ“uf à la + jardinière.--BÅ“uf au gratin.--Pseudo-beefsteak. + --Cutlets à la jardinière.--Cromesquis of lamb.--Sauce + piquant.--Miroton of beef.--Simple way of warming a + joint.--Breakfast dish.--Stuffed beef.--Beef olives.--Chops + à la poulette.--Devils.--Mephistophelian sauce.--Fritadella, + twenty recipes in one 72 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + ON FRIANDISES. + + Biscuit glacée at home (recipes).--Iced soufflés + (recipes).--Baba and syrups for it (recipe).--Savarin and + syrup (recipes).--Bouchées de dames.--How to make + Curaçoa.--Maraschino.--Noyeau 84 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + FRENCH CANDIES AT HOME. + + How to make them.--Fondants.--Vanilla.--Almond + cream.--Walnut cream.--Tutti frutti.--Various candies + dipped in cream.--Chocolate creams.--Fondant + panaché.--Punch drops 91 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + FOR PEOPLE OF VERY SMALL MEANS. + + Remarks.--What may be made of a soup bone.--Several very + economical dishes.--Pot roasts.--Dishes requiring no meat 96 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + A FEW THINGS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER 105 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + ON SOME TABLE PREJUDICES 108 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS. + + Altering recipes.--How to have tarragon, burnet, + etc.--Remarks on obtaining ingredients not in common + use.--An impromptu salamander.--Larding needle.--How to + have parsley fresh all winter without expense.--On having + kitchen conveniences.--Anecdote related by Jules + Gouffée.--On servants in America.--A little + advice by way of valedictory 111 + + + INDEX 119 + + + + +CULTURE AND COOKING. + + +CHAPTER I. + +A FEW PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + + +ALEXANDRE DUMAS, _père_, after writing five hundred novels, says, "I +wish to close my literary career with a book on cooking." + +And in the hundred pages or so of preface--or perhaps overture would be +the better word, since in it a group of literary men, while contributing +recondite recipes, flourish trumpets in every key--to his huge volume he +says, "I wish to be read by people of the world, and practiced by people +of the art" (_gens de l'art_); and although _I_ wish, like every one who +writes, to be read by all the world, I wish to aid the practice, not of +the professors of the culinary art, but those whose aspirations point to +an enjoyment of the good things of life, but whose means of attaining +them are limited. + +There is a great deal of talk just now about cooking; in a lesser degree +it takes its place as a popular topic with ceramics, modern antiques, +and household art. The fact of it being in a mild way fashionable may do +a little good to the eating world in general. And it may make it more +easy to convince young women of refined proclivities that the art of +cooking is not beneath their attention, to know that the Queen of +England's daughters--and of course the cream of the London fair--have +attended the lectures on the subject delivered at South Kensington, and +that a young lady of rank, Sir James Coles's daughter, has been +recording angel to the association, is in fact the R. C. C. who edits +the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +But, notwithstanding all that has been done by South Kensington lectures +in London and Miss Corson's Cooking School in New York to popularize the +culinary art, one may go into a dozen houses, and find the ladies of the +family with sticky fingers, scissors, and gum pot, busily porcelainizing +clay jars, and not find one where they are as zealously trying to work +out the problems of the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +I have nothing to say against the artistic distractions of the day. +Anything that will induce love of the beautiful, and remove from us the +possibility of a return to the horrors of hair-cloth and brocatel and +crochet tidies, will be a stride in the right direction. But what I do +protest against, is the fact, that the same refined girls and matrons, +who so love to adorn their houses that they will spend hours improving a +pickle jar, mediævalizing their furniture, or decorating the dinner +service, will shirk everything that pertains to the preparation of food +as dirty, disagreeable drudgery, and sit down to a commonplace, +ill-prepared meal, served on those artistic plates, as complacently as +if dainty food were not a refinement; as if heavy rolls and poor bread, +burnt or greasy steak, and wilted potatoes did not smack of the shanty, +just as loudly as coarse crockery or rag carpet--indeed far more so; the +carpet and crockery may be due to poverty, but a dainty meal or its +reverse will speak volumes for innate refinement or its lack in the +woman who serves it. You see by my speaking of rag carpets and dainty +meals in one breath, that I do not consider good things to be the +privilege of the rich alone. + +There are a great many dainty things the household of small or moderate +means can have just as easily as the most wealthy. Beautiful +bread--light, white, crisp--costs no more than the tough, thick-crusted +boulder, with cavities like eye-sockets, that one so frequently meets +with as _home-made bread_. As Hood says: + + "Who has not met with home-made bread, + A heavy compound of putty and lead?" + +Delicious coffee is only a matter of care, not expense--and indeed in +America the cause of poor food, even in a boarding-house, is seldom in +the quality of the articles so much as in the preparation and selection +of them--yet an epicure can breakfast well with fine bread and butter +and good coffee. And this leads me to another thing: many people think +that to give too much attention to food shows gluttony. I have heard a +lady say with a tone of virtuous rebuke, when the conversation turned +from fashions to cooking, "I give very little time to cooking, we eat to +live only"--which is exactly what an animal does. Eating to live is mere +feeding. Brillat-Savarin, an abstemious eater himself, among other witty +things on the same topic says, "_L'animal se repait, l'homme mange, +l'homme d'esprit seul sait manger._" + +Nine people out of ten, when they call a man an epicure, mean it as a +sort of reproach, a man who is averse to every-day food, one whom plain +fare would fail to satisfy; but Grimod de la Reynière, the most +celebrated gourmet of his day, author of "_Almanach des Gourmands_," +and authority on all matters culinary of the last century, said, "A true +epicure can dine well on one dish, provided it is excellent of its +kind." Excellent, that is it. A little care will generally secure to us +the refinement of having only on the table what is excellent of its +kind. If it is but potatoes and salt, let the salt be ground fine, and +the potatoes white and mealy. Thackeray says, an epicure is one who +never tires of brown bread and fresh butter, and in this sense every New +Yorker who has his rolls from the Brevoort House, and uses Darlington +butter, is an epicure. There seems to me, more mere animalism in wading +through a long bill of fare, eating three or four indifferently cooked +vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, each second-rate in quality, or made so +by bad cooking, and declaring that you have dined well, and are easy to +please, than there is in taking pains to have a perfectly broiled chop, +a fine potato, and a salad, on which any true epicure could dine well, +while on the former fare he would leave the table hungry. + +Spenser points a moral for me when he says, speaking of the Irish in +1580, "That wherever they found a plot of shamrocks or water-cresses +they had a feast;" but there were gourmets even among them, for "some +gobbled the green food as it came, and some picked the faultless stalks, +and looked for the bloom on the leaf." + +Thus it is, when I speak of "good living," I do not mean expensive +living or high living, but living so that the table may be as elegant as +the dishes on which it is served. + +I believe there exists a feeling, not often expressed perhaps, but +prevalent among young people, that for a lady to cook with her own +hands is vulgar; to love to do it shows that she is of low intellectual +caliber, a sort of drawing-room Bridget. When or how this idea arose it +would be difficult to say, for in the middle ages cooks were often +noble; a Montmorency was _chef de cuisine_ to Philip of Valois; +Montesquieu descended, and was not ashamed of his descent, from the +second cook of the Connetable de Bourbon, who ennobled him. And from +Lord Bacon, "brightest, greatest, meanest of mankind," who took, it is +said, great interest in cooking, to Talleyrand, the Machiavelli of +France, who spent an hour every day with his cook, we find great men +delighting in the art as a recreation. + +It is surprising that such an essentially artistic people as Americans +should so neglect an art which a great French writer calls the "_science +mignonne_ of all distinguished men of the world." Napoleon the Great so +fully recognized the social value of keeping a good table that, although +no gourmet himself, he wished all his chief functionaries to be so. +"Keep a good table," he told them; "if you get into debt for it I will +pay." And later, one of his most devoted adherents, the Marquis de +Cussy, out of favor with Louis XVIII. on account of that very devotion, +found his reputation as a gourmet very serviceable to him. A friend +applied for a place at court for him, which Louis refused, till he heard +that M. de Cussy had invented the mixture of cream, strawberries, and +champagne, when he granted the petition at once. Nor is this a solitary +instance in history where culinary skill has been a passport to fortune +to its possessor. Savarin relates that the Chevalier d'Aubigny, exiled +from France, was in London, in utter poverty, notwithstanding which, by +chance, he was invited to dine at a tavern frequented by the young +bucks of that day. + +After he had finished his dinner, a party of young gentlemen, who had +been observing him from their table, sent one of their number with many +apologies and excuses to beg of him, as a son of a nation renowned for +their salads, to be kind enough to mix theirs for them. He complied, and +while occupied in making the salad, told them frankly his story, and did +not hide his poverty. One of the gentlemen, as they parted, slipped a +five-pound note into his hand, and his need of it was so great that he +did not obey the prompting of his pride, but accepted it. + +A few days later he was sent for to a great house, and learned on his +arrival that the young gentleman he had obliged at the tavern had spoken +so highly of his salad that they begged him to do the same thing again. +A very handsome sum was tendered him on his departure, and afterwards he +had frequent calls on his skill, until it became the fashion to have +salads prepared by d'Aubigny, who became a well-known character in +London, and was called "_the fashionable salad-maker_." In a few years +he amassed a large fortune by this means, and was in such request that +his carriage would drive from house to house, carrying him and his +various condiments--for he took with him everything that could give +variety to his concoctions--from one place, where his services were +needed, to another. + +The contempt for this art of cooking is confined to this country, and to +the lower middle classes in England. By the "lower middle classes" I +mean, what Carlyle terms the gigocracy--_i.e._, people sufficiently +well-to-do to keep a gig or phaeton--well-to-do tradesmen, small +professional men, the class whose womenkind would call themselves +"genteel," and many absurd stories are told of the determined ignorance +and pretense of these would-be ladies. But in no class above this is a +knowledge of cooking a thing to be ashamed of; in England, indeed, so +far from that being the case, indifference to the subject, or lack of +understanding and taste for certain dishes is looked upon as a sort of +proof of want of breeding. Not to like curry, macaroni, or parmesan, +_pâté de foie gras_, mushrooms, and such like, is a sign that you have +not been all your life accustomed to good living. Mr. Hardy, in his +"Pair of Blue Eyes," cleverly hits this prejudice when he makes Mr. +Swancourt say, "I knew the fellow wasn't a gentleman; he had no acquired +tastes, never took Worcestershire sauce." + +Abroad many women of high rank and culture devote a good deal of time to +a thorough understanding of the subject. We have a lady of the "lordly +line of proud St. Clair" writing for us "Dainty Dishes," and doing it +with a zest that shows she enjoys her work, although she does once in a +while forget something she ought to have mentioned, and later still we +have Miss Rose Coles writing the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +But it is in graceful, refined France that cookery is and has been, a +pet art. Any bill of fare or French cookery book will betray to a +thoughtful reader the attention given to the subject by the wittiest, +gayest, and most beautiful women, and the greatest men. The +high-sounding names attached to French standard dishes are no mere +caprice or homage of a French cook to the great in the land, but +actually point out their inventor. Thus _Bechamel_ was invented by the +Marquis de Bechamel, as a sauce for codfish; while _Filets de Lapereau à +la Berry_ were invented by the Duchess de Berry, daughter of the regent +Orleans, who himself invented _Pain à la d'Orleans_, while to Richelieu +we are indebted for hundreds of dishes besides the renowned mayonnaise. + +_Cailles à la Mirepois_, _Chartreuse à la Mauconseil_, _Poulets à la +Villeroy_, betray the tastes of the three great ladies whose name they +bear. + +But not in courts alone has the art had its devotees. Almost every great +name in French literature brings to mind something its owner said or did +about cooking. Dumas, who was a prince of cooks, and of whom it is +related that in 1860, when living at Varennes, St. Maur, dividing his +time, as usual, between cooking and literature (_Lorsqu'il ne faisait +pas sauter un roman, il faisait sauter des petits oignons_), on +Mountjoye, a young artist friend and neighbor, going to see him, he +cooked dinner for him. Going into the poultry yard, after donning a +white apron, he wrung the neck of a chicken; then to the kitchen garden +for vegetables, which he peeled and washed himself; lit the fire, got +butter and flour ready, put on his saucepans, then cooked, stirred, +tasted, seasoned until dinner time. Then he entered in triumph, and +announced, "_Le diner est servi_." For six months he passed three or +four days a week cooking for Mountjoye. This novelist's book says, in +connection with the fact that great cooks in France have been men of +literary culture, and literary men often fine cooks, "It is not +surprising that literary men have always formed the _entourage_ of a +great chef, for, to appreciate thoroughly all there is in the culinary +art, none are so well able as men of letters; accustomed as they are to +all refinements, they can appreciate better than others those of the +table," thus paying himself and confrères a delicate little compliment +at the expense of the non-literary world; but, notwithstanding the naïve +self-glorification, he states a fact that helps to point my moral, that +indifference to cooking does not indicate refinement, intellect, or +social pre-eminence. + +Brillat-Savarin, grave judge as he was, and abstemious eater, yet has +written the book of books on the art of eating. It was he who said, +"Tell me what you eat, I will tell you what you are," as pregnant with +truth as the better-known proverb it paraphrases. + +Malherbe loved to watch his cook at work. I think it was he who said, "A +coarse-minded man could never be a cook," and Charles Baudelaire, the +Poe of France, takes a poet's view of our daily wants, when he says, +"that an ideal cook must have a great deal of the poet's nature, +combining something of the voluptuary with the man of science learned in +the chemical principles of matter;" although he goes further than we +care to follow when he says, that the question of sauces and seasoning +requires "a chapter as grave as a _feuilleton de science_." + +It has been said by foreigners that Americans care nothing for the +refinements of the table, but I think they do care. I have known many a +woman in comfortable circumstances long to have a good table, many a man +aspire to better things, and if he could only get them at home would pay +any money. But the getting them at home is the difficulty; on a table +covered with exquisite linen, glass, and silver, whose presiding queen +is more likely than not a type of the American lady--graceful, refined, +and witty--on such a table, with such surroundings, will come the +plentiful, coarse, commonplace dinner. + +The chief reason for this is lack of knowledge on the part of our +ladies: know how to do a thing yourself, and you will get it well done +by others. But how are many of them to know? The daughters of the +wealthy in this country often marry struggling men, and they know less +about domestic economy than ladies of the higher ranks abroad; not +because English or French ladies take more part in housekeeping, but +because they are at home all their lives. Ladies of the highest rank +never go to a boarding or any other school, and these are the women who, +with some few exceptions, know best how things should be done. They are +at home listening to criticisms from papa, who is an epicure perhaps, on +the shortcomings of his own table, or his neighbors'; from mamma, as to +what the soup lacks, why cook is not a "_cordon bleu_," etc., while our +girls are at school, far away from domestic comments, deep in the +agonies of algebra perhaps; and directly they leave school, in many +cases they marry. As a preparation for the state of matrimony most of +them learn how to make cake and preserves, and the very excellence of +their attainments in that way proves how easy it would be for them, with +their dainty fingers and good taste, to far excel their European cousins +in that art which a French writer says is based on "reason, health, +common sense, and sound taste." + +Here let me say, I do not by any means advocate a woman, who can afford +to pay a first-rate cook, avoiding the expense by cooking herself; on +the contrary, I think no woman is justified in doing work herself that +she has the means given her to get done by employing others. I have no +praise for the economical woman, who, from a desire to save, does her +own work _without necessity for economy_. It is _not_ her work; the +moment she can afford to employ others it is the work of some less +fortunate person. But in this country, it often happens that a good +cook is not to be found for money, although the raw material of which +one might be made is much oftener at hand. And if ladies would only +practice the culinary art with as much, nay, half as much assiduity as +they give to a new pattern in crochet; devote as much time to attaining +perfection in one dish or article of food, be it perfect bread, or some +French dish which father, brother, or husband goes to Delmonico's to +enjoy, as they do to the crochet tidies or embroidered rugs with which +they decorate their drawing-rooms, they could then take the material, in +the shape of any ambitious girl they may meet with, and make her a fine +cook. In the time they take to make a dozen tidies, they would have a +dozen dishes at their fingers' ends; and let me tell you, the woman who +can cook a dozen things, outside of preserves, in a _perfect_ manner is +a rarity here, and a good cook anywhere, for, by the time the dozen are +accomplished, she will have learned so much of the art of cooking that +all else will come easy. One good soup, bouillon, and you have the +foundation of all others; two good sauces, white sauce and brown, "_les +sauces mères_" as the French call them (mothers of all other sauces), +and all others are matters of detail. Learn to make one kind of roll +perfectly, as light, plump, and crisp as Delmonico's, and all varieties +are at your fingers' ends; you can have kringles, Vienna rolls, +Kreuznach horns, Yorkshire tea cakes, English Sally Lunns and Bath buns; +all are then as easy to make as common soda biscuit. In fact, in +cooking, as in many other things, "_ce n'est que le premier pas que +coûte_;" failures are almost certain at the beginning, but a failure is +often a step toward success--if we only know the reason of the failure. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON BREAD. + + +OF all articles of food, bread is perhaps the one about which most has +been written, most instruction given, and most failures made. Yet what +adds more to the elegance of a table than exquisite bread or breads, +and--unless you live in a large city and depend on the baker--what so +rare? A lady who is very proud of her table, and justly so, said to me +quite lately, "I cannot understand how it is we never have really fine +home-made bread. I have tried many recipes, following them closely, and +I can't achieve anything but a commonplace loaf with a thick, hard +crust; and as for rolls, they are my despair. I have wasted eggs, +butter, and patience so often that I have determined to give them up, +but a fine loaf I will try for." + +"And when you achieve the fine loaf, you may revel in home-made rolls," +I answered. + +And so I advise every one first to make perfect bread, light, white, +crisp, and _thin-crusted_, that rarest thing in home-made bread. + +I have read over many recipes for bread, and am convinced that when the +time allowed for rising is specified, it is invariably too short. One +standard book directs you to leave your sponge two hours, and the bread +when made up a _quarter of an hour_. This recipe strictly followed must +result in heavy, tough bread. As bread is so important, and so many +fail, I will give my own method from beginning to end; not that there +are not numberless good recipes, but simply because they frequently need +adapting to circumstances, and altering a recipe is one of the things a +tyro fears to do. + +I make a sponge over night, using a dried yeast-cake soaked in a pint of +warm water, to which I add a spoonful of salt, and, if the weather is +warm, as much soda as will lie on a dime; make this into a stiff batter +with flour--it may take a quart or less, flour varies so much, to give a +rule is impossible; but if, after standing, the sponge has a watery +appearance, make it thicker by sprinkling in more flour, beat hard a few +minutes, and cover with a cloth--in winter keep a piece of thick flannel +for the purpose, as a chill is fatal to your sponge--and set in a warm +place free from draughts. + +The next morning, when the sponge is quite light--that is to say, at +least twice the bulk it was, and like a honeycomb--take two quarts of +flour, more or less, as you require, but I recommend at first a small +baking, and this will make three small loaves; in winter, flour should +be dried and warmed; put it in your mixing bowl, and turn the sponge +into a hole in the center. Have ready some water, rather more than +lukewarm, but not _hot_. Add it gradually, stirring your flour into the +sponge at the same time. The great fault in making bread is getting the +dough too stiff; it should be as soft as possible, without being at all +sticky or wet. Now knead it with both hands from all sides into the +center; keep this motion, occasionally dipping your hands into the flour +if the dough sticks, but do not add more flour unless the paste sticks +very much; if you have the right consistency it will be a smooth mass, +very soft to the touch, _yet not sticky_, but this may not be attained +at a first mixing without adding flour by degrees. When you have kneaded +the dough until it leaves the bowl all round, set it in a warm place to +rise. When it is well risen, feels very soft and warm to the touch, and +is twice its bulk, knead it once more thoroughly, then put it in tins +either floured, and the flour not adhering shaken out, or buttered, +putting in each a piece of dough half the size you intend your loaf to +be. Now everything depends on your oven. Many people bake their bread +slowly, leaving it in the oven a long time, and this causes a thick, +hard crust. When baked in the modern iron oven, quick baking is +necessary. Let the oven be quite hot, then put a little ball of paste +in, and if it browns palely in seven to ten minutes it is about right; +if it burns, it is too hot; open the damper ten minutes. Your bread, +after it is in the tins, will rise much more quickly than the first +time. Let it get light, but not too light--_twice its bulk_ is a good +rule; but if it is light before your oven is ready, and thus in danger +of getting too porous, work it down with your hand, it will not harm it, +although it is better so to manage that the oven waits for the bread +rather than the bread for the oven. A small loaf--and by all means make +them small until you have gained experience--will not take more than +three quarters of an hour to bake; when a nice yellow brown, take it +out, turn it out of the tin into a cloth, and tap the bottom; if it is +crisp and smells cooked, the loaf is done. Once the bottom is brown it +need remain no longer. Should that, however, from fault of your oven, be +not brown, but soft and white, you must put it back in the oven, the +bottom upwards. An oven that does not bake at the bottom will, however, +be likely to spoil your bread. It is sometimes caused by a careless +servant leaving a collection of ashes underneath it; satisfy yourself +that all the flues are perfectly clean and clear before beginning to +bake, and if it still refuses to do its duty, change it, for you will +have nothing but loss and vexation of spirit while you have it in use. I +think you will find this bread white, evenly porous (not with small +holes in one part and caverns in another; if it is so you have made your +dough too stiff, and it is not sufficiently kneaded), and with a thin, +crisp crust. Bread will surely fail to rise at all if you have scalded +the yeast; the water must never be too hot. In winter, if it gets +chilled, it will only rise slowly, or not at all, and in using baker's +or German yeast take care that it is not stale, which will cause heavy, +irregular bread. + +In making bread with compressed yeast proceed in exactly the same way, +excepting that the sponge will not need to be set over night, unless you +want to bake very early. + +If you have once produced bread to your satisfaction you will find no +difficulty in making rolls. Proceed as follows: + +Take a piece of the dough from your baking after it has risen once. To a +piece as large as a man's fist take a large tablespoonful of butter and +a little powdered sugar; work them into the dough, put it in a bowl, +cover it, and set it in a warm place to rise--a shelf behind the stove +is best; if you make this at the same time as your bread, you will find +it takes longer to rise; the butter causes that difference; when very +light, much lighter than your bread should be, take your hand and push +it down till it is not larger than when you put it in the bowl; let it +rise again, and again push it down, but not so thoroughly; do this once +or twice more, and you have the secret of light rolls. You will find +them rise very quickly, after once or twice pushing down. When they have +risen the third or fourth time, take a little butter on your hands, and +break off small pieces about the size of a walnut and roll them round. +Either put them on a tin close together, to be broken apart, or an inch +or two from each other, in which case work in a little more flour, and +cut a cleft on the top, and once more set to rise; half an hour will be +long enough generally, but in this case you must judge for yourself, +they sometimes take an hour; if they look swelled very much and smooth +they will be ready. Have a nice hot oven, and bake for twelve to fifteen +minutes. + +Add a little more sugar to your dough and an egg, go through the same +process, brush them over with sugar dissolved in milk, and you will have +delicious rusks. + +The above is my own method of making rolls, and the simplest I know of; +but there are numbers of other recipes given in cookery books which +would be just as good if the exact directions for letting them rise were +given. As a test--and every experiment you try will be so much gained in +your experience--follow the recipe given for rolls in any good cookery +book, take part of the dough and let it rise as therein directed, and +bake, set the other part to rise as _I_ direct, and notice the +difference. + +KREUZNACH HORNS.--Either take a third of the dough made for bread with +three quarts of flour, or set a sponge with a pint of flour and a +yeast-cake soaked in half a pint of warm water or milk, making it into a +stiffish dough with another pint of flour; then add four ounces of +butter, a _little_ sugar, and two eggs; work well. If you use the bread +dough, you will need to dredge in a little more flour on account of the +eggs, but not _very much_; then set to rise as for rolls, work it down +twice or thrice, then turn the dough out on the molding board lightly +floured, roll it as you would pie-crust into pieces six inches square, +and quarter of an inch thick, make two sharp, quick cuts across it from +corner to corner, and you will have from each square four three-cornered +pieces of paste; spread each _thinly_ with soft butter, flour lightly, +and roll up very lightly from the wide side, taking care that it is not +squeezed together in any way; lay them on a tin with the side on which +the point comes uppermost, and bend round in the form of a horseshoe; +these will take some time to rise; when they have swollen much and look +light, brush them over with white of egg (not beaten) or milk and +butter, and bake in a good oven. + +KRINGLES are made from the same recipe, but with another egg and two +ounces of sugar (powdered) added to the dough when first set to rise; +then, when well risen two or three times, instead of rolling with a pin +as for horns, break off pieces, roll between your hands as thick as your +finger, and form into figure eights, rings, fingers; or take three +strips, flour and roll them as thick as your finger, tapering at each +end; lay them on the board, fasten the three together at one end, and +then lay one over the other in a plait, fasten the other end, and set to +rise, bake; when done, brush over with sugar dissolved in milk, and +sprinkle with sugar. + +All these breads are delicious for breakfast, and may easily be had +without excessive early rising if the sponge is set in the _morning_, +dough made in the afternoon, and the rising and working done in the +evening; when, instead of making up into rolls, horns, or kringles, +push the dough down thoroughly, cover with a damp folded cloth, and put +in a _very_ cold place if in summer--not on ice of course--then next +morning, as soon as the fire is alight, mold, but do not push down any +more, put in a very warm spot, and when light, bake. + +In summer, as I have said, I think it safest, to prevent danger of +souring, to put a little soda in the sponge for bread; and for rolls, or +anything requiring to rise several times, it is an essential precaution. + +BRIOCHE.--I suppose the very name of this delectable French dainty will +call up in the mind's eye of many who read this book that great "little" +shop, _Au Grand Brioche_, on the Boulevarde Poissonière, where, on +Sunday afternoons, scores of boys from the Lycées form _en queue_ with +the general public, waiting the hour when the piles of golden brioche +shall be ready to exchange for their eager sous. But I venture to say, a +really fine brioche is rarely eaten on this side the Atlantic. They +being a luxury welcome to all, and especially aromatic of Paris, I tried +many times to make them, obtaining for that purpose recipes from French +friends, and from standard French books, but never succeeded in +producing the ideal brioche until I met with Gouffé's great book, the +"_Livre de Cuisine_," after reading which, I may here say, all secrets +of the French kitchen are laid bare; no effort is spared to make +everything plain, from the humble _pot-au-feu_ to the most gorgeous +monumental _plât_. And I would refer any one who wants to become +proficient in any French dish, to that book, feeling sure that, in +following strictly the directions, there will be no failure. It is the +one book I have met with on the subject in which no margin is left for +your own knowledge, if you have it, to fill up. But to the brioche. + + +PARIS JOCKEY-CLUB RECIPE FOR BRIOCHE. + +Sift one pound of flour, take one fourth of it, and add rather more than +half a cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in half a gill of warm water, +make into a sponge with a _very little_ more water, put it in a warm +place; when it is double its volume take the rest of the flour, make a +hole in the center, and put in it an equal quantity of salt and sugar, +about a teaspoonful, and two tablespoonfuls of water to dissolve them. +Three quarters of a pound of butter and four eggs, beat well, then add +another egg, beat again, and add another, and so on until seven have +been used; the paste must be soft, but not spread; if too firm, add +another egg. Now mix this paste with the sponge thoroughly, beating +until the paste leaves the sides of the bowl, then put it in a crock and +cover; let it stand four hours in a warm place, then turn it out on a +board, _spread it and double it four times_, return it to the crock, and +let it rise again two hours; repeat the former process of doubling and +spreading, and put it in a very cold place for two hours, or until you +want to use it. Mold in any form you like, but the true brioche is two +pieces, one as large again as the other; form the large one into a ball, +make a deep depression in the center, on which place the smaller ball, +pressing it gently in; cut two or three gashes round it with a sharp +knife, and bake a beautiful golden brown. These brioche are such a +luxury, and so sure to come out right, that the trouble of making them +is well worth the taking, and for another reason: every one knows the +great difficulty of making puff paste in summer, and a short paste is +never handsome; but take a piece of brioche paste, roll it out thin, +dredge with flour, fold and roll again, then use as you would puff +paste; if for sweet pastry, a little powdered sugar may be sprinkled +through it instead of dredging with flour. This makes a very handsome +and delicious crust. Or, another use to which it may be put is to roll +it out, cut it in rounds, lay on them mince-meat, orange marmalade, jam, +or merely sprinkle with currants, chopped citron, and spices, fold, +press the edges, and bake. + +Before quitting the subject of breads I must introduce a novelty which I +will call "soufflée bread." It is quickly made, possible even when the +fire is poor, and so delicious that I know you will thank me for making +you acquainted with it. + +Use two or three eggs according to size you wish, and to each egg a +tablespoonful of flour. Mix the yolks with the flour and with them a +dessert-spoonful of butter melted, and enough milk to make a very +_thick_ batter, work, add a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar, +work till quite smooth, then add the whites of the eggs in a firm froth, +stir them in gently, and add a _quarter_ teaspoonful of soda and half a +one of cream of tartar. Have ready an iron frying-pan (or an earthen one +that will stand heat is better), made hot with a tablespoonful of butter +in it, also hot, but not so hot as for frying. Pour the batter (which +should be of the consistency of sponge cake batter) into the pan, cover +it with a lid or tin plate, and set it back of the stove if the fire is +hot--if very slow it may be forward; when well risen and near done, put +it in the oven, or if the oven is cold you may turn it gently, not to +deaden it. Serve when done (try with a twig), the under side uppermost; +it should be of a fine golden brown and look like an omelet. This +soufflée bread is equally good _baked_ in a tin in which is rather more +butter than enough to grease it; the oven must be _very hot indeed_. +Cover it for the few minutes with a tin plate or lid, to prevent it +scorching before it has risen; when it has puffed up remove the lid, and +allow it to brown, ten to fifteen minutes should bake it; turn it out as +you would sponge cake--very carefully, not to deaden it. To succeed with +bread you must use the very best flour. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PASTRY. + + +TO MAKE good puff paste is a thing many ladies are anxious to do, and in +which they generally fail, and this not so much because they do not make +it properly, as because they handle it badly. A lady who was very +anxious to excel in pastry once asked me to allow her to watch me make +paste. I did so, and explained that there was more in the manner of +using than in the making up. I then gave her a piece of my paste when +completed, and asked her to cover some patty pans while I covered +others, cautioning her as to the way she must cover them; yet, when +those covered by her came out of the oven they had not risen at all, +they were like rich short paste; while my own, made from the same paste, +were toppling over with lightness. I had, without saying anything, +pressed my thumb slightly on one spot of one of mine; in that spot the +paste had not risen at all, and I think this practical demonstration of +what I had tried to explain was more useful than an hour's talk would +have been. + +I will first give my method of making, which is the usual French way of +making "_feuilletonage_." Take one pound of butter, or half of it lard; +press all the water out by squeezing it in a cloth; this is important, +as the liquid in it would wet your paste; take a third of the butter, or +butter and lard, and rub it into one pound of _fine_ flour; add no salt +if your butter is salted; then take enough water (to which you may add +the well-beaten white of an egg, but it is not absolutely necessary) to +make the flour into a smooth, firm dough; it must not be too stiff, or +it will be hard to roll out, or too soft, or it will never make good +paste; it should roll easily, yet not stick; work it till it is very +smooth, then roll it out till it is half an inch thick; now lay the +whole of the butter in the center, fold one-third the paste over, then +the other third; it is now folded in three, with the butter completely +hidden; now turn the ends toward you, and roll it till it is half an +inch thick, taking care, by rolling very evenly, that the butter is not +pressed out at the other end; now you have a piece of paste about two +feet long, and not half that width; flour it lightly, and fold _over_ +one third and under one third, which will almost bring it to a square +again; turn it round so that what was the side is now the end, and roll. +Most likely now the butter will begin to break through, in which case +fold it, after flouring lightly, in three, as before, and put it on a +dish on the ice, covering it with a damp cloth. You may now either leave +it for an hour or two, or till next day. Paste made the day before it is +used is much better and easier to manage, and in winter it may be kept +for four or five days in a cold place, using from it as required. + +When ready to use your paste finish the making by rolling it out, +dredging a _little_ flour, and doubling it in three as before, and roll +it out thin; do this until from first to last it has been so doubled and +rolled seven times. + +Great cooks differ on one or two points in making pastry; for instance, +Soyer directs you to put the yolk of an egg instead of the white, and a +squeeze of lemon juice into the flour, and expressly forbids you to +work it before adding the mass of butter, while Jules Gouffé says, "work +it until smooth and shining." I cannot pretend to decide between these +differing doctors, but I pursue the method I have given and always have +light pastry. And now to the handling of it: It must only be touched by +the lightest fingers, every cut must be made with a sharp knife, and +done with one quick stroke so that the paste is not dragged at all; in +covering a pie dish or patty pan, you are commonly directed to mold the +paste over it as thin as possible, which conveys the idea that the paste +is to be pressed over and so made thin; this would destroy the finest +paste in the world; roll it thin, say for small tartlets, less than a +quarter of an inch thick, for a pie a trifle thicker, then lay the dish +or tin to be covered on the paste, and cut out with a knife, dipped in +_hot_ water or flour, a piece a little larger than the mold, then line +with the piece you have cut, touching it as little as possible; press +only enough to make the paste adhere to the bottom, but on no account +press the border; to test the necessity of avoiding this, gently press +one spot on a tart, before putting it in the oven, only so much as many +people always do in making pie, and watch the result. When your tartlets +or pies are made, take each up on your left hand, and with a sharp knife +dipped in flour trim it round quickly. To make the cover of a pie adhere +to the under crust, lay the forefinger of your right hand lengthwise +round the border, but as far from the edge as you can, thus forming a +groove for the syrups, and pressing the cover on at the same time. A +word here about fruit pies: Pile the fruit high in the center, leaving a +space all round the sides almost bare of fruit, when the cover is on +press gently the paste, as I have explained, into this groove, then +make two or three deep holes in the groove; the juice will boil out of +these holes and run round this groove, instead of boiling out through +the edges and wasting. + +This is the pastry-cook's way of making pies, and makes a much handsomer +one than the usual flat method, besides saving your syrup. To ornament +fruit pies or tartlets, whip the white of an egg, and stir in as much +powdered sugar as will make a thin meringue--a large tablespoonful is +usually enough--then when your pies or tartlets are baked, take them +from the oven, glaze with the egg and sugar, and return to the oven, +leaving the door open; when it has set into a frosty icing they are +ready to serve. + +It is worth while to accomplish puff paste, for so many dainty trifles +may be made with it, which, attempted with the ordinary short paste, +would be unsightly. Some of these that seem to me novel I will describe. + +Rissolettes are made with trimmings of puff paste; if you have about a +quarter of a pound left, roll it out very thin, about as thick as a +fifty-cent piece; put about half a spoonful of marmalade or jam on it, +in places about an inch apart, wet lightly round each, and place a piece +of paste over all; take a small round cutter as large as a dollar, and +press round the part where the marmalade or jam is with the thick part +of the cutter; then cut them out with a cutter a size larger, lay them +on a baking tin, brush over with white of egg; then cut some little +rings the size of a quarter dollar, put one on each, egg over again, and +bake twenty minutes in a nice hot oven; then sift white sugar all over, +put them back in the oven to glaze; a little red currant jelly in each +ring looks pretty; serve in the form of a pyramid. + +PASTRY TABLETS.--Cut strips of paste three inches and a half long, and +an inch and a half wide, and as thick as a twenty-five cent piece; lay +on half of them a thin filmy layer of jam or marmalade, not jelly; then +on each lay a strip without jam, and bake in a quick oven. When the +paste is well risen and brown, take them out, glaze them with white of +egg and sugar, and sprinkle chopped almonds over them; return to the +oven till the glazing is set and the almonds just colored; serve them +hot or cold on a napkin piled log-cabin fashion. + +FRANGIPANÉ TARTLETS.--One quarter pint of cream, four yolks of eggs, two +ounces of flour, three macaroons, four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, +the peel of a grated lemon, and a little citron cut very fine, a little +brandy and orange-flower water. Put all the ingredients, except the +eggs, in a saucepan--of course you will mix the flour smooth in the +cream first--let them come to a boil slowly, stirring to prevent lumps; +when the flour smells cooked, take it off the fire for a minute, then +stir the beaten yolks of eggs into it. Stand the saucepan in another of +boiling water and return to the stove, stirring till the eggs seem +done--about five minutes, if the water boils all the time. Line patty +pans with puff paste, and fill with frangipané and bake. Ornament with +chopped almonds and meringue, or not, as you please. + +It is very difficult to make fine puff paste in warm weather, and almost +impossible without ice; for this reason I think the brioche paste +preferable; but if it is necessary to have it for any purpose, you must +take the following precautions: + +Have your water iced; have your butter as firm as possible by being +kept on ice till the last moment; make the paste in the coolest place +you have, and under the breeze of an open window, if possible; make it +the day before you use it, and put it on the ice between every "turn," +as each rolling out is technically called; then leave it on the ice, as +you use it, taking pieces from it as you need them, so that the warmth +cannot soften the whole at once, when it would become quite +unmanageable. The condition of the oven is a very important matter, and +I cannot do better than transcribe the rules given by Gouffé, by which +you may test its fitness for any purpose: + +Put half a sheet of writing paper in the oven; if it catches fire it is +too hot; open the dampers and wait ten minutes, when put in another +piece of paper; if it blackens it is still too hot. Ten minutes later +put in a third piece; if it _gets dark brown_ the oven is right for all +small pastry. Called "_dark brown paper heat_." _Light brown paper heat_ +is suitable for _vol-au-vents_ or fruit pies. _Dark yellow paper heat_ +for large pieces of pastry or meat pies, pound cake, bread, etc. _Light +yellow paper heat_ for sponge cake, meringues, etc. + +To obtain these various degrees of heat, you try paper every ten minutes +till the heat required for your purpose is attained. But remember that +"light yellow" means the paper only tinged; "dark yellow," the paper the +color of ordinary pine wood; "light brown" is only a shade darker, about +the color of nice pie-crust, and dark brown a shade darker, by no means +coffee color. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHAT TO HAVE IN YOUR STORE-ROOM. + + +ONE great trouble with many young housekeepers is betrayed by the common +remark, "Cookery books always require so many things that one never has +in the house, and they coolly order you to 'moisten with gravy,' 'take a +little gravy,' as if you had only to go to the pump and get it." It is +very true that economy in cooking is much aided by having a supply of +various condiments; warmed-over meat may then be converted into a +delicious little entrée with little trouble. I would recommend, +therefore, any one who is in earnest about reforming her dinner table to +begin by expending a few dollars in the following articles: + + + 1 bottle of capers, + 1 " olives, + 1 " gherkins, + 1 " soy, + 1 " anchovies, + 1 " tarragon vinegar, + 1 " claret, + 1 " white wine, + 1 " sherry for cooking, + 1 " brandy, + 1 " Harvey sauce, + 1 " walnut ketchup. + +And a package of compressed vegetables and a few bay leaves. + + +Ten dollars thus spent may seem a good deal of money to a young +housewife trying to make her husband's salary go as far as it will; but +I assure her it is in the end an economy, especially in a small family, +who are so apt to get tired of seeing the same thing, that it has to be +thrown or given away. With these condiments and others I have yet to +mention you will have no trouble in using every scrap; not using it and +eating it from a sense of duty, and wishing it was something better, but +enjoying it. With your store-room well provided, you can indeed go for +gravy "as if to the pump." + +Besides the foregoing list of articles to be bought of any good grocer, +there are others which can be made at home to advantage, and once made +are always ready. Mushroom powder I prefer for any use to mushroom +catsup; it is easily made and its uses are infinite. Sprinkled over +steak (when it must be sifted) or chops, it is delicious. For ordinary +purposes, such as flavoring soup or gravy, it need not be sifted. To +prepare it, take a peck of large and very fresh mushrooms, look them +over carefully that they are not wormy, then cleanse them with a piece +of flannel from sand or grit, then peel them and put them in the sun or +a cool oven to dry; they require long, slow drying, and must become in a +state to crumble. Your peck will have diminished by the process into +half a pint or less of mushroom powder, but you have the means with it +of making a rich gravy at a few minutes' notice. + +Apropos of gravies--that much-vexed question in small households--for +without gravies on hand you cannot make good hash, or many other things +that are miserable without, and excellent with it. Yet how difficult it +is to have gravy always on hand every mistress of a small family knows, +in spite of the constant advice to "save your trimming to make stock." +Do by all means save your bones, gristle, odds and ends of meat of all +kinds, and convert them into broth; but even if you do, it often happens +that the days you have done so no gravy is required, and then it sours +quickly in summer, although it may be arrested by reboiling. In no +family of three or four are there odds and ends enough, unless there is +a very extravagant table kept, to insure stock for every day. My remedy +for this, then, is to make a stock that will keep for months or +years--in other words, _glaze_. So very rarely forming part of a +housewife's stores, yet so valuable that the fact is simply astonishing; +with a piece of glaze, you have a dish of soup on an emergency, rich +gravy for any purpose, and all with the expenditure of less time than +would make a pot of sweetmeats. + +Take six pounds of a knuckle of veal or leg of beef, cut it in pieces +the size of an egg, as also half a pound of lean ham; then rub a quarter +of a pound of butter on the bottom of your pot, which should hold two +gallons; then put in the meat with half a pint of water, three +middle-sized onions, with two cloves in each, a turnip, a carrot, and a +_small_ head of celery; then place over a quick fire, occasionally +stirring it round, until the bottom of the pot is covered with a thick +glaze, which will adhere lightly to the spoon; then fill up the pot with +cold water, and when on the boiling point, draw it to the back of the +stove, where it may gently simmer three hours, if veal, six if beef, +carefully skimming it to remove scum. This stock, as it is, will make a +delicious foundation, with the addition of salt, for all kinds of clear +soup or gravies. To reduce it to glaze proceed as follows: Pass the +stock through a fine hair sieve or cloth into a pan; then fill up the +pot again with _hot_ water, and let it boil four hours longer to obtain +all the glutinous part from the meat; strain, and pour both stocks in a +large pot or stew-pan together; set it over the fire, and let it boil +as fast as possible with the lid off, leaving a large spoon in it to +prevent it boiling over, and to stir occasionally. When reduced to about +three pints, pour it into a small stew-pan or saucepan, set again to +boil, but more slowly, skimming it if necessary; when it is reduced to a +quart, set it where it will again boil quickly, stirring it well with a +wooden spoon until it begins to get thick and of a fine yellowish-brown +color; at this point be careful it does not burn. + +You may either pour it into a pot for use, or, what is more convenient +for making gravies, get a sausage skin from your butcher, cut a yard of +it, tie one end very tightly, then pour into it by means of a large +funnel the glaze; from this cut slices for use. A thick slice dissolved +in hot water makes a cup of nutritious soup, into which you may put any +cooked vegetables, or rice, or barley. A piece is very useful to take on +a journey, especially for an invalid who does not want to depend on +wayside hotel food, or is tired of beef-tea. + +The foregoing is the orthodox recipe for glaze, and if you have to buy +meat for the purpose the very best way in which you can make it; but if +it happen that you have some strong meat soup or jelly, for which you +have no use while fresh, then boil it down till it is thick and brown +(not burnt); it will be excellent glaze; not so fine in flavor, perhaps, +but it preserves to good use what would otherwise be lost. Very many +people do not know the value of pork for making jelly. If you live in +the country and kill a pig, use his hocks for making glaze instead of +beef. + +Glaze also adds much to the beauty of many dishes. If roast beef is not +quite brown enough on any one spot set your jar of glaze--for this +purpose it is well to have some put in a jar as well as in the skin--in +boiling water. Keep a small stiff brush; such as are sold for the +purpose at house-furnishing stores, called a glazing brush, are best; +but you may manage with any other or even a stiff feather. When the +glaze softens, as glue would do, brush over your meat with it, it will +give the lacking brown; or, if you have a ham or tongue you wish to +decorate you may "varnish" it, as it were, with the melted glaze; then +when cold beat some fresh butter to a white cream, and with a kitchen +syringe, if you have one, a stiff paper funnel if you have not, trace +any design you please on the glazed surface; this makes a very handsome +dish, and if your ham has been properly boiled will be very satisfactory +to the palate. Of the boiling of ham I will speak in another chapter. + +I have a few more articles to recommend for your store-room, and then I +think you will find yourself equal to the emergency of providing an +elegant little meal if called upon unexpectedly, provided you have any +cold scraps at all in the house, and _maître d'hôtel_ butter. + +To make the latter, take half a pound of fine butter, one tablespoonful +of very fresh parsley, chopped not too fine, salt, pepper, and a small +tablespoonful of lemon juice; mix together, but do not work more than +sufficient for that purpose, and pack in a jar, keeping it in a cool +place. A tablespoonful of this laid in a hot dish on which you serve +beefsteak, chops, or any kind of fish, is a great addition, and turns +plain boiled potatoes into _pomme de terre à la maître d'hôtel_. It is +excellent with stewed potatoes, or added to anything for which parsley +is needed, and not always at hand; a spoonful with half the quantity of +flour stirred into a gill of milk or water makes the renowned _maître +d'hôtel_ sauce (or English parsley butter) for boiled fish, mutton, or +veal. In short, it is one of the most valuable things to have in the +house. Equally valuable, even, and more elegant is the preparation known +as "Ravigotte" or Montpellier butter. + +Take one pound in equal quantities of chervil, tarragon, burnet +(pimpernel), chives, and garden cress (peppergrass); scald _two_ +minutes, drain quite dry; pound in a mortar three hard eggs, three +anchovies, and one scant ounce of pickled cucumbers, and same quantity +of capers well pressed to extract the vinegar; add salt, pepper, and a +bit of garlic half as large as a pea, rub all through a sieve; then put +a pound of fine butter into the mortar, which must be well cleansed from +the herbs, add the herbs, with two tablespoonfuls of oil and one of +tarragon vinegar, mix perfectly, and if not of a fine green, add the +juice of some pounded spinach. + +This is the celebrated "_beurre de Montpellier_" sold in Paris in tiny +jars at a high price. Ravigotte is the same thing, only in place of the +eggs, anchovies, pickles, and capers, put half a pound more butter; it +is good, but less piquant. + +Pack in a jar, and keep cool. This butter is excellent for many +purposes. For salad, beaten with oil, vinegar, and yolks of eggs, as for +mayonnaise, it makes a delicious dressing. For cold meat or fish it is +excellent, and also for chops. + +Two or three other articles serve to simplify the art of cooking in its +especially difficult branches, and in the branches a lady finds +difficult to attend to herself without remaining in the kitchen until +the last minute before dinner; but with the aid of blanc and roux a +fairly intelligent girl can make excellent sauces. + +For roux melt slowly half a pound of butter over the fire, skim it, let +it settle, then dredge in eight ounces of fine flour, stir it till it is +of a bright brown, then put away in a jar for use. + +Blanc is the same thing, only it is not allowed to brown; it should be +stirred only enough to make all hot through, then put away in a jar. + +If you need thickening for a white sauce and do not wish to stand over +it yourself, having taught your cook the simple fact that a piece of +blanc put into the milk _before it boils_ (or it will harden instead of +melt) and allowed to dissolve, stirring constantly, will make the sauce +you wish, she will be able at all times to produce a white sauce that +you need not be ashamed of. When the sauce is nearly ready to serve, +stir in a good piece of butter--a large spoonful to half a pint; when +mixed, the sauce is ready. Brown sauce can always be made by taking a +cup of broth or soup and dissolving in the same way a piece of the roux; +and also, if desired, a piece of Montpellier butter. If there is no soup +of course you make it with a piece of glaze. + +Brown flour is also a convenient thing to have ready; it is simply +cooking flour in the oven until it is a _pale_ brown; if it is allowed +to get dark it will be bitter, and, that it may brown evenly, it +requires to be laid on a large flat baking pan and stirred often. Useful +for thickening stews, hash, etc. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LUNCHEON. + + +LUNCHEON is usually, in this country, either a forlorn meal of cold meat +or hash, or else a sort of early dinner, both of which are a mistake. If +it is veritably _luncheon_, and not early dinner, it should be as unlike +that later meal as possible for variety's sake, and, in any but very +small families, there are so many dishes more suitable for luncheon than +any other meal, that it is easy to have great variety with very little +trouble. + +I wish it were more the fashion here to have many of the cold dishes +which are popular on the other side the Atlantic; and, in spite of the +fact that table prejudices are very difficult to get over, I will append +a few recipes in the hope that some lady, more progressive than +prejudiced, may give them a trial, convinced that their excellence, +appearance, and convenience will win them favor. + +By having most dishes cold at luncheon, it makes it a distinct meal from +the hot breakfast and dinner. In summer, the cold food and a salad is +especially refreshing; in winter, a nice hot soup or purée--thick soup +is preferable at luncheon to clear, which is well fitted to precede a +heavy meal--and some savory _entrée_ are very desirable, while cold +raised pie, galantine, jellied fish, and potted meats may ever, at that +season, find their appropriate place on the luncheon table. The +potatoes, which are the only vegetable introduced at strict lunch, +should be prepared in some fancy manner, as croquettes, mashed and +browned, _à la maître d'hôtel_, or in snow. The latter mode is pretty +and novel; I will, therefore, include it in my recipes for luncheon +dishes. Omelets, too, are excellent at luncheon. + +In these remarks I am thinking especially of large families, whose +luncheon table might be provided with a dish of galantine, one of +collared fish, and a meat pie, besides the steak, cutlets, or +warmed-over meat, without anything going to waste. In winter most cold +jellied articles will keep a fortnight, and in summer three or four +days. + +WINDSOR PIE.--Take slices of veal cutlet, half an inch thick, and very +thin slices of lean boiled ham; put at the bottom of one of these +veal-pie dishes or "bakers," about two to three inches deep, a layer of +the veal, seasoned, then one of ham, then one of force-meat, made as +follows: Take a little veal, or if you have sausage-meat ready-made, it +will do, as much fine dry bread-crumbs, a dessert-spoonful of _finely_ +chopped parsley, in which is a salt-spoonful of powdered thyme, savory, +and marjoram, if you have them, with salt and pepper, and mix with +enough butter to make it a crumbling paste; lay a _thin_ layer of this +on the ham, then another of veal, then ham and force-meat again, until +the dish is quite full. Lay something flat upon it, and then a weight +for an hour. You must have prepared, from bones and scraps of veal, +about a pint of stiff veal jelly; pour this over the meat, and then take +strips of rich puff paste (the _brioche_ paste would be excellent in hot +weather), wet the edge of the dish, and lay the strips round, pressing +them lightly to the dish; roll the cover a little larger than the top +of the dish, and lay it on, first wetting the surface, _not the edge_, +of the strips round the lips of the dish; press the two together, then +make a hole in the center and ornament as you please; but I never +ornament the _edge_ of a pie, as it is apt to prevent the paste from +rising. An appropriate and simple ornament for meat pies is to roll a +piece of paste very thin, cut it in four diamond-shaped pieces, put one +point of each to the hole in the center so that you have one on each +end, and one each side, then roll another little piece of paste as thin +as possible, flour it and double it, then double it again, bring all the +corners together in your hand, like a little bundle, then with a sharp +knife give a quick cut over the top of the ball of paste, cutting quite +deeply, then another across; if your cut has been clean and quick, you +will now be able to turn half back the leaves of paste as if it were a +half-blown rose. The ends which you have gathered together in your hand +are to be inserted in the hole in the center of the pie. Then brush over +with yolk of egg beaten very well in a little milk or water, and bake an +hour and a half. + +This way of covering and ornamenting a pie is appropriate for all meat +pies; pigeon pie should, however, have the little red feet skinned by +dipping in boiling water, then rubbed in a cloth, when skin and nails +peel off; if allowed to lie in the water, the flesh comes too; then one +pair is put at each end of the pie, a hole being cut to insert them, or +four are put in the center instead of the rose. + +The Windsor pie is intended to be eaten cold, as are all veal and ham +pies, the beauty of the jelly being lost in a hot pie. Do not fail to +try it on that account, for cold pies are excellent things. + +ANOTHER VEAL AND HAM PIE, more usual, and probably the "weal and hammer" +that "mellered the organ" of Silas Wegg, was manufactured by Mrs. Boffin +from this recipe; it is as follows: + +Take the thick part of breast of veal, removing all the bones, which put +on for gravy, stewing them long and slowly; put a layer of veal, pepper +and salt, then a thin sprinkling of ham; if boiled, cut in slices; if +raw, cut a slice in dice, which scald before using, then more veal and +again ham. If force-meat balls are liked, make some force-meat as for +Windsor pie, using if you prefer it chopped hard-boiled eggs in place of +chopped meat, and binding into a paste with a raw egg; then make into +balls, which drop into the crevices of the pie; boil two or three eggs +quite hard, cut each in four and lay them round the sides and over the +top, pour in about a gill of gravy, and cover the same as the Windsor +pie. In either of these pies the force-meat may be left out, a +sweetbread cut up, or mushrooms put in. + +A chicken pie to eat cold is very fine made in this way. + +RAISED PORK PIES are so familiar to every one who has visited England, +and, in spite of the greasy idea, are so very good, that I introduce a +well-tried recipe, feeling sure any one who eats pork at all will find +it worth while to give them a trial; they will follow it with many +another. + +The paste for them is made as follows: + +Rub into two pounds of flour a liberal half pound of butter, then melt +in half a pint of hot, but not boiling milk, another half pound--or it +may be lard; pour this into the flour, and knead it into a smooth, firm +paste. Properly raised pies should be molded by hand, and I will +endeavor to describe the method in case any persevering lady would like +to try and have the orthodox thing. But pie molds of tin, opening at +the side, are to be bought, and save much trouble; the mold, if used, +should be well buttered, and the pie taken out when done, and returned +to the oven for the sides to brown. + +To "raise" a pie, proceed thus: While the paste is warm, form a ball of +paste into a cone; then with the fist work inside it, till it forms an +oval cup; continue to knead till you have the walls of an even +thickness, then pinch a fold all around the bottom. If properly done, +you have an oval, flat-bottomed crust, with sides about two inches high; +fill this with pork, fat and lean together, well peppered and salted; +then work an oval cover, as near the size of the bottom cover as you +can, and wet the edges of the wall, lay the cover on, and pinch to match +the bottom; ornament as directed for Windsor pie, wash with egg, and +bake a pale brown in a moderate oven; they must be well cooked, or the +meat will not be good. One containing a pound of meat may be cooked an +hour and a quarter. All these pies are served in slices, cut through to +the bottom. + +Galantines are very handsome dishes, not very difficult to make, and +generally popular. I give a recipe for a very simple and delicious one: + +Take a fine breast of veal, remove all gristle, tendons, bones, and trim +to fifteen inches in length and eight wide; use the trimmings and bones +to help make the jelly, then put on the meat a layer of force-meat made +thus: Take one pound of sausage meat, or lean veal, to which add half a +pound of bread-crumbs, parsley and thyme to taste; grate a _little_ +nutmeg, pepper, salt, and the juice of half a lemon; have also some long +strips an inch thick of fat bacon or pork, and lean of veal, and lean +ham, well seasoned with pepper, salt, and finely chopped shallots. Lay +on the meat a layer of force-meat an inch thick, leaving an inch and a +half on each side uncovered; then lay on your strips of ham, veal, and +bacon fat, alternately; then another of force-meat, but only half an +inch thick, as too much force-meat will spoil the appearance of the +dish; if you have any cold tongue, lay some strips in, also a few +blanched pistachio nuts (to be obtained of a confectioner) will give the +appearance of true French galantine. Roll up the veal, and sew it with a +packing or coarse needle and fine twine, tie it firmly up in a piece of +linen. Observe that you do not put your pistachio nuts amid the +force-meat, where, being green, their appearance would be lost; put them +in crevices of the meats. + +Cook this in sufficient water to cover, in which you must have the +trimmings of the breast and a knuckle of veal, or hock of pork, two +onions, a carrot, half a head of celery, two cloves, a blade of mace, +and a good bunch of parsley, thyme and bay leaf, two ounces of salt. Set +the pot on the fire till it is at boiling point, then draw it to the +back and let it simmer three hours, skimming carefully; then take it +from the fire, leaving it in the stock till nearly cold; then take it +out, remove the string from the napkin, and roll the galantine up +tighter--if too tight at first it will be hard--tying the napkin at each +end only; then place it on a dish, set another dish on it, on which +place a fourteen-pound weight; this will cause it to cut firm. When +quite cold, remove strings and cloth, and it is ready to be ornamented +with jelly. When the stock in which the galantine was cooked is cold +take off the fat and clarify it, first trying, however, if it is in +right condition, by putting a little on ice. If it is not stiff enough +to cut firm, you must reduce it by boiling; if too stiff, that is +approaching glaze, add a _little_ water, then clarify by adding whites +of eggs, as directed to clarify soup (see soups). A glass of sherry and +two spoonfuls of tarragon or common vinegar are a great improvement. +Some people like this jelly cut in dice, to ornament the galantine, part +of it may then also serve to ornament other dishes at the table. But I +prefer to have the galantine enveloped in jelly, which may be done by +putting it in an oblong soup tureen or other vessel that will contain +it, leaving an inch space all round, then pouring the jelly over it. + +Jellied fish is a favorite dish with many, and is very simple to +prepare; it is also very ornamental. Take flounders or almost any flat +fish that is cheapest at the time you require them. Clean and scrape +them, cut them in small pieces, but do not cut off the fins; put them in +a stew-pan with a few small button onions or one large one, a half +teaspoonful of sugar, a glass of sherry, a dessert-spoonful of lemon +juice, and a small bunch of parsley. To one large flounder put a quart +of water, and if you are going to jelly oysters put in their liquor and +a little salt. Stew long and slowly, skimming well; then strain, and if +not perfectly clear clarify as elsewhere directed. (See if your stock +jellies, by trying it on ice before you clarify.) Now take a mold, put +in it pieces of cold salmon, eels that have been cooked, or oysters, the +latter only just cooked enough in the stock to plump them; pour a little +of the jelly in the mold, then three or four half slices of lemon, then +oysters or the cold fish, until the mold is near full, disposing the +lemon so that it will be near the sides and decorate the jelly; then +pour the rest of the jelly over all and stand in boiling water for a few +minutes, then put it in a cold place, on ice is best, for some hours. +When about to serve, dip the mold in hot water, turn out on a dish, +garnish with lettuce leaves or parsley and hard-boiled eggs. The latter +may be introduced into the jelly cut in quarters if it is desired; very +ornamental force-meat balls made bright green with spinach juice are +also an improvement in appearance. + +A NEW MAYONNAISE (Soyer's).--Put a quarter of a pint of stiff veal jelly +(that has been nicely flavored with vegetables) on ice in a bowl, +whisking it till it is a white froth; then add half a pint of salad oil +and six spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, _by degrees_, first oil, then +vinegar, continually whisking till it forms a white, smooth, sauce-like +cream; season with half a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter ditto of white +pepper, and a very little sugar, whisk it a little more and it is ready. +It should be dressed pyramidically over the article it is served with. +The advantage of this sauce is that (although more delicate than any +other) you may dress it to any height you like, and it will remain so +any length of time; if the temperature is cool, it will remain hours +without appearing greasy or melting. It is absolutely necessary, +however, that it should be prepared on ice. + +All these dishes, however, are only adapted for large families, but +there are several ways of improving on the ordinary lunch table of very +small ones. And nothing is more pleasant for the mistress of one of +these very small families than to have a friend drop in to lunch, and +have a _recherché_ lunch to offer with little trouble. Warming over will +aid her in this, and to that chapter I refer her; but there are one or +two ways of having cold relishes always ready, which help out an +impromptu meal wonderfully. + +Potted meats are a great resource to English housekeepers; this side +the Atlantic they are chiefly known through the medium of Cross & +Blackwell, though latterly one or two American firms have introduced +some very admirable articles of the sort. Home-made potted meats are, +however, better and less expensive than those bought; they should be +packed away in jars, Liebig's extract of meat jars not being too small +for the purpose, as, while covered with the fat they keep well; once +opened, they require eating within a week or ten days, except in very +cold weather. + +Potted bloater is one of the least expensive and appetizing of all +potted meats. To make it, take two or three or more bloaters, cut off +the heads and cleanse them, put them in the oven long enough to cook +them through; take them out, take off the skin, and remove the meat from +the bones carefully; put the meat of the fish in a jar with half its +weight of butter, leave it to _slowly_ cook in a cool oven for an hour, +then take it out, put the fish into a mortar or strong dish, pour the +butter on it carefully, but don't let the gravy pass too, unless the +fish is to be eaten very quickly, as it would prevent it keeping. Beat +both butter and fish till they form a paste, add a little cayenne, and +press it into small pots, pouring on each melted butter, or mutton suet. +Either should be the third of an inch thick on the bloater. This makes +excellent sandwiches. + +POTTED HAM.--Take any remains of ham you have, even fried, if of a nice +quality, is good for the purpose; take away all stringy parts, sinew, or +gristle, put it in a slow oven with its weight of butter, let it stay +macerating in the butter till very tender, then beat it in a mortar, add +cayenne, and pack in pots in the same way as the bloater. Thus you may +pot odds and ends of any meat or fish you have, and as a little potted +meat goes a long way, when you have a little lobster, a bit of chicken +breast, or even cold veal, I advise you to use it in this way; you will +then have a little stock of dainties in the house to fall back on at any +time for unexpected calls--a very important thing in the country. + +Potted chicken or veal requires either a little tongue or lean ham to +give flavor; but failing these, a little ravigotte butter, beaten in +after the meat is well pounded, is by no means a bad substitute. + +Many people like the flavor of anchovies, but do not like the idea of +eating raw fish; for these anchovy butter is very acceptable. + +Take the anchovies out of the liquor in which they are packed, but do +not wash them, put them in twice their weight of butter in a jar, which +stand in boiling water; set all back of the stove for an hour, then +pound, add cayenne, and pack in glasses. + +Unexpected company to luncheon with a lady who has to eat that meal +alone generally, and (as is the unwise way of such ladies) makes it a +very slender meal, is one of the ordeals of a young housekeeper; company +to lunch and nothing in the house. But there is generally a dainty +luncheon in every house if you know how to prepare it; there certainly +always will be if you keep your store-room supplied with the things I +have named. Let the table be prettily laid at all times, then if you +have potted meat and preserves, have them put on the table. Are there +cold potatoes? If so cut them up into potato salad, if they are whole; +if broken, warm them in a wineglass of milk, a teaspoonful of flour, +and a piece as large as an egg of _maître d'hôtel_ butter. Have you +such scraps of cold meat as could not come to table? Toss them up with a +half cup of water, a slice of glaze (oh, blessed ever-ready glaze!) a +teaspoonful of ravigotte, or _maître d'hôtel_, and a teaspoonful of roux +or blanc, according as your meat is light or dark, season, and serve. Or +you have no meat, then you have eggs, and what better than an omelet and +such an omelet as the following? Take the crumb of a slice of bread, +soak it in hot milk (cold will do, but hot is better), beat up whites of +four eggs to a high froth; mix the bread with all the milk it will +absorb, _no more_, into a paste, add the yolks of eggs with a little +salt, set the pan on the fire with an ounce of butter. Let it get very +hot, then mix the whites of eggs with the yolks and bread lightly, pour +in the pan, and move about for a minute; if the oven is hot, when the +omelet is brown underneath, set the pan in the oven for five minutes, or +until the top is set; then double half over, and serve. If your guests +have a liking for sweets, and your potted meats supply the savory part +of your luncheon, then have a brown gravy ready to serve with it. Put +into a half cup of boiling water a slice of glaze, a spoonful of roux, +and enough Harvey sauce, or mushroom powder, to flavor. If your omelet +is to be sweet, before you fold it put in a layer of preserves. + +The advantage of the omelet I have here given is that it keeps plump and +tender till cold, so that five minutes of waiting does not turn it into +leather, the great objection with omelets generally. + +Potatoes for luncheon, as I have said, should always be prepared in some +fancy way, and snow is a very pretty one. Have some fine mealy potatoes +boiled, carefully poured off, and set back of the stove with a cloth +over them till they are quite dry and fall apart; then have a colander, +or coarse wire sieve made _hot_ and a _hot_ dish in which to serve them, +pass the floury potatoes through the sieve, taking care not to crush the +snow as it falls. You require a large dish heaping full, and be +careful it is kept hot. + +This mode of preparing potatoes, although very pretty and novel, must +never be attempted with any but the whitest and mealiest kind. + +The remains of cold potatoes may be prepared thus: Put three ounces of +butter in a frying-pan in which fry three onions sliced till tender, but +not very brown, then put on the potatoes cut in slices, and shake them +till they are of a nice brown color, put a spoonful of chopped parsley, +salt, pepper, and juice of a lemon, shake well that all may mix +together, dish, and serve very hot. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A CHAPTER ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN VERY SMALL FAMILIES. + + +A VERY small family, "a young _ménage_," for instance, is very much more +difficult to cater for without waste than a larger one; two people are +so apt to get tired of anything, be it ever so good eating, when it has +been on the table once or twice; therefore it would be useless to make +galantine or the large pies I have indicated, except for occasions when +guests are expected; but, as I hope to aid young housekeepers to have +nice dishes when alone, I will devote this chapter to their needs. + +The chapter on "Warming Over" will be very useful also to this large +class. + +In the first place it is well to have regard, when part of a dish leaves +the table, as to whether it, or any particular part of it, will make a +nice little cold dish, or a _rechauffé_; in that case have it saved, +unless it is required for the servants' dinner (it is well to manage so +that it is not needed for that purpose); for instance, if there is the +wing and a slice or two of the breast of a chicken left, it will make a +dainty little breakfast dish, or cold, in jelly, be nice for lunch. +There is always jelly if you have roast chicken, if you manage properly, +and this is how you do it: + +Carefully save the feet, throat, gizzard, and liver of your chickens; +scald the feet by pouring boiling water over them; leave them just a +minute, and pull off the outer skin and nails; they come away very +readily, leaving the feet delicately white; put these with the other +giblets, properly cleansed, into a small saucepan with an onion, a slice +of carrot, a sprig of parsley, and a pint of water (if you have the +giblets of one chicken), if of two, put a quart; let this _slowly_ +simmer for two hours and a half; it will be reduced to about half, and +form a stiff jelly when cold; a glass of sherry, and squeeze of lemon, +or teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar, makes this into a delicious aspic, +and should be added if to be eaten cold. The jelly must of course be +strained. + +In roasting chickens, if you follow the rule for meat, that is, put no +water in the pan, but a piece of butter, and dredge a _very little_ +flour over the chicken, you will have a nice brown glaze at the bottom +of the pan, provided it has been cooked in a _quick oven_; if in a cool +oven there will be nothing brown at all; but we will suppose the bird is +browned to a turn; pour your gravy from the giblets into the pan, take +off every bit of the glaze or osma-zone that adheres, and let it +dissolve, rubbing it with the back of the spoon; then, if you are likely +to have any chicken left cold, pour off a little gravy in a cup through +a fine strainer, leaving in your pan sufficient for the dinner; in this +mash up the liver till it is a smooth paste which thickens the gravy, +and serve. Some object to liver, therefore the use of it is a matter of +taste. If you dress the chickens English fashion, you will _need_ the +liver and gizzard to tuck under the wings; in this case, stew only the +feet and throat, using a little meat of any kind, if you have it, to +take their place; but on no account fail to use the feet, as they are as +rich in jelly as calves' feet in proportion to their size. + +The jelly laid aside will be enough to ornament and give relish to a +little dish of cold chicken, and changes it from a dry and commonplace +thing to a _recherché_ one. If two chickens are cooked it is more +economical than one; there is, then, double the amount of gravy, +generally sufficient, if you lay some very nice pieces of cold chicken +in a bowl, to pour over it and leave it enveloped in jelly; you still +then, if from dinner for two people, have perhaps joints enough to make +a dish of curry or fricassee, or any of the many ways in which cold +chicken may be used, for which see chapter on "_Warming Over_." + +For small households large joints are to be avoided, but even a small +roast is a large joint when there are but two or three to eat it. For +this reason it is a good plan to buy such joints as divide well. A +sirloin of beef is better made into two fine dishes than into one roast, +and then warmed over twice. Every one knows that "_Filet de bÅ“uf +Chateaubriand_" is one of the classical dishes of the French table, that +to a Frenchman luxury can go no further; but every one does not know how +entirely within his power it is to have that dish as often as he has +roast beef; how convenient it would be to so have it. Here it is: When +your sirloin roast comes from the butcher, take out the tenderloin or +fillets, which you must always choose thick; cut it across into steaks +an inch thick, trim them, cover them with a coat of butter (or oil, +which is much better), and broil them ten minutes, turning them often; +garnish with fried potatoes, and serve with _sauce Chateaubriand_, as +follows: Put a gill of white wine (or claret will do if you have no +white) into a saucepan, with a piece of glaze, weighing an ounce and a +half; add three quarters of a pint of _espagnole_, and simmer fifteen +minutes; when ready to serve, thicken with two ounces of _maître +d'hôtel_ butter in which a dessert-spoonful of flour has been worked. +That is how Jules Gouffé's recipe runs; but, as no small family will +keep _espagnole_ ready made, allow a little more glaze (of course the +recipe as given may be divided to half or quarter, provided the correct +proportions are retained), and use a tablespoonful of roux and the +_maître d'hôtel_ butter, both of which you have probably in your +store-room; if not, brown a little flour, chop some parsley, and add to +two ounces of butter; work them together, then let them dissolve in the +sauce, for which purpose let it go off the boil; let the sauce simmer a +minute, skim, and serve. + +The sirloin of beef, denuded of its fillet, is still a good roast; and +as you can't have your cake and eat it too, and hot fresh roast beef is +better than the same warmed over, warm ye never so wisely, I think this +plan may commend itself to those who like nice _little_ dinners. + +A nice little dinner of a soup, an _entrée_, or made dish, salad, and +dessert, really costs no more than frequent roast meat, or even steak +and pudding, by following some such plan as this: + +Sunday.--_Pot-au-feu_ and roast lamb, leg of mutton or other good joint, +etc. + +Monday.--Rice or vermicelli soup made with remains of the _bouillon_ +from _pot-au-feu_. If the Sunday joint was a fore or hindquarter of lamb +it should have been divided, say the leg from the loin, thus providing +choice roasts for two days, and yet having enough cold lamb--that +favorite dish with so many--for luncheon with a salad; and, surprising +to say, after hot roast lamb for dinner Sunday, cold lunch for Monday, +another roast Monday, and cold or warmed up for lunch Tuesday, there +will still be (supposing as I do, in preparing this chapter, that the +family consists only of gentleman, lady, and servant) remains enough +from the two cold joints to make cromesquis of lamb (see recipe), a +little dish of mince, or a delicate _sauté_ of lamb for breakfast. It is +surprising what may be done with odds and ends in a small family; a tiny +plate of pieces, far too small to make an appearance on the table, and +which, if special directions are not given, will seem to Bridget not +worth saving, will, with each piece dipped into the batter _à la +Carême_, and fried in hot fat, make a tempting dish for breakfast, or an +_entrée_ for dinner or luncheon. Two tablespoonfuls only of chopped meat +of any kind will make croquettes for two or three people; hence, 'save +the pieces.' But to return to our bills of fare: I have given the two +roasts of lamb for consecutive days, because the weather in lamb season +is usually too warm to keep it; when this can be done, however, it is +pleasanter to leave the second joint of lamb till Tuesday. Should a +forequarter (abroad held in greater esteem than the hindquarter) have +been chosen, get the butcher to take out the shoulder in one round thick +joint, English fashion; this crisply roasted is far more delicious than +the leg; you then have the chops to be breaded, and an excellent dish of +the neck and breast, either broiled, curried, stewed with peas, or +roast. + +Yet how often we see a whole quarter of lamb put in the oven for two or +three people who get tired of the sight of it cold, yet feel in economy +bound to eat it. + +Should sirloin of beef have been the Sunday dinner, you will know what +to do with it, from directions already given; and as a sirloin of beef, +even with the fillet out, will be more than required for one dinner, it +may serve for a third day, dressed in one of the various ways I shall +give in chapter on "Warming Over." You have still at your disposal the +bouilli or beef from which you have made your _pot-au-feu_, which, if it +has been carefully boiled, not galloped, nor allowed to fall to rags, is +very good eating. Cut thin with lettuce, or in winter celery, in about +equal quantities, and a good salad dressing, it is excellent; or, made +into hash, fritadella, or even rissoles, is savory and delicious; only +bear in mind with this, as all cooked meats, the gravy drawn out must be +replaced by stock or glaze; it is very easy to warm over bouilli +satisfactorily, as a cup of the soup made from it can always be kept for +gravy. + +A leg of mutton makes two excellent joints, and is seldom liked cold--as +beef and lamb often are. + +Select a large fine leg, have it cut across, that each part may weigh +about equally; roast the thick or fillet end and serve with or without +onion sauce (_à la soubise_); boil the knuckle in a small quantity of +water, just enough to cover it, with a carrot, turnip, onion, and bunch +of parsley, and salt in the water, serve with caper sauce and mashed +turnips. The broth from this is excellent soup served thus: Skim it +carefully, take out the vegetables, and chop a small quantity of parsley +very fine, then beat up in a bowl two eggs, pour into them a little of +the broth--not boiling--beating all the time, then draw your soup back +till it is off the boil, and pour in the eggs, stirring continually till +it is on the boiling point again (but it must not boil, or the eggs will +curdle and spoil the soup), and then turn it into a _hot_ tureen and +serve. Use remains of the cold roast and boiled mutton together, to make +made dishes; between the days of having the roast and boiled mutton you +may have had a fowl, and the remains from that will make you a second +dish to go with your joint. + +The remains from the first cooked mutton, in form of curry, mince, +salmi, or _sauté_, will be a second dish with your fowl. + +Veal is one of the most convenient things to have for a small family, as +it warms over in a variety of ways, and in some is actually better than +when put on the table as a joint. By having a little fish one day, +instead of soup, and a little game another, and remembering when you +have an especially dainty thing, to have one with it a little more +substantial and less costly, you may have variety at little expense. + +For instance, if you find it convenient to have for dinner fritadella +(see "_Warming Over_") or miroton of beef, or cold mutton curried, you +might have broiled birds, or roast pigeon, or game. In this consists +good management, to live so that the expenses of one day balance those +of the other--unless you are so happily situated that expense is a small +matter, in which case these remarks will not apply to you at all. Then, +never mind warming over, or making one joint into two; let your poor +neighbors and Bridget's friends enjoy your superfluity. To the woman +with a moderate income it usually is a matter of importance, or ought to +be, that her weekly expenditure should not exceed a certain amount, and +for this she must arrange that any extra expense is balanced by a +subsequent economy. + +Salads add much to the health and elegance of a dinner; it is in early +spring an expensive item if lettuce is used; but no salad can be more +delicious or more healthful than dressed celery; and by buying when +cheap, arranging with a man to lay in your cellar, covered with soil, +enough for the winter's use, it need cost but moderately. Celeriac, or +turnip-rooted celery is another salad that is very popular with our +German friends; it is a bulbous celery, the root being the part eaten; +these are cooked like potatoes, cut in slices, and dressed with oil and +vinegar, or mayonnaise, it is exceedingly good. Potato salad is always +procurable, and in summer at lunch, instead of the hot vegetable, or in +winter when green salad is dear, is very valuable. It may be varied by +the addition, one day, of a few chopped pickles, another, a little +onion, or celery, or parsley, or tarragon, a little ravigotte butter +beaten to cream with the vinegar, or with meat, as follows: Boil the +potatoes in their skins, peel them, cut them into pieces twice the +thickness of a fifty-cent piece, and put them into a salad bowl with +cold meat (bouilli from soup is excellent); put to them a teaspoonful of +salt, half that quantity of pepper, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, three +or even four of oil, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. You can vary +this by putting at different times some chopped celery or pickles, +olives, or anchovies. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ON FRYING AND BROILING. + + +FRYING is one of the operations in cookery in which there are more +failures than any other, or, at least, there appear to be more, because +the failure is always so very apparent. Nothing can make a dish of +breaded cutlets on which are bald white spots look inviting, or +livid-looking fish, just flaked here and there with the bread that has +been persuaded to stay on. And, provided you have enough fat in the +pan--there should always be enough to immerse the article; therefore use +a deep iron or enameled pan--there can be but two reasons why you fail. +Your fat has not been hot enough, or your crumbs have not been fine and +_even_. + +Many suppose when the fat bubbles and boils in the pan that it is quite +hot; it is far from being so. Others again are so much nearer the truth +that they know it must become _silent_, that is, boil and cease to boil, +before it is ready, but even that is not enough; it must be silent some +time, smoke, and appear to be on the point of burning, then drop a bit +of bread in; if it crisps and takes color directly, quickly put in your +articles. + +These articles, whether cutlets or fish, must have been carefully +prepared, or herein may lie the second cause of failure. Any cookery +book will give you directions how to crumb, follow them; but what some +do not tell you is, that your bread-crumbs should be _finely sifted_; +every coarse crumb is liable to drop off and bring with it a good deal +of the surrounding surface. + +I also follow the French plan in using the egg, and mix with it oil and +water in the proportion of three eggs, one tablespoonful of oil, one of +water, and a little salt, beat together and use. It is a good plan to +keep a supply of _panure_ or dried bread-crumbs always ready. Cut any +slices of baker's bread, dry them in a cool oven so that they remain +quite colorless, or they will not do for the purpose. When as dry as +crackers, crush under a rolling-pin, and sift; keep in a jar for use. + +In no branch of cooking is excellence more appreciated than in that of +frying. A dish of _filets de sole_ or cutlets, crisp and golden brown, +is an ornament to any table, and is seldom disdained by any one. Apropos +of _filets de sole_; it is very high-sounding yet very attainable, as I +shall show. I was staying with a friend early in spring, a lady always +anxious for table novelties. "Oh, do tell me what fish to order, I +should like something fried, now that you are here to tell cook how to +do it; she hasn't the wildest idea, although she would be astounded to +hear me say so." "Have you ever had flounders?" I asked. "Flounders!" My +friend's pretty nose went up the eighth of an inch, and her confidence +in my powers as counselor went down to zero. "Flounders! but they are a +very common fish you know." "I know they are very delicious," I +answered. "Order them, and trust me; but I must coax the autocrat of +your kitchen to allow me to cook and prepare them myself." + +An hour before dinner I went into the kitchen, put at least a pound of +lard into a deep frying-pan, and set it where it would get gradually +hot, then I turned my attention to the fish; they were thick, firm +flounders, and were ready cleaned, scraped, and the heads off. I then +proceeded to bone one in the following way: Take a sharp knife and split +the flounder right down the middle of the back, then run the knife +carefully between the flesh and bones going toward the edge. You have +now detached one quarter of the flesh from the bone, do the other half +in the same way, and when the back is thus entirely loose from the bone, +turn the fish over and do the same with the other part. You will now +find you can remove the bone whole from the fish, detaching, as you do +so, any flesh still retaining the bone, then you have two halves of the +fish; cut away the fins, and you have four quarters of solid fish. Now +see if the fat is very hot, set it forward while you wipe your fish dry, +and dip each piece in milk, then in flour. Try if the fat is hot by +dropping a crumb into it; if it browns at once, put in the fish. When +they are beautifully brown, which will be in about ten minutes, take +them up in the colander, and then lay them on a towel to absorb any fat, +lay them on a hot dish, and garnish with slices of lemon and parsley or +celery tops. + +Now when this dish made its appearance, my friend's husband, a _bon +vivant_, greeted it with, "Aha! _Filets de sole à la Delmonico_," and as +nothing to the contrary was said until dinner was over, he ate them +under the impression that they were veritable _filets de sole_. Of +course I can't pretend to say whether M. Delmonico imports his soles, or +uses the homely flounder; but I do know that one of his frequenters knew +no difference. + +Oysters should be laid on a cloth to drain thoroughly, then rolled in +fine sifted cracker dust, and dropped into very hot fat; do not put more +oysters in the pan than will fry without one overlapping the other. +Very few minutes will brown them beautifully, if your fat was hot +enough, and as a minute too long toughens and shrinks them, be very +careful that it browns a cube of bread almost directly, before you begin +the oysters. Egg and bread-crumb may be used instead of cracker dust, +but it is not the proper thing, and is a great deal more trouble. Should +you be desirous of using it, however, the oysters must be carefully +wiped _dry_ before dipping them; while for cracker dust they are not +wiped, but only drained well. + +Fish of any kind, fried in batter _à la Carême_ (see recipe), is very +easy to do, and very nice. + +Carefully save veal, lamb, beef, and pork drippings. Keep a crock to put +it in, and, clarified as I shall direct, it is much better than lard for +many purposes, and for frying especially; it does not leave the dark +look that is sometimes seen on articles fried in lard. The perfection of +"friture," or frying-fat, according to Gouffé, is equal parts of lard +and beef fat melted together. + +Yet there are families where dripping is never used--is looked upon as +unfit to use--while the truth is that many persons quite unable to eat +articles fried in lard would find no inconvenience from those fried in +beef fat. It is as wholesome as butter, and far better for the purpose. +Butter, indeed, is only good for frying such things as omelets or +scrambled eggs; things that are cooked in a very short time, and require +no great degree of heat. + +The same may be said of oil, than which, for fish, nothing can be +better. Yet it can only be used once, and is unsuitable for things +requiring long-sustained heat, as it soon gets bitter and rank. + +Do not be afraid to put a pound or two of fat in your pan for frying; it +is quite as economical as to put less for it can be used over and over +again, a pail or crock being kept for the purpose of receiving it. +Always in returning it to the crock pour it through a fine strainer, so +that no sediment or brown particles may pass which would spoil the next +frying. + +To clarify dripping, when poured from the meat-pan, it should go into a +bowl, instead of the crock in which you wish to keep it. Then pour into +the bowl also some boiling water, and add a little salt, stir it, and +set it away. Next day, or when cold, run a knife round the bowl, and +(unless it is pork) it will turn out in a solid cake, leaving the water +and impurities at the bottom. Now scrape the bottom of your dripping, +and put it in more boiling water till it melts, then stir again, another +pinch of salt add, and let it cool again. When you take off the cake of +fat, scrape it as before, and it is ready to be melted into the general +crock, and will now keep for months in cool weather. If you are having +frequent joints it is as well to do all your dripping together, once a +week; but do not leave it long at any season with water under it, as +that would taint it. Fat skimmed from boiled meat, _pot-au-feu_, before +the vegetables, etc., go in, is quite as good as that from roast, +treated in the same way. + +Frying in batter is very easy and excellent for some things, such as +warming over meat, being far better than eggs and crumbs. Carême gives +the following recipe, which is excellent: + +Three quarters of a pound of sifted flour, mixed with two ounces of +butter melted in warm water; blow the butter off the water into the +flour first, then enough of the water to make a _soft_ paste, which +beat smooth, then more warm water till it is batter thick enough to mask +the back of a spoon dipped into it, and salt to taste; add the _last +thing_ the whites of two eggs well beaten. + +Another batter, called _à la Provençale_, is also exceedingly good, +especially for articles a little dry in themselves, such as chickens to +be warmed over, slices of cold veal, etc. + +Take same quantity of flour, two yolks of eggs, four tablespoonfuls of +oil, mix with _cold_ water, and add whites of eggs and salt as before. +Into this batter I sometimes put a little chopped parsley, and the least +bit of powdered thyme, or grated lemon-peel, or nutmeg; this is, +however, only a matter of taste. + +BROILING is the simplest of all forms of cooking, and is essentially +English. To broil well is very easy with a little attention. A brisk +clear fire, not too high in the stove, is necessary to do it with ease; +yet if, as must sometimes happen, to meet the necessities of other +cooking, your fire is very large, carefully fix the gridiron on two +bricks or in any convenient manner, to prevent the meat scorching, then +have the gridiron _very hot_ before putting your meat upon it; turn it, +if chop or steak, as soon as the gravy begins to start on the upper +side; if allowed to remain without turning long, the gravy forms a pool +on the top, which, when turned, falls into the fire and is lost; the +action of the heat, if turned quickly, seals the pores and the gravy +remains in the meat. If the fire is not very clear, put a cover over the +meat on the gridiron, it will prevent its blackening or burning--if the +article is thick I always do so--and it is an especially good plan with +birds or chickens, which are apt to be raw at the joints unless this is +done; indeed, with the latter, I think it a good way to put them in a +hot oven ten minutes before they go on to broil, then have a spoonful of +_maître d'hôtel_ butter to lay on the breast of each. Young spring +chickens are sometimes very dry, in which case dip them in melted +butter, or, better still, oil them all over a little while before +cooking. There is nothing more unsightly than a sprawling dish of +broiled chickens; therefore, in preparing them place them in good form, +then, with a gentle blow of the rolling-pin, break the bones that they +may remain so. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +ROASTING. + + +IN spite of Brillat-Savarin's maxim that one may become a cook, but must +be born a _rotisseur_, I am inclined to think one may also, by +remembering one or two things, become a very good "roaster" (to +translate the untranslatable), especially in our day, when the oven has +taken the place of the spit, although a great deal of meat is spoiled in +roasting; a loin of lamb or piece of beef, that comes to the table so +pale that you can't tell whether it has been boiled or merely wilted in +the oven, is an aggravation so familiar, that a rich brown, well-roasted +joint is generally a surprise. Perhaps the cook will tell you she has +had the "hottest kind of an oven;" but then she has probably also had a +well of water underneath it, the vapor from which, arising all the time, +has effectually soddened the meat, and checked the browning. The surface +of roast meat should be covered with a rich glaze, scientifically called +"osma-zone." That the meat may be thus glazed, it should always go into +a _hot_ oven, so that, as the gravy exudes, it may congeal on the +outside, thus sealing up the pores. The general plan, however, is to put +meat into a warm oven an hour or two earlier than it should go, with a +quantity of water and flour underneath it. The result in hot weather I +have known to be very disagreeable, the tepid oven having, in fact, +given a stale taste to the joint before it began to cook, and it at all +times results in flavorless, tough meat. There is no time saved, either, +in putting the meat in while the oven is yet cool. Heat up the oven till +it is quite brisk, then put the meat in a pan, in which, if it is fat, +you require _no water_; if very lean, you may put half a teacup, just +enough to prevent the pan burning; you may rub a little flour over the +joint or not, as you please, but never more than the surface moisture +absorbs; have no clinging particles of flour upon the joint, neither put +salt nor pepper upon the meat before it goes into the oven; salt draws +out the gravy, which it is your object to keep in, and the flavor of +pepper is entirely changed by the parching it undergoes when on the +surface of the meat, the odor of scorched pepper, while cooking, being +very offensive to refined nostrils. This does not occur when pepper is +not on the surface; for the _inside_ of birds, in stuffing, and in meat +pies it is indispensable, and the flavor undergoes no change. This +remark on pepper applies also to broiling and frying. Always pepper +_after_ the article is cooked, and both for appearance and delicacy of +flavor white pepper should always be used in preference to black. + +Meat, while in the oven, should be carefully turned about so that it may +brown equally, and when it has been in half the time you intend to give +it, or when the upper surface is well browned, turn it over. When it +comes out of the oven put it on a hot dish, then carefully pour off the +fat by holding the corner of the meat pan over your dripping-pan, and +very gently allowing the fat to run off; do not shake it; when you see +the thick brown sediment beginning to run too, check it; if there is +still much fat on the surface, take it off with a spoon; then pour into +the pan a little boiling water and salt, in quantity according to the +quantity of sediment or glaze in the pan, and with a spoon rub off every +speck of the dried gravy on the bottom and sides of the pan. Add no +flour, the gravy must be thick enough with its own richness. If you have +added too much water, so that it looks poor, you may always boil it down +by setting the pan on the stove for a few minutes; but it is better to +put very little water at first, and add as the richness of the gravy +allows. Now you have a rich brown gravy, instead of the thick +whitey-brown broth so often served with roast meat. Every drop of this +gravy and that from the dish should be carefully saved if left over. + +Save all dripping, except from mutton or meat with which onions are +cooked, for purposes which I shall indicate in another place. + +Veal and pork require to be very thoroughly cooked. For them, therefore, +the oven must not be too hot, neither must it be lukewarm, a good even +heat is best; if likely to get too brown before it is thoroughly cooked, +open the oven door. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BOILING. + + +BOILING is one of the things about which cooks are most careless; +theoretically they almost always know meat should be slowly boiled, but +their idea of "slow" is ruled by the fire; they never attempt to rule +that. There is a good rule given by Gouffé as to what slow boiling +actually is: the surface of the pot should only show signs of ebullition +at one side, just an occasional bubble. _Simmering_ is a still slower +process, and in this the pot should have only a sizzling round one part +of the edge. All fresh meat should boil _slowly_; ham or corn beef +should barely simmer. Yet they must not go off the boil at all, which +would spoil fresh meat entirely; steeping in water gives a flat, insipid +taste. + +All vegetables except potatoes, asparagus, peas, and cauliflower should +boil as fast as possible; these four only moderately. Most vegetables +are boiled far too long. Cabbage is as delicate as cauliflower in the +summer and fall if boiled in plenty of water, to which a salt spoonful +of soda has been added, _as fast as possible_ for twenty minutes or half +an hour, then drained and dressed. In winter it should be cut in six or +eight pieces, boiled _fast_, in plenty of water, for half an hour, _no +longer_. Always give it plenty of room, let the water boil rapidly when +you put it in the pot, which set on the hottest part of the fire to +come to that point again, and you will have no more strong, rank, yellow +stuff on your table, no bad odor in your house. Peas require no more +than twenty minutes' boiling if young; asparagus the same; the latter +should always be boiled in a saucepan deep enough to let it stand up in +the water when tied up in bunches, for this saves the heads. Potatoes +should be poured off the minute they are done, and allowed to stand at +the back of the stove with a clean cloth folded over them. They are the +only vegetable that should be put into _cold_ water. When new, boiling +water is proper. When quite ripe they are more floury if put in cold +water. + +SOUPS.--As I have before said, I do not pretend to give many recipes, +only to tell you how to succeed with the recipes given in other books. I +shall, therefore, only give one recipe which I know is a novelty and one +for the foundation of all soups. In one sense I have done the latter +already. The stock for glaze is an excellent soup before it is reduced; +but I will also give Jules Gouffé's method of making _pot-au-feu_, it +being a most beautifully clear soup. + +It often happens, however, that you have sufficient stock from bones, +trimmings of meat, and odds and ends of gravies, which may always be +turned to account; but the stock from such a source, although excellent, +will not always be clear; therefore, you must proceed with it in the +following manner, unless you wish to use it for thick soup: + +Make your stock boiling hot and skim well; then have ready the whites of +three eggs (I am supposing you have three quarts of stock--one egg to a +quart), to which add half a pint of cold water; whisk well together; +then add half a pint of the boiling stock gradually, still whisking the +eggs; then stir the boiling stock rapidly, pouring in the whites of +eggs, etc.; as you do it, stir quickly till nearly boiling again, then +take it from the fire, let it remain till the whites of eggs separate; +then strain through a clean, fine cloth into a basin. This rule once +learned will clear every kind of soup or jelly. + +There are many people who are good cooks, yet fail in clear soup, which +is with them semi-opaque, while it should be like sherry. The cause of +this opacity is generally quick boiling while the meat is in. This gives +it a milky appearance. After the stock is once made and clear, quick +boiling will do no harm, but of course wastes the soup, unless resorted +to for the purpose of making it stronger. A word here about coloring +soup: Most persons resort to burnt sugar, and, very carefully used, it +is not at all a bad makeshift. But how often have we a rich-looking soup +put before us, the vermicelli appearing to repose under a lake of strong +russet _bouillon_, but which, on tasting, we find suggestive of nothing +but burnt sugar and salt, every bit of flavor destroyed by the acrid +coloring. Sometimes stock made by the recipe for _pot-au-feu_ (to +follow) requires no color; this depends on the beef; but usually all +soup is more appetizing in appearance for a little browning, and for +this purpose I always use burnt onions in preference to anything else. +If you have none in store when the soup is put on, put a small onion in +the oven (or on the back of the stove; should you be baking anything the +odor would taint); turn it often till it gets quite black, but not +_charred_. Then put it to the soup; it adds a fine flavor as well as +color, and you need not fear overdoing it. + +Soup that is to be reduced must be very lightly salted; for this reason +salt is left out altogether for glaze, as the reduction causes the +water only to evaporate, the salt remains. + +GOUFFÉ'S POT-AU-FEU.--Four pounds of lean beef, six quarts of water, six +ounces of carrot, six of turnip, six of onion, half an ounce of celery, +one clove, salt. + +Put the meat on in cold water, and just before it comes to the boil skim +it, and throw in a wineglass of cold water, skim again, and, when it is +"on the boil," again throw in another wineglass of cold water; do this +two or three times. The object of adding the cold water is to keep it +just off the boil until all the scum has risen, as the boiling point is +when it comes to the surface, yet once having boiled, the scum is broken +up, and the soup is never so clear. + +The meat must simmer slowly, _not boil_, for three hours before the +vegetables are added, then for a couple of hours more. + +It is necessary to be very exact in the proportions of vegetables; but, +of course, after having weighed them for soups once or twice, you will +get to know about the size of a carrot, turnip, etc., that will weigh +six ounces. The exact weight is given until the eye is accustomed to it. + +This soup strained, and boiled down to one half, becomes _consommé_. + +CELERY CREAM is a most delicious and little-known white soup, and all +lovers of good things will thank me for introducing it. + +Have some nice veal stock, or the water in which chickens have been +boiled, reduced till it is rich enough, will do, or some very rich +mutton broth, but either of the former are preferable; then put on a +half cup of rice in a pint of rich milk, and grate into it the white +part and root of two heads of celery. Let the rice milk cook very +slowly at the back of the stove, adding more milk before it gets at all +stiff; when tender enough to mash through a coarse sieve or fine +colander add it to the stock, which must have been strained and be quite +free from sediment, season with salt and a little _white_ pepper or +cayenne, boil all together gently a few minutes. It should look like +rich cream, and be strongly flavored with celery. Of course the quantity +of rice, milk, and celery must depend on the quantity of stock you have. +I have given the proportion for one quart, which, with the milk, etc., +added, would make about three pints of soup. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SAUCES. + + +TALLEYRAND said England was a country with twenty-four religions and +only one sauce. He might have said two sauces, and he would have been +literally right as regards both England and America. Everything is +served with brown sauce or white sauce. And how often the white sauce is +like bookbinder's paste, the brown, a bitter, tasteless brown mess! +Strictly speaking, perhaps, the French have but two sauces either, +_espagnole_, or brown sauce, and white sauce, which they call the mother +sauces; but what changes they ring on these mother sauces! The espagnole +once made, with no two meats is it served alike in flavor, and in this +matter of flavor the artist appears. In making brown sauce for any +purpose, bethink yourself of anything there may be in your store-room +with which to vary its flavor, taking care that it shall agree with the +meat for which it is intended. The ordinary cook flies at once to +Worcestershire or Harvey sauce, which are excellent at times, but +"_toujours perdrix_" is not always welcome. A pinch of mushroom powder, +or a few chopped oysters, are excellent with beef or veal; so will be a +spoonful of Montpellier butter stirred in, or curry, not enough to +yellow the sauce, but enough to give a dash of piquancy. A pickled +walnut chopped, or a gherkin or two, go admirably with mutton or pork +chops. In short, this is just where imagination and brains will tell in +cooking, and little essays of invention may be tried with profit. But +beware of trying too much; make yourself perfect in one thing before +venturing on another. + +ESPAGNOLE, or brown sauce, is simply a rich stock well flavored with +vegetables and herbs, and thickened with a piece of _roux_ or with brown +flour. + +WHITE SAUCE is one of those things we rarely find perfectly made; bad, +it is the _ne plus ultra_ of badness; good, it is delicious. Those who +have tried to have it good, and failed, I beg to try the following +method of making it: Take an ounce and a half of butter and a scant +tablespoonful of flour, mix both with a spoon into a paste; when smooth +add half a pint of warm milk, a _small_ teaspoonful of salt, and the +sixth part of one of _white_ pepper; set it on the fire till it boils, +and is thick enough to mask the back of the spoon transparently; then +add a squeeze of lemon juice, and another ounce and a half of fresh +butter; stir this till quite blended. This sauce is the foundation for +many others, and, for some purposes, the beaten yolk of an egg is +introduced when just off the boil. Capers may be added to it, or chopped +mushrooms, or chopped celery, or oysters, according to the use for which +it is intended. The object of adding the second butter is because +boiling takes away the flavor of butter; by stirring half of it in, +without boiling, you retain it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +WARMING OVER. + + +HASH is a peculiarly American institution. In no other country is every +remnant of cold meat turned into that one unvarying dish. What do I say? +_remnants_ of cold meat! rather _joints_ of cold meat, a roast of beef +of which the tenderloin had sufficed for the first day's dinner, the leg +of mutton from which a few slices only have been taken, the fillet of +veal, available for so many delicate dishes, all are ruthlessly turned +into the all-pervading hash. The curious thing is that people are not +fond of it. Men exclaim against it, and its name stinks in the nostrils +of those unhappy ones whose home is the boarding-house. + +Yet hash in itself is not a bad dish; when I say it is a peculiarly +_American_ institution, I mean, that when English people speak of hash, +they mean something quite different--meat warmed in slices. Our hash, in +its best form--that is, made with nice gravy, garnished with sippets of +toast and pickles, surrounded with mashed potatoes or rice--is dignified +abroad by the name of _mince_, and makes its appearance as an elegant +little _entrée_. Nor would it be anathematized in the way it is with us, +if it were only occasionally introduced. It is the familiarity that has +led to contempt. "But what shall I do?" asks the young wife +distressfully; "John likes joints, and he and I and Bridget can't +possibly eat a roast at a meal." + +Very true; and it is to just such perplexed young housekeepers that I +hope this chapter will be especially useful--that is to say, small +families with moderate means and a taste for good things. In this, as in +many other ways, large families are easier to cater for; they can +consume the better part of a roast at a meal, and the remains it is no +great harm to turn into hash, although even they might, with little +trouble and expense, have agreeable variety introduced into their bill +of fare. + +In England and America there is great prejudice against warmed-over +food, but on the continent one eats it half the time in some of the most +delicious-made dishes without suspecting it. Herein lies the secret. +With us and our transatlantic cousins the warming over is so artlessly +done, that the _hard_ fact too often stares at us from out the watery +expanse in which it reposes. + +One great reason of the failure to make warmed-over meat satisfactory is +the lack of gravy. On the goodness of this (as well as its presence) +depends the success of your _réchauffé_. + +The glaze, for which I have given the recipe, renders you at all times +independent in this respect, but at the same time it should not alone be +depended on. Every drop of what remains in the dish from the roast +should be saved, and great care be taken of all scraps, bones, and +gristle, which should be carefully boiled down to save the necessity of +flying to the glaze for every purpose. I will here give several recipes, +which I think may be new to many readers. + +SALMI OF COLD MEAT is exceedingly good. Melt butter in a saucepan, if +for quite a small dish two ounces will be sufficient; when melted, stir +in a little flour to thicken; let it brown, but not burn, or, if you are +preparing the dish in haste, put in some brown flour; then add a glass +of white or red wine and a cup of broth, or a cup of water and a slice +of glaze, a sprig or two of thyme, parsley, a small onion, chopped, and +one bay leaf, pepper, and salt. Simmer all thoroughly (all savory dishes +to which wine is added should simmer long enough for the distinct +"winey" flavor to disappear, only the strength and richness remaining). +Strain this when simmered half an hour and lay in the cold meat. Squeeze +in a little lemon juice and draw the stew-pan to the back of the stove, +but where it will cook no longer, or the meat will harden. Serve on +toast, and pour the sauce over. A glass of brandy added to this dish +when the meat goes in is a great addition, if an extra fine salmi is +desired. By not allowing the flour and butter to brown and using white +wine, this is a very fine sauce in which to warm cold chicken, veal, or +any _white_ meat. + +B[OE]UF À LA JARDINIÈRE.--Put in a fireproof dish if you have it, or a +thick saucepan, a pint of beef broth, a small bunch each of parsley, +chervil, tarragon--very little of this--shallot or onion, capers, +pickled gherkins, of each or any a teaspoonful chopped fine; roll a +large tablespoonful of butter with a dessert-spoonful of brown flour, +stir it in; then take slices of underdone beef, with a blunt knife hack +each slice all over in fine dice, but not to separate or cut up the +slices; then pepper and salt each one and lay it in with the herbs, +sprinkle a layer of herbs over the beef and cover closely; then stand +the dish in the oven to slowly cook for an hour, or, if you use a +stew-pan, set in a pan of boiling water on the stove for an hour where +the water will just boil. Serve on a dish surrounded with young carrots +and turnips if in season, or old ones cut. + +BEEF AU GRATIN.--Cut a little fat bacon or pork very thin, sprinkle on +it chopped parsley, onion, and mushrooms (mushroom powder will do) and +bread-crumbs; then put in layers of beef, cut thick, and well and +closely hacked, then another layer of bacon or pork cut thin as a wafer, +and of seasoning, crumbs last; pour over enough broth or gravy to +moisten well, in which a little brandy or wine may be added if an +especially good dish is desired; bake slowly an hour. + +PSEUDO BEEFSTEAK.--Cut cold boiled or roast beef in thick slices, broil +slowly, lay in a _hot_ dish in which you have a large spoonful of +Montpellier butter melted, sprinkle a little mushroom powder if you +desire, and garnish with fried potato. + +CUTLETS À LA JARDINIÈRE.--Trim some thick cutlets from a cold leg of +mutton, or chops from the loin, dip them in frying batter, _à la +Carême_, fry crisp and quickly, and serve wreathed round green peas, or +a ragout made as follows: Take young carrots, turnips, green peas, white +beans; stew gently in a little water to which the bones of the meat and +trimmings have been added (and which must be carefully removed not to +disfigure the vegetables). Encircle this ragout with the fried cutlets, +and crown with a cauliflower. + +CROMESQUIS OF LAMB is a Polish recipe. Cut some underdone lamb--mutton +will of course do--quite small; also some mushrooms, cut small, or the +powder. Put in a saucepan a piece of glaze the size of a pigeon's egg, +with a _little_ water or broth, warm it and thicken with yolks of two +eggs, just as you would make boiled custard, that is, without letting +it come to the boil, or it will curdle; then add the mushrooms and meat, +let all get cold, and divide it into small pieces, roll in bread-crumbs +sifted, then in egg, then in crumbs again, and fry in very hot fat; or +you may, _after_ rolling in bread-crumbs, lay each piece in a spoon and +dip it into frying batter; let the extra batter run off, and drop the +cromesquis into the hot fat. These will be good made of beef and rolled +up in a bard of fat pork cut thin, and fried; serve with sauce piquant +made thus: Take some chopped parsley, onion, and pickled cucumbers, +simmer till tender, and thicken with an equal quantity of butter and +flour. Of course your own brightness will tell you that, if you are in +haste, a spoonful of Montpellier butter, the same of flour, melted in a +little water, to which you add a teaspoonful of vinegar, will make an +excellent sauce piquant, and this same is excellent for anything fried, +as breaded chops, croquettes, etc. I may here say, that where two or +three herbs are mentioned as necessary, for instance, parsley, tarragon, +and chervil, if you have no tarragon you must leave it out, or chervil +the same. It is only a matter of flavoring, at the same time _flavor_ is +a great deal, and these French herbs give that indescribable _cachet_ to +a dish which is one of the secrets of French cooking. Therefore if you +are a wise matron you will have a supply on hand, even if only bought +dry from the druggist. + +MIROTON OF BEEF.--Peel and cut into thin slices two large onions, put +them in a stew-pan with two ounces of butter, place it over a slow fire; +stir the onions round till they are rather brown, but not in the least +burnt; add a teaspoonful of brown flour, mix smoothly, then moisten with +half a pint of broth, or water with a little piece of glaze, three +salt-spoonfuls of salt unless your broth was salted, then half the +quantity or less, two of sugar, and one of pepper. Put in the cold beef, +cut in thin slices as lean as possible, let it remain five minutes at +the back of the stove; then serve on a very hot dish garnished with +fried potatoes, or sippets of toast. To vary the flavor, sometimes put a +spoonful of tarragon or plain vinegar, or a teaspoonful of mushroom +powder, or a pinch of curry, unless objected to, or a few sweet herbs. +In fact, as you may see, variety is as easy to produce as it is rare to +meet with in average cooking, and depends more on intelligence and +thoughtfulness than on anything else. + +The simplest of all ways of warming a joint that is not far cut, is to +wrap it in thickly buttered paper, and put it in the oven again, +contriving, if possible, to cover it closely, let it remain long enough +to get _hot_ through, not to cook. By keeping it closely covered it will +get hot through in less time, and the steam will prevent it getting hard +and dry; make some gravy hot and serve with the meat. If your gravy is +good and plentiful, your meat will be as nice as the first day; without +gravy it would be an unsatisfactory dish. If you cannot manage to cover +the joint in the oven, you may put it in a pot over the fire _without_ +water, but with a dessert spoonful of vinegar to create steam; let it +get hot through, and serve as before. + +For the third day the meat may be warmed up in any of the ways I am +going to mention, repeating once more, that you must have gravy of some +kind, or else carefully make some, with cracked bones, gristle, etc., +stewed _long_, and nicely flavored with any kind of sauce. + +RAGOUT.--A very nice ragout may be made from cold meat thus: Slice the +meat, put it in a stew-pan in which an onion, or several if you like +them, has been sliced; squeeze half a lemon into it, or a +dessert-spoonful of vinegar, cover closely without water, and when it +begins to cook, set the stew-pan at the back of the stove for three +quarters of an hour, shaking it occasionally. The onions should now be +brown; take out the meat, dredge in a little flour, stir it round, and +add a cup of gravy, pepper, salt, and a small quantity of any sauce or +flavoring you prefer; stew gently a minute or two, then put the meat +back to get hot, and serve; garnish with sippets of toast, or pickles. + +A NICE LITTLE BREAKFAST DISH IS made thus: Cut two long slices of cold +meat and three of bread, buttered thickly, about the same shape and +size; season the meat with pepper, salt, and a little finely chopped +parsley; or, if it is veal, a little chopped ham; then lay one slice of +bread between two of meat, and have the other two slices outside; fasten +together with short wooden skewers. If you have a quick oven, put it in; +and take care to baste with butter thoroughly, that the bread may be all +over crisp and brown. If you can't depend on your oven, fry it in very +hot fat as you would crullers; garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve +very hot. + +TO WARM A GOOD-SIZED PIECE OF BEEF.--Trim it as much like a thick fillet +as you can; cut it horizontally half way through, then scoop out as much +as you can of the meat from the inside of each piece. Chop the meat fine +that you have thus scooped out, season with a little finely chopped +parsley and thyme, a shred of onion, if you like it; or if you have +celery boil a little of the coarser part till tender, chop it and add +as much bread finely crumbled as you have meat, and a good piece of +butter; add pepper and salt, and make all into a paste with an egg, +mixed with an equal quantity of gravy or milk; fill up the hollow in the +meat and tie, or still better, sew it together. You may either put this +in a pot with a slice of pork or bacon, and a cup of gravy; or you may +brush it over with beaten egg, cover it with crumbs, and pour over these +a cup of butter, melted, so that it moistens every part; and bake it, +taking care to baste well while baking; serve with nice gravy. + +BEEF OLIVES are no novelty to the ear, but it is a novel thing to find +them satisfactory to the palate. + +Take some stale bread-crumbs, an equal quantity of beef finely chopped, +some parsley, and thyme; a little scraped ham if you have it, a few +chives, or a slice of onion, all chopped small as possible; put some +butter in a pan, and let this force-meat just simmer, _not fry_, in it +for ten minutes. While this is cooking, cut some underdone oblong slices +of beef about half an inch thick, hack it with a sharp knife on _both +sides_; then mix the cooked force-meat with the yolk of an egg and a +tablespoonful of gravy; put a spoonful of this paste in the center of +each slice of meat and tie it up carefully in the shape of an egg. Then +if you have some nice gravy, thicken it with a piece of butter rolled in +flour, roll each olive slightly in flour and lay it in the gravy and let +it very gently _simmer_ for half an hour. A few chopped oysters added to +the gravy will be a great addition. Or you may lay each olive on a thin +slice of fat pork, roll it up, tie it, dip it in flour, and bake in a +quick oven until beautifully brown. + +TO WARM OVER COLD MUTTON.--An excellent and simple way is to cut it, if +loin, into chops, or leg, into thick collops, and dip each into egg +well beaten with a tablespoonful of milk, then in _fine_ bread-crumbs +and fry in plenty of _very hot_ fat. + +If your crumbs are not very fine and even, the larger crumbs will fall +off, and the appearance be spoilt. These chops will be almost as nice, +if quickly fried, as fresh cooked ones. They will also be excellent if, +instead of being breaded, they are dipped into thick batter (see recipe) +and fried brown in the same way. This method answers for any kind of +meat, chicken thus warmed over being especially good. The batter, or egg +and bread-crumbs form a sort of crust which keeps it tender and juicy. +Any attempt to fry cold meat without either results in a hard, stringy, +uneatable dish. + +WHITE MEAT OF ANY KIND is excellent warmed over in a little milk, in +which you have cut a large onion, and, if you like it, a slice of salt +pork or ham, and a little sliced cucumber, if it is summer; thicken with +the yolks of one or two eggs, added after the whole has simmered twenty +minutes; take care the egg thickens in the gravy, but does not _boil_, +or it will curdle. If it is in winter, chop a teaspoonful of pickled +cucumber or capers and add just on going to table. In summer when you +have the sliced cucumber, squeeze half a lemon into the gravy, the last +thing, to give the requisite dash of acid. You may vary the above by +adding sometimes a few chopped oysters; at others, mushrooms, or celery. +The last must be put in with the onion and before the meat. + +DEVILED MEAT.--Our better halves are usually fond of this, especially +for breakfast or lunch. + +For this dish take a pair of turkey or chicken drumsticks or some nice +thick wedges of underdone beef or mutton, score them deeply with a +knife and rub them over with a sauce made thus: A teaspoonful of +vinegar, the same of Harvey or Worcestershire sauce, the same of +mustard, a _little_ cayenne, and a tablespoonful of salad oil, or butter +melted; mix all till like cream, and take care your meat is thoroughly +moistened all over with the mixture, then rub your gridiron with butter. +See that the fire is clear, and while the gridiron is getting hot, chop +a teaspoonful of parsley very fine, mix it up with a piece of butter the +size of a walnut, and lay this in a dish which you will put to get hot. +Then put the meat to be grilled on the fire and turn often, so that it +will not burn; when hot through and brown, lay it in the hot dish, lay +another hot dish over it, and serve as quickly as possible with hot +plates. + +Or the grill may be served with what Soyer calls his _Mephistophelian +sauce_, which he especially designed for serving with deviled meats. +Chop six shallots or small onions, wash and press them in the corner of +a clean cloth, put them in a stew-pan with half a wineglass of chili +vinegar (pepper sauce), a chopped clove, a tiny bit of garlic, two bay +leaves, an ounce of glaze; boil all together ten minutes; then add four +tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce, a _little_ sugar, and ten of broth +thickened with roux (or water will do if you have no broth). + +It will be remarked that in many French recipes a _little_ sugar is +ordered. This is not meant to sweeten, or even be perceptible; but it +enriches, softens, tones, as it were, the other ingredients as salt +does. + +SOYER'S FRITADELLA (twenty recipes in one).--Put half a pound of +bread-crumb to soak in a pint of cold water; take the same quantity of +any kind of roast, or boiled meat, with a little fat, chop it fine, +press the bread in a clean cloth to extract the water; put in a +stew-pan two ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of chopped onions; fry +two minutes and stir, then add the bread, stir and fry till rather dry, +then the meat; season with a teaspoonful of salt, half of pepper, and a +little grated nutmeg, and lemon peel; stir continually till very hot, +then add two eggs, one at a time; mix well and pour on a dish to get +cold. Then take a piece, shape it like a small egg, flatten it a little, +egg and bread-crumb it all over, taking care to keep in good shape. Do +all the same way, then put into a frying-pan a quarter of a pound of +lard or dripping, let it get hot, and put in the pieces, and sauté (or +as we call it "_fry_") them a fine yellow brown. Serve very hot with a +border of mashed potatoes, or any garniture you fancy. Sauce piquant, or +not, as you please. + +The above can be made with any kind of meat, poultry, game, fish, or +even vegetables; hard eggs, or potatoes, may be introduced in small +quantities, and they may be fried instead of sautéed (frying in the +French and strict sense, meaning as I need hardly say, entire immersion +in very hot fat). To _fry_ them you require at least two pounds of fat +in your pan. + +Oysters or lobsters prepared as above are excellent. + +Boileau says, "_Un diner réchauffé ne valut jamais rien_." But I think a +good French cook of the present day would make him alter his opinion. + +Indeed Savarin quotes a friend of his own, a notable gourmand, who +considered spinach cooked on Monday only reached perfection the +following Saturday, having each day of the week been warmed up with +butter, and each day gaining succulence and a more marrowy consistency. + +The only trouble I find in relation to this part of my present task is +the difficulty of knowing when to leave off. There are so many ways of +warming meats to advantage--and in every one way there is the suggestion +for another--that I suffer from an _embarras de richesse_, and have had +difficulty in selecting. Dozens come to my mind, blanquettes, patties, +curries, as I write; but as this is not, I have said, to be a recipe +book, I forbear. Of one thing I am quite sure: when women once know how +to make nice dishes of cold meat they will live well where they now live +badly, and for less money; and "hash" will be relegated to its proper +place as an occasional and acceptable dish. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ON FRIANDISES. + + + "Le rôle du gourmand finit avec l'entremets, et celui du friand + commence au dessert."--_Grimod de la Reynière._ + + +AMERICAN ladies, as a rule, excel in cake making and preserving, and I +feel that on that head I have very little to teach; indeed, were they as +accomplished in all branches of cooking as in making dainty sweet dishes +this book would be uncalled for. + +Yet, notwithstanding their undoubted taste and ability in making +"_friandises_," it seems to me a few recipes borrowed from what the +French call _la grande cuisine_, and possible of execution at home, will +be welcome to those who wish to vary the eternal ice cream and charlotte +russe, with other sweets more elegant and likely to be equally popular. + +ICED SOUFFLÉ À LA BYRON.--One pint of sugar syrup of 32 degrees (get +this at a druggist's if you do not understand sugar boiling), three +gills of strained raspberry juice, one lemon, one gill of maraschino, +fifteen yolks of eggs, two ounces of chocolate drops, half a pint of +very thick cream whipped. + +Method of making this and the next recipe is as follows: Mix the syrup +and yolks of eggs, strain into a warm bowl, add the raspberry and lemon +juice and maraschino, whisk till it creams well, then take the bowl out +of the hot water and whisk ten minutes longer; add the chocolate drops +and whipped cream; lightly fill a case or mold, and set in a freezer for +two hours, then cover the surface with lady-fingers (or sponge cake) +dried in the oven a pale brown, and rolled. Serve at once. + +Another frozen _soufflé_ is as follows: + +One pint of syrup, 32 degrees, half a pint of noyeau, half a pint of +cherry juice, two ounces of bruised macaroons, half a pint of thick +cream whipped, made in the same way as the last. I may here say that the +fruit juices can be procured now at all good druggists, so that these +_soufflés_ are very attainable in winter, and as noyeau and maraschino +do not form part of the stores in a family of small means, I will give +in this chapter recipes for the making of very fair imitations of the +genuine _liqueurs_. + +BISCUIT GLACÉ À LA CHARLES DICKENS.--One pint of syrup (32°), fifteen +yolks of eggs, three gills of peach pulp, colored pink with cochineal, +one gill of noyeau, half a pint of thick cream, and a little chocolate +water-ice, made with half a pint of syrup and four ounces of the best +chocolate smoothly mixed and frozen ready. + +Mix syrup, yolks, peach pulps, noyeau, and a few drops of vanilla, whip +high; mix with the whipped cream, and set in ice for one hour and a half +in brick-shaped molds, then turn out (if very firm), and cut in slices +an inch thick, and coat them all over, or on top and sides, with the +chocolate ice, smoothing with a knife dipped in cold water; serve in +paper cases. + +BISCUIT GLACÉ À LA THACKERAY.--One pint of syrup (32°), one pint of +strawberry pulp, fifteen yolks of eggs, one ounce of vanilla sugar +(flavor a little sugar with vanilla), half a pint of thick cream. + +Mix syrup, yolks, strawberry, and vanilla sugar, whipping as before, +then add the whipped cream lightly; fill paper cases, either round or +square; surround each with a band of stiff paper, to reach half an inch +above the edge of the case, the bands to be pinned together to secure +them; place them in a freezer. When about to send to table, remove the +bands of paper, and cover with macaroons bruised fine and browned in the +oven. The bands of paper are meant to give the biscuit the appearance of +having risen while supposed to bake. + +These delicious ices were invented by Francatelli, the Queen of +England's chief cook, to do homage to the different great men whose +names they bear, on the occasion of preparing dinners given in their +honor. They read as if somewhat intricate, but any lady who has ever had +ice cream made at home, and had the patience to make charlotte russe, +need not shrink appalled before these novelties, or fear for a +successful result. + +Baba is a cake many call for at a confectioner's, yet few, if any one, +attempts to make it at home. That the recipes generally offered do not +lead to success may be one reason, and I offer the following, quite +sure, if accurately followed, such a baba will result as never was eaten +outside of Paris. + +BABA.--One pound of flour; take one quarter of it, and make a sponge +with half an ounce of compressed yeast and a little warm water, set it +to rise, make a hole in the rest of the flour, add to it ten ounces of +butter, three eggs, and a dessert-spoonful of sugar, a little salt, +unless your butter salts it enough, which is generally the case. Beat +all together well, then add five more eggs, one at a time, that is to +say, add one egg and beat well, then another and beat again, and so on +until the five are used. When the paste leaves the bowl it is beaten +enough, but not before; then add the sponge to it, and a large half +ounce of citron chopped, the same of currants, and an ounce and a half +of sultana raisins, seedless. Let it rise to twice its size, then bake +it in an oven of dark yellow paper heat; the small round babas are an +innovation of the pastry-cook to enable him to sell them uncut. But the +baba proper should be baked in a large, deep, upright tin, such as a +large charlotte russe mold, when they keep for several days fresh, and +if they get stale, make delicious fritters, soaked in sherry and dipped +in frying batter. + +In some cases, however, it may be preferred to make them as usually seen +at French pastry cooks; for this purpose you require a dozen small-sized +_round_ charlotte russe molds, which fill half full only, as they rise +very much; bake these in a hotter oven, light brown paper heat; try with +a twig as you would any other cake, if it comes out dry it is done; then +prepare a syrup as follows: Boil half pound of sugar in a pint of water, +add to this the third of a pint of rum, and some apricot pulp--peach +will of course do--and boil all together a few minutes; pour this half +an inch deep in a dish, and stand the cake or cakes in it; it should +drink up all the syrup, you may also sprinkle some over it. If any syrup +remains, use it to warm over your cake when stale, instead of the +sherry. + +Baba was introduced into France by Stanislas Leczinski, king of Poland, +and the father-in-law of Louis XIV.; and his Polish royal descendants +still use with it, says Carême, a syrup made of Malaga wine and one +sixth part of _eau de tanaisie_. + +But, although our forefathers seemed to have relished tansy very much, +to judge from old recipe books, I doubt if such flavoring would be +appreciated in our time. + +SAVARINS--commonly called wine cake by New York pastry cooks--are made +as follows: + +One pound of flour, of which take one quarter to make a sponge, using +half an ounce of German compressed yeast, and a little warm milk; when +it has risen to twice its bulk, add one gill of hot milk, two eggs, and +the rest of the flour; mix well; then add one more egg and beat, +another, still beating; then add three quarters of a pound of fresh +butter, a quarter of an ounce of salt, half an ounce of sugar, and half +a gill of hot milk, beat well; then add eggs, one at a time, beating +continually, until you have used five more. Cut in small dice three +ounces of candied orange peel; butter a tin, which should be deep and +straight-sided--a tin pudding boiler is not a bad thing--and sprinkle +with chopped almonds. Fill the mold half full, and when risen to twice +its bulk, bake in a moderate oven, dark yellow paper heat. When served, +this cake should stand in a dish of syrup, flavored with rum, as for +baba, or with sherry wine. + +BOUCHÉES DES DAMES, a very ornamental and delicious little French cake, +is sufficiently novel to deserve a place here, I think. Make any nice +drop cake batter (either sponge, or sponge with a little butter in it I +prefer); drop one on buttered paper and bake; if it runs, beat in a +_little_ more flour and sugar, but not much, or your cakes will be +brittle; they should be the size, when done, of a fifty-cent piece, and +I find half a teaspoonful of batter dropped generally makes them about +right. Have a tin cutter or tin box lid, if you have no cutter so small, +about the size, and with it trim each cake when baked; then take half +the number and spread some with a very thin layer of red currant jelly, +others with peach or raspberry; then on each so spread put a cake that +is unspread, thus making a tiny sandwich or jelly cake. If you have +different sorts of jelly, put each separate, as you must adapt the +flavor of your icing to the jelly. For red currant, ice with chocolate +icing. Recipes for icing are so general that I refer you to your cookery +book. Those with peach may have white icing, flavored with almond, or +with rum, beating in a little more sugar if the flavoring dilutes your +icing too much. Almond flavoring goes well with raspberry. Cakes with +raspberry jelly or jam should be iced pink, coloring the icing with +prepared cochineal or cranberry juice. Thus you have your cakes brown, +pink, and white, which look very pretty mixed. + +The process of icing is difficult to do after they are put together, but +they are much handsomer this way, and keep longer. You require, to +accomplish it, a good quantity of each kind of icing, and a number of +little wooden skewers; stick one into each cake and dip it in the icing, +let it run off, then stand the other end of the skewer in a box of sand +or granulated sugar. The easiest way is to ice each half cake before +putting in the jelly; when the icing is hard spread with jelly, and put +together. + +CURAÇOA may be successfully imitated by pouring over eight ounces of the +_thinly_ pared rind of very ripe oranges a pint of boiling water, cover, +and let it cool; then add two quarts of brandy, or strong French spirit, +cover closely, and let it stand fourteen days, shaking it every day. +Make a clarified syrup of two pounds of sugar into one pint of water, +well boiled; strain the brandy into it, leaving it covered close +another day. Rub up in a mortar one drachm of potash, with a teaspoonful +of the liqueurs; when well blended, put this into the liqueur, and in +the same way pound and add a drachm of alum, shake well, and in an hour +or two filter through thin muslin. Ready for use in a week or two. + +MARASCHINO.--Bruise slightly a dozen cherry kernels, put them in a deep +jar with the outer rind of three oranges and two lemons, cover with two +quarts of gin, then add syrup and leave it a fortnight, as for curaçoa. +Stir syrup and spirit together, leave it another day, run it through a +jelly bag, and bottle. Ready to use in ten days. + +NOYEAU.--Blanch and pound two pounds of bitter almonds, or four of peach +kernels; put to them a gallon of spirit or brandy, two pounds of white +sugar candy--or sugar will do--a grated nutmeg, and a pod of vanilla; +leave it three weeks covered close, then filter and bottle; but do not +use it for three months. To be used with caution. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FRENCH CANDY AT HOME. + + +THIS chapter I shall have to make one of recipes chiefly, for it treats +of a branch of cooking not usually found in cookery books, or at least +there is seldom anything on the art of confectionery beyond molasses or +cream taffy and nougat. These, therefore, I shall not touch upon, but +rather show you how to make the expensive French candies. + +The great art of making these exquisite candies is in boiling the sugar, +and it is an art easily acquired with patience. + +Put into a marbleized saucepan (by long experience in sugar-boiling I +find them less likely to burn even than brass, and I keep one for the +purpose) one pound of sugar and half a pint of water; when it has boiled +ten minutes begin to try it; have a bowl of water with a piece of ice +near you, and drop it from the end of a spoon. When it falls to the +bottom, and you can take it up and make it into a softish ball (not at +all sticky) between your thumb and finger, it is at the right point; +remove it from the fire to a cold place; when cool, if perfectly right, +a thin jelly-like film will be over the surface, _not a sugary one_; if +it is sugary, and you want your candy very creamy, you must add a few +spoonfuls of water, return to the fire and boil again, going through +the same process of trying it. You must be careful that there is not the +least inclination to be brittle in the ball of candy you take from the +water; if so, it is boiled a degree too high; put a little water to +bring it back again, and try once more. A speck of cream of tartar is +useful in checking a tendency in the syrup to go to sugar. When you have +your sugar boiled just right set it to cool, and when you can bear your +finger in it, begin to beat it with a spoon; in ten minutes it will be a +white paste resembling lard, which you will find you can work like bread +dough. This, then, is your foundation, called by French confectioners +_fondant_; with your _fondant_ you can work marvels. But to begin with +the simplest French candies. + +Take a piece of _fondant_, flavor part of it with vanilla, part of it +with lemon, color yellow (see coloring candies), and another part with +raspberry, color pink; make these into balls, grooved cones, or anything +that strikes your fancy, let them stand till they harden, they are then +ready for use. + +Take another part of your _fondant_, have some English walnuts chopped, +flavor with vanilla and color pink; work the walnuts into the paste as +you would fruit into a loaf cake; when mixed, make a paper case an inch +wide and deep, and three or four inches long; oil it; press the paste +into it, and when firm turn it out and cut into cubes. Or, instead of +walnuts, use chopped almonds, flavor with vanilla, and leave the +_fondant_ white. This makes VANILLA ALMOND CREAM. + +TUTTI FRUTTI CANDY.--Chop some almonds, citron, a _few_ currants, and +seedless raisins; work into some _fondant_, flavor with rum and lemon, +thus making Roman punch, or with vanilla or raspberry; press into the +paper forms as you did the walnut cream. You see how you can ring the +changes on these bars, varying the flavoring, inventing new +combinations, etc. + +FONDANT PANACHÉ.--Take your _fondant_, divide it in three equal parts, +color one pink and flavor as you choose, leave the other white and +flavor also as you please; but it must agree with the pink, and both +must agree with the next, which is chocolate. Melt a little unsweetened +chocolate by setting it in a saucer over the boiling kettle, then take +enough of it to make your third piece of _fondant_ a fine brown; now +divide the white into two parts; make each an inch and a half wide, and +as long as it will; do the same with the chocolate _fondant_; then take +the pink, make it the same width and length, but of course, not being +divided, it will be twice as thick; now butter slightly the back of a +plate, or, better still, get a few sheets of waxed paper from the +confectioner's; lay one strip of the chocolate on it, then a strip of +white on that, then the pink, the other white, and lastly the chocolate +again; then lightly press them to make them adhere, but not to squeeze +them out of shape. You have now an oblong brick of parti-colored candy; +leave it for a few hours to harden, then trim it neatly with a knife and +cut it crosswise into slices half an inch think, lay on waxed paper to +dry, turning once in a while, and pack away in boxes. + +If your _fondant_ gets very hard while you work, stand it over hot water +a few minutes. + +Creamed candies are very fashionable just now, and, your _fondant_ once +ready, are very easy to make. + +CREAM WALNUTS.--Make ready some almonds, some walnuts in halves, some +hazelnuts, or anything of the sort you fancy; let them be very dry. Take +_fondant_ made from a pound of sugar, set it in a bowl in a saucepan of +boiling water, stirring it till it is like cream. Then having flavored +it with vanilla or lemon, drop in your nuts one by one, taking them out +with the other hand on the end of a fork, resting it on the edge of your +bowl to drain for a second, then drop the nut on to a waxed or buttered +paper neatly. If the nut shows through the cream it is too hot; take it +out of the boiling water and beat till it is just thick enough to mask +the nut entirely, then return it to the boiling water, as it cools very +rapidly and becomes unmanageable, when it has to be warmed over again. + +VERY FINE CHOCOLATE CREAMS are made as follows: Boil half a pound of +sugar with three tablespoonfuls of thick cream till it makes a _soft_ +ball in water, then let it cool. When cool beat it till it is very +white, flavor with a few drops of vanilla and make it into balls the +size of a large pea; then take some unsweetened chocolate warmed, mix it +with a piece of _fondant_ melted--there should be more chocolate than +sugar--and when quite smooth and thick enough to mask the cream, drop +them in from the end of a fork, take them out, and drop on to wax paper. + +Another very fine candy to be made without heat, and therefore +convenient for hot weather, is made as follows: + +PUNCH DROPS.--Sift some powdered sugar. Have ready some fine white +gum-arabic, put a tablespoonful with the sugar (say half a pound of +sugar), and make it into a firm paste; if too wet, add more sugar, +flavor with lemon and a tiny speck of tartaric acid or a very little +lemon juice. Make the paste into small balls, then take more sugar and +make it into icing with a spoonful of Santa Cruz rum and half the white +of an egg. Try if it hardens, if not, beat in more sugar and color it a +bright pink, then dip each ball in the pink icing and harden on wax +paper. These are very novel, beautiful to look at, and the flavors may +vary to taste. + +TO MAKE COCHINEAL COLORING WHICH IS QUITE HARMLESS.--Take one ounce of +powdered cochineal, one ounce of cream of tartar, two drachms of alum, +half a pint of water; boil the cochineal, water, and cream of tartar +till reduced to one half, then add the alum, and put up in small bottles +for use. Yellow is obtained by the infusion of Spanish saffron in a +little water, or a still better one from the grated rind of a ripe +orange put into muslin, and a little of the juice squeezed through it. + +Be careful in boiling the sugar for _fondant_, not to stir it after it +is dissolved; stirring causes it to become rough instead of creamy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A CHAPTER FOR PEOPLE OF VERY SMALL MEANS. + + +I AM sorry to say in these days this chapter may appeal to many, who are +yet not to be called "poor people," who may have been well-to-do and +only suffering from the pressure of the times, and for whose cultivated +appetites the coarse, substantial food of the laboring man (even if they +could buy it) would not be eatable, who must have what they do have +good, or starve. But, as some of the things for which I give recipes +will seem over-economical for people who can afford to buy meat at least +once a day, I advise those who have even fifty dollars a month income to +skip it; reminding them, if they do not, "that necessity knows no law." + +A bone of soup meat can be got at a good butcher's for ten or fifteen +cents, and is about the best investment, for that sum I know of, as two +nourishing and savory meals, at least, for four or five persons can be +got from it. + +Carefully make a nice soup, with plenty of vegetables, rice, or any +other thickening you like. Your bone will weigh from four to six pounds, +perhaps; put it on with water according to size, and let it boil down +slowly until nice and strong. If you have had any scraps of meat or +bones, put them also to your soup. + +When you serve it, keep back a cup of soup and a few of the vegetables, +and save the meat, from which you can make a very appetizing hash in the +following way: Take the meat from the bone, chop it with some cold +potatoes and the vegetables you saved from the soup. Cold stewed onions, +boiled carrots or turnips, all help to make the dish savory. Chop an +onion very fine, unless you have cold ones, a little parsley and thyme, +if liked, and sometimes, for variety's sake, if you have it, a pinch of +curry powder, not enough to make it hot or yellow, yet to impart +piquancy. If you have a tiny bit of fried bacon or cold ham or cold +pork, chop it with the other ingredients, mix all well, moisten with the +cold soup, and, when nicely seasoned, put the hash into an iron +frying-pan, in which you have a little fat made hot; pack it smoothly +in, cover it with a pot-lid, and either set it in a hot oven, or leave +it to brown on the stove. If there was more soup than enough to moisten +the hash, put it on in a tiny saucepan, with a little brown flour made +into a paste with butter, add a drop of tomato catsup, or a little +stewed tomato, or anything you have for flavoring, and stir till it +boils. Then turn the hash out whole on a dish, it should be brown and +crisp, pour the gravy you have made round it, and serve. For a change +make a pie of the hash, pouring the gravy in through a hole in the top +when done. + +It is not generally known that a very nice plain paste can be made with +a piece of bread dough, to which you have added an egg, and some lard, +dripping, or butter. The dripping is particularly nice for the hash pie, +and, as you need only a piece of dough as large as an orange, you will +probably have enough from the soup, if you skimmed off all the fat +before putting the vegetables in (see _pot-au-feu_); work your dripping +into the dough, and let it rise well, then roll as ordinary pie-crust. +Potato crust is also very good for plain pies of any sort, but as there +are plenty of recipes for it, I will not give one here. + +One of the very best hashes I ever ate was prepared by a lady who, in +better times, kept a very fine table. And she told me there were a good +many cold beans in it, well mashed; and often since, when taking +"travelers' hash" in an hotel, I have thought of that savory dish with +regret. + +Instead of making your chopped meat into hash, vary it, by rolling the +same mixture into egg-shaped pieces, or flat cakes, flouring them, and +frying them nicely in very hot fat; pieces of pork or bacon fried and +laid round will help out the dish, and be an improvement to what is +already very good. + +To return once more to the soup bone. If any one of your family is fond +of marrow, seal up each end of the bone with a paste made of flour and +water. When done, take off the paste, and remove the marrow. Made very +hot, and spread on toast, with pepper and salt, it will be a relish for +some one's tea or breakfast. + +In this country there is a prejudice against sheep's liver; while in +England, where beef liver is looked upon as too coarse to eat (and falls +to the lot of the "cats-meat man," or cat butcher), sheep's is esteemed +next to calf's, and it is, in fact, more delicate than beef liver. The +nicest way to cook it is in very _thin_ slices (not the inch-thick +pieces one often sees), each slice dipped in flour and fried in pork or +bacon fat, and pork or bacon served with it. But the more economical way +is to put it in a pan, dredge it with flour, pin some fat pork over it, +and set it in a hot oven; when very brown take it out; make nice brown +gravy by pouring water in the pan and letting it boil on the stove, +stirring it well to dissolve the glaze; pour into the dish, and serve. +The heart should be stuffed with bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, and a +_little_ onion, and baked separately. Or, for a change, you may chop the +liver up with a few sweet herbs and a little pork (onion, or not, as you +like), and some bread-crumbs. Put all together in a crock, dredge with +flour, cover, and set in a slow oven for an hour and a half; then serve, +with toasted bread around the dish. + +It is very poor economy to buy inferior meat. One pound of fine beef has +more nourishment than two of poor quality. But there is a great +difference in prices of different parts of meat, and it is better +management to choose the cheap part of fine beef than to buy the sirloin +of a poor ox even at the same price; and, by good cooking many parts not +usually chosen, and therefore sold cheaply, can be made very good. Yet +you must remember, that a piece of meat at seven cents a pound, in which +there is at least half fat and bone, such as brisket, etc., is less +economical than solid meat at ten or twelve. + +Pot roasts are very good for parts of meat not tender enough for +roasting, the "cross-rib," as some butchers term it, being very good for +this purpose; it is all solid meat, and being very lean, requires a +little fat pork, which may be laid at the bottom of the pot; or better +still, holes made in the meat and pieces of the fat drawn through, +larding in a rough way, so that they cut together. A pot roast is best +put on in an iron pot, without water, allowed to get finely brown on one +side, then turned, and when thoroughly brown on the other a little water +may be added for gravy; chop parsley or any seasoning that is +preferred. Give your roast at least three hours to cook. Ox cheek, as +the head is called, is very good, and should be very cheap; prepare it +thus: + +Clean the cheek, soak it in water six hours, and cut the meat from the +bones, which break up for soup; then take the meat, cut into neat +pieces, put it in an earthen crock, a layer of beef, some thin pieces of +pork or bacon, some onions, carrots, and turnips, cut _thin_, or chopped +fine, and sprinkled over the meat; also, some chopped parsley, a little +thyme, and bay leaf, pepper and salt, and a clove to each layer; then +more beef and a little pork, vegetables, and seasoning, as before. When +all your meat is in pour over it, if you have it, a tumbler of hard +cider and one of water, or else two of water, in which put a half gill +of vinegar. If you have no tight-fitting cover to your crock, put a +paste of flour and water over it to keep the steam in. Place the crock +in a slow oven five or six hours, and when it is taken out remove the +crust and skim. Any piece of beef cooked in this way is excellent. + +Ox heart is one of the cheapest of dishes, and really remarkably nice, +and it is much used by economical people abroad. + +The heart should be soaked in vinegar and water three or four hours, +then cut off the lobes and gristle, and stuff it with fat pork chopped, +bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt; then tie it in a cloth +and very slowly simmer it (large end up) for two hours; take it up, +remove the cloth, and flour it, and roast it a nice brown. Lay in the +pan in which it is to be roasted some fat pork to baste it. Any of this +left over is excellent hashed, or, warmed in slices with a rich brown +gravy, cannot be told from game. Another way is to stuff it with sage +and onions. It must always be served _very hot_ with hot plates and on a +very hot dish. + +Fore quarter of mutton is another very economical part of meat, if you +get your butcher to cut it so that it may not only be economical, but +really afford a choice joint. Do not then let him hack the shoulder +across, but, before he does a thing to it, get him to take the shoulder +out in a round plate-shaped joint, with knuckle attached; if he does +this well, that is, cuts it close to the bone of the ribs, you will have +a nice joint; then do not have it chopped at all; this should be roasted +in the oven very nicely, and served with onion sauce or stewed onions. +If onions are not liked, mashed turnips are the appropriate vegetable. +This joint, to be enjoyed, must be properly carved, and that is, across +the middle from the edge to the bone, the same as a leg of mutton; and +like the leg, you must learn, as I cannot describe it in words, where +the bone lies, then have that side nearest you and cut from the opposite +side. + +You have, besides this joint, another roast from the ribs, or else cut +it up into chops till you come to the part under the shoulder; from this +the breast should be separated and both either made into a good Irish +stew, or the breast prepared alone in a way I shall describe, the neck +and thin ribs being stewed or boiled. + +The neck of mutton is very tender boiled and served with parsley or +caper sauce; the liquor it is boiled in served as broth, with vegetables +and rice, or prepared as directed in a former chapter for the broth from +leg of mutton. + +The mode I am about to give of preparing breast of mutton was told me by +a Welsh lady of rank, at whose table I ate it (it appeared as a side +dish), and who said, half laughingly, "Will you take some 'fluff'? We +are very fond of it, but breast of mutton is such a despised dish I +never expect any one else to like it." I took it, on my principle of +trying everything, and did find it very good. This lady told me that, +having of course a good deal of mutton killed on her father's estate, +and the breast being always despised by the servants, she had invented a +way of using it to avoid waste. Her way was this: + +Set the breast of mutton on the fire whole, just covered with water in +which is a little salt. When it comes to the boil draw it back and let +it _simmer_ three hours; then take it up and draw out the bones, and lay +a force-meat of bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, chopped suet, salt and +pepper all over it; double or roll it, skewer it, and coat it thickly +with egg and bread-crumbs; then bake in a moderate oven, basting it +often with nice dripping or butter; when nicely brown it is done, and +eats like the tenderest lamb. It was, when I saw it, served on a bed of +spinach. I like it better on a bed of stewed onions. + +I now give some dishes made without meat. + +RAGOUT OF CUCUMBER AND ONIONS.--Fry equal quantities of large cucumbers +and onions in slices until they are a nice brown. The cucumber will +brown more easily if cut up and put to drain some time before using; +then flour each slice. When both are brown, pour on them a cup of water, +and let them stew for half an hour; then take a good piece of butter in +which you have worked a dessert-spoonful of flour (browned); add pepper, +salt, and a little tomato catsup or stewed tomato. This is a rich-eating +dish if nicely made, and will help out cold meat or a scant quantity of +it very well. A little cold meat may be added if you have it. ONION +SOUP.--Fry six large onions cut into slices with a quarter of a pound of +butter till they are of a bright brown, then well mix in a tablespoonful +of flour, and pour on them rather more than a quart of water. Stew +gently until the onions are quite tender, season with a spoonful of salt +and a little sugar; stir in quickly a _liaison_ made with the yolks of +two eggs mixed with a gill of milk or cream (do not let it boil +afterwards), put some toast in a tureen, and serve very hot. + +PEA SOUP.--Steep some yellow split peas all night, next morning set them +on to boil with two quarts of water to a pint of peas; in the water put +a tiny bit of soda. In another pot put a large carrot, a turnip, an +onion, and a large head of celery, all cut small and covered with water. +When both peas and vegetables are tender, put them together, season with +salt, pepper, and a little sugar, and let them gently stew till thick +enough; then strain through a colander, rubbing the vegetables well, and +return to the pot while you fry some sippets of bread a crisp brown; +then stir into the soup two ounces of butter in which you have rolled a +little flour. + +This soup is simply delicious, and the fact of it being _maigre_ will +not be remembered. + +POTATO SOUP is another of this good kind, for meat is scarcely required, +so good is it without. + +Boil some potatoes, then rub them through a colander into two quarts of +hot milk (skimmed does quite well); have some fine-chopped parsley and +onion, add both with salt and pepper, stew three quarters of an hour; +then stir in a large piece of butter, and beat two eggs with a little +cold milk, stir in quickly, and serve with fried bread. There should be +potatoes enough to make the soup as thick as cream. Do not be +prejudiced against a dish because there is no meat in it, and you think +it cannot be nourishing. This chapter is not written for those with whom +meat, or money, is plentiful; and if it be true that man is nourished +"not by what he eats, but by what he assimilates," and, according to an +American medical authority, "what is eaten with distaste is not +assimilated" (Dr. Hall), it follows that an enjoyable dinner, even +without meat, will be more nourishing than one forced down because it +lacks savor; that potato soup will be more nourishing than potatoes and +butter, with a cup of milk to drink, because more enjoyable. Yet it +costs no more, for the soup can be made without the eggs if they are +scarce. + +Or say bread and butter and onions. They will not be very appetizing, +especially if they had to be a frequent meal, yet onion soup is made +from the same materials, and in France is a very favorite dish, even +with those well able to put meat in it if they wished. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A FEW THINGS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER. + + +EVERY housekeeper has pet "wrinkles" of her own which she thinks are +especially valuable; some are known to all the world, others are new to +many. So it may be with mine; but, on the chance that some few things +are as new to my friends as they were to me, I jot them down without any +pretense of order or regularity. + +Lemons will keep fresher and better in water than any other way. Put +them in a crock, cover them with water. They will in winter keep two or +three months, and the peel be as fresh as the day they were put in. Take +care, of course, that they do not get frosted. In summer change the +water twice a week; they will keep a long time. + +In grating nutmegs begin at the flower end; if you commence at the +other, there will be a hole all the way through. + +Tea or coffee made hot (not at all scorched), before water is added, are +more fragrant and stronger. Thus, by putting three spoonfuls of tea in +the pot and setting in a warm place before infusing, it will be as +strong as if you make tea with four spoonfuls without warming it, and +much more fragrant. + +Vegetables that are strong can be made much milder by tying a bit of +bread in a clean rag and boiling it with them. + +Bread dough is just as good made the day before it is used; thus, a +small family can have fresh bread one day, rolls the next, by putting +the dough in a cold place enveloped in a damp cloth. In winter, kept +cold, yet not in danger of freezing, it will keep a week. + +Celery seed takes the place of celery for soup or stews when it is +scarce; parsley seed of parsley. + +Green beans, gherkins, etc., put down when plentiful in layers of rock +salt, will keep crisp and green for months, and can be taken out and +pickled when convenient. + +Lemon or orange peel grated and mixed with powdered sugar and a squeeze +of its own juice (the sugar making it into paste) is excellent to keep +for flavoring; put it into a little pot and it will keep for a year. + +Bread that is very stale may be made quite fresh for an hour or two by +dipping it quickly into milk or water, and putting it in a brisk oven +till _quite hot through_. It must be eaten at once, or it will be as +stale as ever when cold. + +Meat to be kept in warm weather should be rubbed over with salad oil, +every crevice filled with ginger; meat that is for roasting or frying is +much better preserved in this way than with salt; take care that every +part of the surface has a coat of oil. Steaks or chops cut off, which +always keep badly, should be dipped into warm butter or even dripping, +if oil is not handy (the object being to exclude the air), and then hung +up till wanted. + +Mutton in cold weather should be hung four or five weeks in a place not +subject to changes of temperature, and before it is so hung, every +crevice filled with ginger and thoroughly dredged with flour, which +must be then rubbed in with the hand till the surface is quite dry. This +is the English fashion of keeping venison. + +It may be useful for those who burn kerosene to know that when their +lamps smell, give a bad light, and smoke, it is not necessary to buy new +burners. Put the old ones in an old saucepan with water and a +tablespoonful of soda, let them boil half an hour, wipe them, and your +trouble will be over. + +Meat that has become slightly tainted may be quite restored by washing +it in water in which is a teaspoonful of borax, cutting away every part +in the least discolored. + +In summer when meat comes from the butcher's, if it is not going to be +used the same day, it should be washed over with vinegar. + +Poultry in summer should always have a piece of charcoal tied in a rag +placed in the stomach, to be removed before cooking. Pieces of charcoal +should also be put in the refrigerator and changed often. + +Oyster shells put one at a time in a stove that is "clinkered" will +clean the bricks entirely. They should be put in when the fire is +burning brightly. + +Salt and soapstone powder (to be bought at the druggist's) mend fire +brick; use equal quantities, make into a paste with water, and cement +the brick; they will be as strong as new ones. + +Ink spilled on carpets may be entirely removed by rubbing while wet with +blotting paper, using fresh as it soils. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ON SOME TABLE PREJUDICES. + + +MANY people have strong prejudices against certain things which they +have never even tasted, or which they do frequently take and like as a +part of something else, without knowing it. How common it is to hear and +see untraveled people declare that they dislike garlic, and could not +touch anything with it in. Yet those very people will take +Worcestershire sauce, in which garlic is actually predominant, with +everything they eat; and think none but English pickles eatable, which +owe much of their excellence to the introduction of a _soupçon_ of +garlic. Therefore I beg those who actually only know garlic from hearsay +abuse of it, or from its presence on the breath of some inveterate +garlic eater, to give it a fair trial when it appears in a recipe. It is +just one of those things that require the most delicate handling, for +which the French term a "_suspicion_" is most appreciated; it should +only be a suspicion, its presence should never be pronounced. As Blot +once begged his readers, "Give garlic a fair trial in a _rémolade_ +sauce." (Montpellier butter beaten into mayonnaise is a good _rémolade_ +for cold meat or fish.) + +Curry is one of those things against which many are strongly prejudiced, +and I am inclined to think it is quite an acquired taste, but a taste +which is an enviable one to its possessors; for them there is endless +variety in all they eat. The capabilities of curry are very little known +in this country, and, as the taste for it is so limited, I will not do +more in its defense than indicate a pleasant use to which it may be put, +and in which form it would be a welcome condiment to many to whom "a +curry," pure and simple, would be obnoxious. I once knew an Anglo-Indian +who used curry as most people use cayenne; it was put in a pepper-box, +and with it he would at times pepper his fish or kidneys, even his eggs. +Used in this way, it imparts a delightful piquancy to food, and is +neither hot nor "spicy." + +Few people are so prejudiced as the English generally, and the +stay-at-home Americans; but the latter are to be taught by travel, the +Englishman rarely. + +The average Briton leaves his island shores with the conviction that he +will get nothing fit to eat till he gets back, and that he will have to +be uncommonly careful once across the channel, or he will be having +fricasseed frogs palmed on him for chicken. Poor man! in his horror of +frogs, he does not know that the Paris restaurateur who should give the +costly frog for chicken, would soon end in the bankruptcy court. + +"If I could only get a decent dinner, a good roast and plain potato, I +would like Paris much better," said an old Englishman to me once in that +gay city. + +"But surely you can." + +"No; I have been to restaurants of every class, and called for beefsteak +and roast beef, but have never got the real article, although it's my +belief," said he, leaning forward solemnly, "that I have eaten _horse_ +three times this week." Of course the Englishman of rank, who has spent +half his life on the continent, is not at all the _average_ Englishman. + +Americans think the hare and rabbits, of which the English make such +good use, very mean food indeed, and if they are unprejudiced enough to +try them, from the fact that they are never well cooked, they dislike +them, which prejudice the English reciprocate by looking on squirrels as +being as little fit for food as a rat. And a familiar instance of +prejudice from ignorance carried even to insanity, is that of the Irish +in 1848, starving rather than eat the "yaller male," sent them by +generous American sympathizers; yet they come here and soon get over +that dislike. Not so the French, who look on oatmeal and Indian meal as +most unwholesome food. "_Ça pêse sur l'estomac, ça creuse l'estomac_," I +heard an old Frenchwoman say, trying to dissuade a mother from giving +her children mush. + +The moral of all of which is, that for our comfort's sake, and the +general good we should avoid unreasonable prejudices against unfamiliar +food. We of course have a right to our honest dislikes; but to condemn +things because we have heard them despised, is prejudice. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS--VALEDICTORY. + + +I HAVE alluded, in an earlier chapter, to the fact that many +inexperienced cooks are afraid of altering recipes; a few words on this +subject may not be out of place. As a rule, a recipe should be +faithfully followed in all important points; for instance, in making +soup you cannot because you are short of the given quantity of meat, put +the same amount of water as directed for the full quantity, without +damaging your soup; but you may easily reduce water and _every other +ingredient_ in the same proportion; and, in mere matters of flavoring, +you may vary to suit circumstances. If you are told to use cloves, and +have none, a bit of mace may be substituted. + +If you read a recipe, and it calls for something you have not, consider +whether that something has anything to do with the substance of the +dish, or whether it is merely an accessory for which something else can +be substituted. For instance, if you are ordered to use cream in a +sauce, milk with a larger amount of well-washed butter may take its +place; but if you are told to use cream for charlotte russe or trifles, +there is no way in which you could make milk serve, since it is not an +accessory but the chief part of those dishes. For a cake in which cream +is used, butter whipped to a cream may take its place. Wine is usually +optional in savory dishes; it gives richness only. + +Again, in cakes be very careful the exact proportions of flour, eggs, +and milk are observed; of butter you can generally use more or less, +having a more or less rich cake in proportion. In any but plain cup +cakes (which greatly depend on soda and acid for their lightness) never +lessen the allowance of eggs; never add milk if a cake is too stiff (but +an extra egg may always be used), unless milk is ordered in the recipe, +when more or less may be used as needed. Flavoring may be always varied. + +In reducing a recipe always reduce _every ingredient_, and it can make +no difference in the results. Sometimes, in cookery books, you are told +to use articles not frequently found in ordinary kitchens; for instance, +a larding-needle (although that can be bought for twenty-five cents at +any house-furnishing store, and should always be in a kitchen); but, in +case you have not one for meat, you may manage by making small cuts and +inserting slips of bacon. + +Another article that is very useful, but seldom, if ever, to be found in +small kitchens, is a salamander; but when you wish to brown the top of a +dish, and putting it in the oven would not do, or the oven is not quick +enough to serve, an iron shovel, made nearly red, and a few red cinders +in it, is a very good salamander. It must be held over the article that +requires browning near enough to color it, yet not to burn. + +In the recipes I have given nothing is required that cannot be obtained, +with more or less ease, in New York. For syrups, fruit juices, etc., +apply to your druggist; if he has not them he will tell you where to +obtain them. We often make up our minds that because a thing is not +commonly used in this country, it is impossible to get it. Really there +are very few things not to be got in New York City to the intelligent +seeker. You need an article of French or Italian or may be English +grocery, that your grocer, a first-class one, perhaps, has not, and you +make up your mind you cannot get it. But go into the quarters where +French people live, and you can get everything belonging to the French +_cuisine_. So prejudiced are the French in favor of the productions of +_la belle France_, that they do not believe in our parsley or our chives +or garlic or shallots; for I know at least one French grocer who imports +them for his customers. On being asked why he brought them from France +to a country where those very things were plentiful, he answered: + +"Oh, French herbs are much finer." + +Needless to say tarragon is one of the herbs so imported, and can thus +be bought; but, as several New Jersey truck gardeners grow all kinds of +French herbs, they can be got in Washington Market, and most druggists +keep them dried; but for salads, Montpellier butter, and some other +uses, the dried herb would not do, although for flavoring it would +serve; but the far better way is to grow them for yourself, as I have +done. Any large seedsman will supply you with burnet, tarragon, and +borage (very useful for salads, punch, etc.) seeds, and if you live in +the country, have an herb bed; if in town, there are few houses where +there is not ground enough to serve for the purpose; but even in these +few houses one can have a box of earth in the kitchen window, in which +your seeds will flourish. + +Parsley is a thing in almost daily request in winter, yet it is very +expensive to buy it constantly for the sake of using the small spray +that often suffices. It is a good plan, therefore, in fall, to get a few +roots, plant them in a pot or box, and they will flourish all winter, +if kept where they will not freeze, and be ready for garnishing at any +minute. + +Always, as far as your means allow, have every convenience for cooking. +By having utensils proper for every purpose you save a great deal of +work and much vexation of spirit. Yet it should be no excuse for bad +work that such utensils are not at hand. A willing and intelligent cook +will make the best of what she has. Apropos of this very thing Gouffé +relates that a friend of his, an "artist" of renown, was sent for to the +chateau of a Baron Argenteuil, who had taken a large company with him, +unexpectedly crowding the chateau in every part. He was shown into a +dark passage in which a plank was suspended from the ceiling, and told +this was to be his kitchen. He had to fashion his own utensils, for +there was nothing provided, and his pastry he had to bake in a +frying-pan--besides building two monumental _plâts_ on that board--and +prepare a cold _entrée_. But he cheerfully set to work to overcome +difficulties, achieved his task, and was rewarded by the plaudits of the +diners. Such difficulties as these our servants never have to encounter, +and a cheerful endeavor to make the best of everything should be the +rule. Yet, let us spare them all the labor we can, or rather make it as +easy and pleasant as possible; they will be more proud of their +well-furnished kitchen, more cheerful in it, than they will of one where +everything for their convenience is grudged, and such pride and +cheerfulness will be your gain. + +There is always a great deal of talk about servants in America, how bad +and inefficient they are, how badly they contrast with those of England. +Certainly, they are not so efficient as those of the older country; how +could they be? There, girls who are intended for servants have ever held +before their eyes what they may or may not do in the future calling, and +how it is to be done. But take one of these orderly, efficient girls, +put her in an American family as general servant or as cook, where two +are kept, washing and ironing to do, and a variety of other work, and +see how your English servant would stare at your requirements. She has +been accustomed to her own line of work at home; if housemaid, she has +been dressed for the day at noon; if cook, she has never done even her +own washing. + +She may, and will no doubt, fall into the way of the country, after a +while, and on account of her early habits of respect, will make a good +servant perhaps. But many of them would be quite indignant at being +asked to do the average servant's work here. I am speaking now of the +_trained_ servants; but, comparing the London "maid-of-all-work" or +"slavey" with our own general servants, and considering how much more is +expected of the latter, the comparison seems to me vastly in the favor +of our own Bridgets. We may rest assured, however smoothly the wheels of +household management glide along in wealthy families across the water, +people who can only keep one or two have all our troubles with servants +and a few added, and their faults are just as general a subject of +conversation among ladies. + +France (out of Paris, from Parisian servants deliver me!) and Germany +seem the favored lands where one servant does the work of three or four. +Yet even they, are, they say, degenerating. Let us, then, be contented +and make the best of what we have, assured that even Biddy is not so +hopeless as she is painted. Kindness (not weakness), firmness, and +patience work wonders, even with the roughest Emerald that ever crossed +the sea. + +I have said somewhere else that you must beware of attempting too much +at once; perfect yourself in one thing before you attempt another. Take +breaded chops or fried oysters, make opportunities for having them +rather often, and do not rest satisfied until you have them as well +fried as you have ever seen them anywhere; "practice makes perfect," and +you certainly will achieve perfection if you are not discouraged by one +failure. But above all things never make experiments for company; let +them be made when it really matters little whether you succeed or not, +and let your experiments be on a _small_ scale; don't attempt to fry a +_large_ dish of oysters or chops until it is a very easy task, or make +more than half a pound of puff paste at first; for if you fail with a +large task before you, you will be tired and disheartened, hate the +sight of what you are doing, and, as a consequence, not be likely to +return to it very soon. The same may be said of cooks; some of them are +very fond of experiments, which taste I should always encourage; but do +not let them jump from one experiment to the other; if they try a dish +and fail, they often make up their minds that the fault is not theirs, +that it is not worth while to "bother" with it. Here your knowledge will +be of service; you will show them that it can be done, how it should be +done, and order the dish cook failed in, frequently, giving it +sufficient surveillance to prevent your family suffering from her +inexperience; for, as a witty Frenchman said of Mme. du Deffaud's cook, +"Between her and Brinvilliers there is only the difference of +intention." + +Few things add more to a man or woman's social reputation than the fact +that they keep a good table. It need not be one where + + "The strong table groans + Beneath the smoking sirloin stretched immense;" + +but a table where whatever you do have will be good, be it pork and +beans, or salmi; the pork and beans would satisfy a Bostonian, the salmi +Grimod de la Reynière himself. I do not admit with Di Walcott that + + "The turnpike road to people's hearts I find + Lies through their mouths, or I mistake mankind." + +But it is a fact that good living--by this I do not mean extravagant +living--presupposes good breeding. Well-bred people sometimes live +badly; but ill-bred people seldom or ever live well, in the right sense +of the term. + +Now, by way of valedictory, let me repeat that I do not think a lady's +best or proper place is the kitchen; but it is quite possible to have a +perfectly served table, yet spend very little time there. Only that one +little hour a day that Talleyrand, the busy man full of intrigue and +statecraft, found time to spend with his cook, would insure your table +being well served. For, after devoting say a few winter months to +perfecting yourself in a few things, you will be able to teach your +cook, who is often ambitious to excel if put in the right way. A word +here about cooks. + +The knowledge that if they fail to do a thing well you will do it +yourself, will often put them on their mettle to do their best; while +the feeling that you don't know, will make them careless. + +Servants have a great deal more _amour propre_ than people imagine; +therefore, stimulate it by judicious praise and appreciation; let them +think that to send in a dish perfect, is a glory to themselves as well +as a pleasure to you. While careful to remark when alone with them upon +any fault that results from carelessness, be equally careful to give all +the praise you can, and repeat to them complimentary remarks that may +have been made on their skill. Servants are usually--such is the +weakness of feminine nature, whether in the drawing-room or the +kitchen--very sensitive to the praise or blame of the gentlemen of the +family. Indulge poor humanity a little when you honestly can. + + + + + INDEX + + + PAGE + Almond creams, 93 + + Altering recipes, 111, 112 + + Asparagus, to boil, 66 + + + Baba, 86 + Small, 87 + Syrup for, 87 + + Batter for frying à  la Carême, 59 + " " " " Provençale, 60 + + Beef, BÅ“uf à  la jardinière, 74 + " au Gratin, 75 + Filet de bÅ“uf Chateaubriand, 49 + Fritadella, 81 + Little breakfast dish of, 78 + Miroton of, 76 + Olives of, 79 + Pseudo-beefsteak, 75 + Ragout of cold, 78 + Salmi of cold, 73 + Simplest way to warm a joint, 77 + To warm over a large piece, 78 + Sirloin, to make two dishes, 49 + + Biscuit glacé, à la Charles Dickens, 85 + " " " Thackeray, 85 + + Blanc for white sauce, 31 + + Boiling, asparagus, 66 + Cabbage, 65 + Potatoes, 66 + Peas, 65 + Rules for meat, 65 + + Bouchées de dames, 88 + To ice, 89 + + Bread, 12 + Baking, 14 + Cause of failure, 15 + " of thick crust, 14 + Compressed yeast, 15 + Kneading, 14 + Oven heating, 14 + Remarks, 12 + Rules of time for rising, 14 + To set sponge, 13 + + Bread-crumbs for frying, 56 + + Bread dough, to keep a day or two, 106 + " " for pie crust, 97 + Soufflée, 20 + + Brioche, 18 + Jockey Club, recipe for, 19 + for summer pastry, 19, 20 + + Broiling, 60 + Chickens and birds, 61 + + Brown flour, 34 + Sauce, 71 + + Butter, maître d'hôtel, 32 + Montpellier, 33 + Ravigotte, 33 + + + Cabbage, to boil, 65 + + Cakes, Baba, 86 + Bouchées de dames, 83 + Savarins, 88 + + Candies, 92 + Chocolate creams, 94 + Cream almonds, 93 + Cream walnuts, 93 + Fondant, 92 + Fondant panaché, 93 + Punch drops, 94 + Simple French, 92 + Tutti frutti, 92 + Vanilla almond cream, 92 + Walnut cream, 92 + + Celeraic, or turnip-rooted celery, 54 + + Celery seed for soup, 106 + + Celery cream soup, 68 + + Chateaubriand, filet de bÅ“uf, 49 + + Chicken, 48 + Broiling, 60 + Cold, 49 + Pie, 38 + Potted, 44 + Roasting, 48 + Use of the feet, 48 + + Clinkered fire-bricks, 107 + + Cold meat salmi, 73 + Various ways of warming, 72-81 + + Coloring for candy and icing, 95 + + Company to lunch, and nothing in + the house, 44 + + Cromesquis of cold lamb, 75 + + Crumbs for frying, 56 + + Cucumber and onion ragout, 102 + + Curaçoa, to make, 89 + + Curry, 108 + + + Deviled meats, 80 + + Dishes made without meat, 102 + + Dripping, to clarify, 59 + + + Feuilletonage, 23 + + Fire-bricks, to remove clinkers from, 107 + To mend, 107 + + Flavoring, 70 + + Flounders, to bone, 56 + As filet de sole, 56 + + Forequarter of mutton, 101 + + Frangipane tartlets, 26 + + French herbs, 113 + + Friandises, 84 + + Fritadella of cold meat, twenty + recipes in one, 81 + + Frying, 55 + Batter à  la Carême, 59 + " " Provençale, 60 + Crumbing, 56 + Filet de sole, 56 + Flounders, 56 + Oil for, 58 + Oysters, 57 + Remarks on, 55 + To clarify dripping for, 59 + To test the heat of fat for, 57 + + + Galantine, 39 + + Garlic, 108 + + Glaze, 30 + To glaze ham, tongue, etc., 32 + + Gouffé's pot-au-feu, 68 + Rules for ovens, 27 + + Gravy, 29-63 + + Grating nutmegs, 105 + + + Ham, to boil, 65 + To glaze, 32 + To pot, 43 + + Hash, 97 + + Heart, beef, 100 + Sheep's, 99 + + + Iced soufflée, 85 + A la Byron, 84 + + Icing, 89 + + Ink, to remove from carpets, 107 + + + Jellied fish or oysters, 41 + + Jelly for cold chicken, 47 + + Jelly from pork, 31 + + + Kerosene lamps, 107 + + Keeping meat, 106 + Poultry, 107 + Dough, 106 + + Kitchen conveniences, 114 + + Kreuznach horns, 16 + + Kringles, 17 + + + Lamb, cromesquis of, 75 + + Lamps, 107 + + Larding needle, 112 + + Leg of mutton, 52 + A la Soubise, 52 + Boiled, 52 + + Lemons, to keep, 105 + Peels, 106 + + Little dinners, 50 + + Liver, sheep's, 98 + + Luncheons, 35 + + + Maître d'hôtel butter, 32 + + Management in small families, 47 + + Maraschino, to make, 90 + + Marrow from soup bone, 98 + + Mayonnaise, new, 42 + + Meat, to keep, 106 + Salad, 52 + + Mephistophelian sauce, 81 + + Miroton of beef, 76 + + Montpellier butter, 33 + + Mushroom powder, 29 + + Mutton broth, 52 + Forequarter, 101 + Leg, 52 + + + Neck of mutton, 101 + + Noyeau, 90 + + Nutmegs, best way to grate, 105 + + + Omelet, new, 45 + + Onion soup, maigre, 103 + + Ornamenting meat pies, 37 + + Ovens, 14 + Gouffé's rules for heating, 27 + + Oysters, to fry, 57 + In jelly, 41 + + Ox cheek, 100 + + + Panaché fondant, 93 + + Parsley seed for soup, 106 + + Parsley in winter, 113 + + Paste, puff, 22 + To handle, 24 + + Pastry tablets, 26 + + Pâte à la Carême for frying, 59 + " " Provençale, 60 + + Peas, to boil, 66 + + Pease soup, maigre, 103 + + Pie, bread dough for crust, 97 + Chicken, to eat cold, 38 + Fruit, 24 + English raised, 38 + To "raise" a, 39 + Veal and ham, 38 + Windsor, 36 + + Pork for jelly, 31 + + Potato salad, 54 + Snow, 45 + Soup, maigre, 103 + To warm over, 46 + + Pot-au-feu, 68 + + Pot roasts, 99 + + Potted meats, 43 + + Punch drops, 94 + + + Ragout of cold meat, 78 + Of cucumber and onion, 102 + + Ravigotte, 33 + + Remarks, preliminary, 1-12 + On boiling, 65 + On bread-making, 12 + On frying, 54 + On kitchen and servants, 114 + On little dinners, 50 + On luncheons, 35 + On maigre dishes, 104 + On management in small families, 47 + On sauces and flavoring, 70 + + Remarks on soups, 67 + On table prejudices, 108 + On true economy in buying meat, 99 + On roasting, 62 + + Rissolettes, 25 + + Rolls, 15 + + Roux, 34 + + Rusks, 16 + + + Salad, Celeraic, 54 + Potato, 54 + Cold meat, 52 + + Salamander, substitute for, 112 + + Sauces, 70 + Flavoring, 70 + Brown or espagnole, 71 + Mephistophelian, 81 + White, 71 + Mayonnaise, 42 + + Savarin (cake), 88 + + Soufflée bread, 20 + Iced, 85 + A la Byron, 84 + + Soup bone, 96 + + Soup, celery cream, 68 + Consommé, 68 + Pot-au-feu, 68 + Onion, 103 + Pease, 103 + Potato, 103 + To color, 67 + To clear stock, 66 + + Sugar boiling for candy, 91 + + + Tainted meat, to restore, 107 + + To make strong vegetables milder, 106 + + Tutti frutti candy, 92 + + + Vanilla almond cream, 92 + + Veal, 53 + + + Warming over, 72 + + What to do with scraps, 45 + + Where to buy articles not in general + use, 112 + + Why meat does not brown in cooking, 62 + + Windsor pie, 36 + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Culture and Cooking, by Catherine Owen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CULTURE AND COOKING *** + +***** This file should be named 29982-0.txt or 29982-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/8/29982/ + +Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/29982-8.txt b/29982-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bea17e --- /dev/null +++ b/29982-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4340 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Culture and Cooking, by Catherine Owen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Culture and Cooking + Art in the Kitchen + +Author: Catherine Owen + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29982] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CULTURE AND COOKING *** + + + + +Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's note: | + | | + | In the text [oe] represents an "oe" ligature. | + | | + | Discrepancies between chapter names in | + | CONTENTS and in chapter headings have been | + | retained as shown in the original book. | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + + + + + CULTURE AND COOKING; + + OR, + + ART IN THE KITCHEN. + + BY + + CATHERINE OWEN + + + "Le Créateur, en obligeant l'homme à manger pour vivre, l'y invite + par l'appétit et l'en récompense par le plaisir." + + --BRILLAT SAVARIN. + + + CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO., + NEW YORK, LONDON, AND PARIS. + 1881 + + + COPYRIGHT, + 1881, + BY O. M. DUNHAM. + + + + PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO., + NOS. 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +THIS is not a cookery book. It makes no attempt to replace a good one; +it is rather an effort to fill up the gap between you and your household +oracle, whether she be one of those exasperating old friends who +maddened our mother with their vagueness, or the newer and better lights +of our own generation, the latest and best of all being a lady as well +known for her novels as for her works on domestic economy--one more +proof, if proof were needed, of the truth I endeavor to set forth--if +somewhat tediously forgive me--in this little book: that cooking and +cultivation are by no means antagonistic. Who does not remember with +affectionate admiration Charlotte Bronté taking the eyes out of the +potatoes stealthily, for fear of hurting the feelings of her purblind +old servant; or Margaret Fuller shelling peas? + +The chief difficulty, I fancy, with women trying recipes is, that they +fail and know not why they fail, and so become discouraged, and this is +where I hope to step in. But although this is not a cookery book, +insomuch as it does not deal chiefly with recipes, I shall yet give a +few; but only when they are, or I believe them to be, better than those +in general use, or good things little known, or supposed to belong to +the domain of a French _chef_, of which I have introduced a good many. +Should I succeed in making things that were obscure before clear to a +few women, I shall be as proud as was Mme. de Genlis when she boasts in +her Memoirs that she has taught six new dishes to a German housewife. +Six new dishes! When Brillat-Savarin says: "He who has invented _one_ +new dish has done more for the pleasure of mankind than he who has +discovered a star." + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE + + PRELIMINARY REMARKS 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + ON BREAD. + + Sponge for bread.--One cause of failure.--Why home-made + bread often has a hard crust.--On baking.--Ovens.--More + reasons why bread may fail to be good.--Light + rolls.--Rusks.--Kreuznach horns.--Kringles.--Brioche + (Paris Jockey Club recipe).--Soufflée bread.--A novelty 12 + + + CHAPTER III. + + PASTRY. + + Why you fail in making good puff paste.--How to + succeed.--How to handle it.--To put fruit pies together so + that the syrup does not boil out.--Ornamenting fruit + pies.--Rissolettes.--Pastry tablets.--Frangipane + tartlets.--Rules for ascertaining the heat of your oven 22 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + WHAT TO HAVE IN YOUR STORE-ROOM. + + Mushroom powder (recipe).--Stock to keep, or glaze + (recipe).--Uses of glaze.--Glazing meats, hams, tongues, + etc.--Mâitre d'hôtel butter (recipe).--Uses of + it.--Ravigotte or Montpellier butter (recipe).--Uses of + it.--Roux.--Blanc (recipes).--Uses of both.--Brown flour, + its uses 28 + + + CHAPTER V. + + LUNCHEONS. + + Remarks on what to have for luncheons.--English meat + pies.--Windsor pie.--Veal and ham pie.--Chicken + pie.--Raised pork pie.--(Recipes).--Ornamenting meat + pies.--Galantine (recipe).--Fish in jelly.--Jellied + oysters.--A new mayonnaise luncheon for small + families.--Potted meats (recipes).--Anchovy butter.--A new + omelet.--Potato snow.--Lyonnaise potatoes 35 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A CHAPTER ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN VERY SMALL FAMILIES. + + How to have little dinners.--Hints for bills of fare, + etc.--Filet de b[oe]uf Chateaubriand (recipe).--What to do + with the odds and ends.--Various recipes.--Salads.--Recipes 47 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + FRYING. + + Why you fail.--Panure or bread-crumbs, to prepare.--How to + prepare flounders as filets de sole.--Fried oysters.--To + clarify dripping for frying.--Remarks.--Pâte à frire à la + Carême.--Same, à la Provençale.--Broiling 55 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + ROASTING 62 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + BOILING AND SOUPS. + + Boiling meat.--Rules for knowing exactly the degrees of + boiling.--Vegetables.--Remarks on making soup.--To clear + soup.--Why it is not clear.--Coloring + pot-au-feu.--Consommé.--_Crême de celeri_, a little known + soup.--Recipes 65 + + + CHAPTER X. + + SAUCES. + + Remarks on making and flavoring sauces.--Espagnole or + brown sauce as it should be.--How to make fine white sauce 70 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + WARMING OVER. + + Remarks.--Salmi of cold meats.--B[oe]uf à la + jardinière.--B[oe]uf au gratin.--Pseudo-beefsteak. + --Cutlets à la jardinière.--Cromesquis of lamb.--Sauce + piquant.--Miroton of beef.--Simple way of warming a + joint.--Breakfast dish.--Stuffed beef.--Beef olives.--Chops + à la poulette.--Devils.--Mephistophelian sauce.--Fritadella, + twenty recipes in one 72 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + ON FRIANDISES. + + Biscuit glacée at home (recipes).--Iced soufflés + (recipes).--Baba and syrups for it (recipe).--Savarin and + syrup (recipes).--Bouchées de dames.--How to make + Curaçoa.--Maraschino.--Noyeau 84 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + FRENCH CANDIES AT HOME. + + How to make them.--Fondants.--Vanilla.--Almond + cream.--Walnut cream.--Tutti frutti.--Various candies + dipped in cream.--Chocolate creams.--Fondant + panaché.--Punch drops 91 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + FOR PEOPLE OF VERY SMALL MEANS. + + Remarks.--What may be made of a soup bone.--Several very + economical dishes.--Pot roasts.--Dishes requiring no meat 96 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + A FEW THINGS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER 105 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + ON SOME TABLE PREJUDICES 108 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS. + + Altering recipes.--How to have tarragon, burnet, + etc.--Remarks on obtaining ingredients not in common + use.--An impromptu salamander.--Larding needle.--How to + have parsley fresh all winter without expense.--On having + kitchen conveniences.--Anecdote related by Jules + Gouffée.--On servants in America.--A little + advice by way of valedictory 111 + + + INDEX 119 + + + + +CULTURE AND COOKING. + + +CHAPTER I. + +A FEW PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + + +ALEXANDRE DUMAS, _père_, after writing five hundred novels, says, "I +wish to close my literary career with a book on cooking." + +And in the hundred pages or so of preface--or perhaps overture would be +the better word, since in it a group of literary men, while contributing +recondite recipes, flourish trumpets in every key--to his huge volume he +says, "I wish to be read by people of the world, and practiced by people +of the art" (_gens de l'art_); and although _I_ wish, like every one who +writes, to be read by all the world, I wish to aid the practice, not of +the professors of the culinary art, but those whose aspirations point to +an enjoyment of the good things of life, but whose means of attaining +them are limited. + +There is a great deal of talk just now about cooking; in a lesser degree +it takes its place as a popular topic with ceramics, modern antiques, +and household art. The fact of it being in a mild way fashionable may do +a little good to the eating world in general. And it may make it more +easy to convince young women of refined proclivities that the art of +cooking is not beneath their attention, to know that the Queen of +England's daughters--and of course the cream of the London fair--have +attended the lectures on the subject delivered at South Kensington, and +that a young lady of rank, Sir James Coles's daughter, has been +recording angel to the association, is in fact the R. C. C. who edits +the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +But, notwithstanding all that has been done by South Kensington lectures +in London and Miss Corson's Cooking School in New York to popularize the +culinary art, one may go into a dozen houses, and find the ladies of the +family with sticky fingers, scissors, and gum pot, busily porcelainizing +clay jars, and not find one where they are as zealously trying to work +out the problems of the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +I have nothing to say against the artistic distractions of the day. +Anything that will induce love of the beautiful, and remove from us the +possibility of a return to the horrors of hair-cloth and brocatel and +crochet tidies, will be a stride in the right direction. But what I do +protest against, is the fact, that the same refined girls and matrons, +who so love to adorn their houses that they will spend hours improving a +pickle jar, mediævalizing their furniture, or decorating the dinner +service, will shirk everything that pertains to the preparation of food +as dirty, disagreeable drudgery, and sit down to a commonplace, +ill-prepared meal, served on those artistic plates, as complacently as +if dainty food were not a refinement; as if heavy rolls and poor bread, +burnt or greasy steak, and wilted potatoes did not smack of the shanty, +just as loudly as coarse crockery or rag carpet--indeed far more so; the +carpet and crockery may be due to poverty, but a dainty meal or its +reverse will speak volumes for innate refinement or its lack in the +woman who serves it. You see by my speaking of rag carpets and dainty +meals in one breath, that I do not consider good things to be the +privilege of the rich alone. + +There are a great many dainty things the household of small or moderate +means can have just as easily as the most wealthy. Beautiful +bread--light, white, crisp--costs no more than the tough, thick-crusted +boulder, with cavities like eye-sockets, that one so frequently meets +with as _home-made bread_. As Hood says: + + "Who has not met with home-made bread, + A heavy compound of putty and lead?" + +Delicious coffee is only a matter of care, not expense--and indeed in +America the cause of poor food, even in a boarding-house, is seldom in +the quality of the articles so much as in the preparation and selection +of them--yet an epicure can breakfast well with fine bread and butter +and good coffee. And this leads me to another thing: many people think +that to give too much attention to food shows gluttony. I have heard a +lady say with a tone of virtuous rebuke, when the conversation turned +from fashions to cooking, "I give very little time to cooking, we eat to +live only"--which is exactly what an animal does. Eating to live is mere +feeding. Brillat-Savarin, an abstemious eater himself, among other witty +things on the same topic says, "_L'animal se repait, l'homme mange, +l'homme d'esprit seul sait manger._" + +Nine people out of ten, when they call a man an epicure, mean it as a +sort of reproach, a man who is averse to every-day food, one whom plain +fare would fail to satisfy; but Grimod de la Reynière, the most +celebrated gourmet of his day, author of "_Almanach des Gourmands_," +and authority on all matters culinary of the last century, said, "A true +epicure can dine well on one dish, provided it is excellent of its +kind." Excellent, that is it. A little care will generally secure to us +the refinement of having only on the table what is excellent of its +kind. If it is but potatoes and salt, let the salt be ground fine, and +the potatoes white and mealy. Thackeray says, an epicure is one who +never tires of brown bread and fresh butter, and in this sense every New +Yorker who has his rolls from the Brevoort House, and uses Darlington +butter, is an epicure. There seems to me, more mere animalism in wading +through a long bill of fare, eating three or four indifferently cooked +vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, each second-rate in quality, or made so +by bad cooking, and declaring that you have dined well, and are easy to +please, than there is in taking pains to have a perfectly broiled chop, +a fine potato, and a salad, on which any true epicure could dine well, +while on the former fare he would leave the table hungry. + +Spenser points a moral for me when he says, speaking of the Irish in +1580, "That wherever they found a plot of shamrocks or water-cresses +they had a feast;" but there were gourmets even among them, for "some +gobbled the green food as it came, and some picked the faultless stalks, +and looked for the bloom on the leaf." + +Thus it is, when I speak of "good living," I do not mean expensive +living or high living, but living so that the table may be as elegant as +the dishes on which it is served. + +I believe there exists a feeling, not often expressed perhaps, but +prevalent among young people, that for a lady to cook with her own +hands is vulgar; to love to do it shows that she is of low intellectual +caliber, a sort of drawing-room Bridget. When or how this idea arose it +would be difficult to say, for in the middle ages cooks were often +noble; a Montmorency was _chef de cuisine_ to Philip of Valois; +Montesquieu descended, and was not ashamed of his descent, from the +second cook of the Connetable de Bourbon, who ennobled him. And from +Lord Bacon, "brightest, greatest, meanest of mankind," who took, it is +said, great interest in cooking, to Talleyrand, the Machiavelli of +France, who spent an hour every day with his cook, we find great men +delighting in the art as a recreation. + +It is surprising that such an essentially artistic people as Americans +should so neglect an art which a great French writer calls the "_science +mignonne_ of all distinguished men of the world." Napoleon the Great so +fully recognized the social value of keeping a good table that, although +no gourmet himself, he wished all his chief functionaries to be so. +"Keep a good table," he told them; "if you get into debt for it I will +pay." And later, one of his most devoted adherents, the Marquis de +Cussy, out of favor with Louis XVIII. on account of that very devotion, +found his reputation as a gourmet very serviceable to him. A friend +applied for a place at court for him, which Louis refused, till he heard +that M. de Cussy had invented the mixture of cream, strawberries, and +champagne, when he granted the petition at once. Nor is this a solitary +instance in history where culinary skill has been a passport to fortune +to its possessor. Savarin relates that the Chevalier d'Aubigny, exiled +from France, was in London, in utter poverty, notwithstanding which, by +chance, he was invited to dine at a tavern frequented by the young +bucks of that day. + +After he had finished his dinner, a party of young gentlemen, who had +been observing him from their table, sent one of their number with many +apologies and excuses to beg of him, as a son of a nation renowned for +their salads, to be kind enough to mix theirs for them. He complied, and +while occupied in making the salad, told them frankly his story, and did +not hide his poverty. One of the gentlemen, as they parted, slipped a +five-pound note into his hand, and his need of it was so great that he +did not obey the prompting of his pride, but accepted it. + +A few days later he was sent for to a great house, and learned on his +arrival that the young gentleman he had obliged at the tavern had spoken +so highly of his salad that they begged him to do the same thing again. +A very handsome sum was tendered him on his departure, and afterwards he +had frequent calls on his skill, until it became the fashion to have +salads prepared by d'Aubigny, who became a well-known character in +London, and was called "_the fashionable salad-maker_." In a few years +he amassed a large fortune by this means, and was in such request that +his carriage would drive from house to house, carrying him and his +various condiments--for he took with him everything that could give +variety to his concoctions--from one place, where his services were +needed, to another. + +The contempt for this art of cooking is confined to this country, and to +the lower middle classes in England. By the "lower middle classes" I +mean, what Carlyle terms the gigocracy--_i.e._, people sufficiently +well-to-do to keep a gig or phaeton--well-to-do tradesmen, small +professional men, the class whose womenkind would call themselves +"genteel," and many absurd stories are told of the determined ignorance +and pretense of these would-be ladies. But in no class above this is a +knowledge of cooking a thing to be ashamed of; in England, indeed, so +far from that being the case, indifference to the subject, or lack of +understanding and taste for certain dishes is looked upon as a sort of +proof of want of breeding. Not to like curry, macaroni, or parmesan, +_pâté de foie gras_, mushrooms, and such like, is a sign that you have +not been all your life accustomed to good living. Mr. Hardy, in his +"Pair of Blue Eyes," cleverly hits this prejudice when he makes Mr. +Swancourt say, "I knew the fellow wasn't a gentleman; he had no acquired +tastes, never took Worcestershire sauce." + +Abroad many women of high rank and culture devote a good deal of time to +a thorough understanding of the subject. We have a lady of the "lordly +line of proud St. Clair" writing for us "Dainty Dishes," and doing it +with a zest that shows she enjoys her work, although she does once in a +while forget something she ought to have mentioned, and later still we +have Miss Rose Coles writing the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +But it is in graceful, refined France that cookery is and has been, a +pet art. Any bill of fare or French cookery book will betray to a +thoughtful reader the attention given to the subject by the wittiest, +gayest, and most beautiful women, and the greatest men. The +high-sounding names attached to French standard dishes are no mere +caprice or homage of a French cook to the great in the land, but +actually point out their inventor. Thus _Bechamel_ was invented by the +Marquis de Bechamel, as a sauce for codfish; while _Filets de Lapereau à +la Berry_ were invented by the Duchess de Berry, daughter of the regent +Orleans, who himself invented _Pain à la d'Orleans_, while to Richelieu +we are indebted for hundreds of dishes besides the renowned mayonnaise. + +_Cailles à la Mirepois_, _Chartreuse à la Mauconseil_, _Poulets à la +Villeroy_, betray the tastes of the three great ladies whose name they +bear. + +But not in courts alone has the art had its devotees. Almost every great +name in French literature brings to mind something its owner said or did +about cooking. Dumas, who was a prince of cooks, and of whom it is +related that in 1860, when living at Varennes, St. Maur, dividing his +time, as usual, between cooking and literature (_Lorsqu'il ne faisait +pas sauter un roman, il faisait sauter des petits oignons_), on +Mountjoye, a young artist friend and neighbor, going to see him, he +cooked dinner for him. Going into the poultry yard, after donning a +white apron, he wrung the neck of a chicken; then to the kitchen garden +for vegetables, which he peeled and washed himself; lit the fire, got +butter and flour ready, put on his saucepans, then cooked, stirred, +tasted, seasoned until dinner time. Then he entered in triumph, and +announced, "_Le diner est servi_." For six months he passed three or +four days a week cooking for Mountjoye. This novelist's book says, in +connection with the fact that great cooks in France have been men of +literary culture, and literary men often fine cooks, "It is not +surprising that literary men have always formed the _entourage_ of a +great chef, for, to appreciate thoroughly all there is in the culinary +art, none are so well able as men of letters; accustomed as they are to +all refinements, they can appreciate better than others those of the +table," thus paying himself and confrères a delicate little compliment +at the expense of the non-literary world; but, notwithstanding the naïve +self-glorification, he states a fact that helps to point my moral, that +indifference to cooking does not indicate refinement, intellect, or +social pre-eminence. + +Brillat-Savarin, grave judge as he was, and abstemious eater, yet has +written the book of books on the art of eating. It was he who said, +"Tell me what you eat, I will tell you what you are," as pregnant with +truth as the better-known proverb it paraphrases. + +Malherbe loved to watch his cook at work. I think it was he who said, "A +coarse-minded man could never be a cook," and Charles Baudelaire, the +Poe of France, takes a poet's view of our daily wants, when he says, +"that an ideal cook must have a great deal of the poet's nature, +combining something of the voluptuary with the man of science learned in +the chemical principles of matter;" although he goes further than we +care to follow when he says, that the question of sauces and seasoning +requires "a chapter as grave as a _feuilleton de science_." + +It has been said by foreigners that Americans care nothing for the +refinements of the table, but I think they do care. I have known many a +woman in comfortable circumstances long to have a good table, many a man +aspire to better things, and if he could only get them at home would pay +any money. But the getting them at home is the difficulty; on a table +covered with exquisite linen, glass, and silver, whose presiding queen +is more likely than not a type of the American lady--graceful, refined, +and witty--on such a table, with such surroundings, will come the +plentiful, coarse, commonplace dinner. + +The chief reason for this is lack of knowledge on the part of our +ladies: know how to do a thing yourself, and you will get it well done +by others. But how are many of them to know? The daughters of the +wealthy in this country often marry struggling men, and they know less +about domestic economy than ladies of the higher ranks abroad; not +because English or French ladies take more part in housekeeping, but +because they are at home all their lives. Ladies of the highest rank +never go to a boarding or any other school, and these are the women who, +with some few exceptions, know best how things should be done. They are +at home listening to criticisms from papa, who is an epicure perhaps, on +the shortcomings of his own table, or his neighbors'; from mamma, as to +what the soup lacks, why cook is not a "_cordon bleu_," etc., while our +girls are at school, far away from domestic comments, deep in the +agonies of algebra perhaps; and directly they leave school, in many +cases they marry. As a preparation for the state of matrimony most of +them learn how to make cake and preserves, and the very excellence of +their attainments in that way proves how easy it would be for them, with +their dainty fingers and good taste, to far excel their European cousins +in that art which a French writer says is based on "reason, health, +common sense, and sound taste." + +Here let me say, I do not by any means advocate a woman, who can afford +to pay a first-rate cook, avoiding the expense by cooking herself; on +the contrary, I think no woman is justified in doing work herself that +she has the means given her to get done by employing others. I have no +praise for the economical woman, who, from a desire to save, does her +own work _without necessity for economy_. It is _not_ her work; the +moment she can afford to employ others it is the work of some less +fortunate person. But in this country, it often happens that a good +cook is not to be found for money, although the raw material of which +one might be made is much oftener at hand. And if ladies would only +practice the culinary art with as much, nay, half as much assiduity as +they give to a new pattern in crochet; devote as much time to attaining +perfection in one dish or article of food, be it perfect bread, or some +French dish which father, brother, or husband goes to Delmonico's to +enjoy, as they do to the crochet tidies or embroidered rugs with which +they decorate their drawing-rooms, they could then take the material, in +the shape of any ambitious girl they may meet with, and make her a fine +cook. In the time they take to make a dozen tidies, they would have a +dozen dishes at their fingers' ends; and let me tell you, the woman who +can cook a dozen things, outside of preserves, in a _perfect_ manner is +a rarity here, and a good cook anywhere, for, by the time the dozen are +accomplished, she will have learned so much of the art of cooking that +all else will come easy. One good soup, bouillon, and you have the +foundation of all others; two good sauces, white sauce and brown, "_les +sauces mères_" as the French call them (mothers of all other sauces), +and all others are matters of detail. Learn to make one kind of roll +perfectly, as light, plump, and crisp as Delmonico's, and all varieties +are at your fingers' ends; you can have kringles, Vienna rolls, +Kreuznach horns, Yorkshire tea cakes, English Sally Lunns and Bath buns; +all are then as easy to make as common soda biscuit. In fact, in +cooking, as in many other things, "_ce n'est que le premier pas que +coûte_;" failures are almost certain at the beginning, but a failure is +often a step toward success--if we only know the reason of the failure. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON BREAD. + + +OF all articles of food, bread is perhaps the one about which most has +been written, most instruction given, and most failures made. Yet what +adds more to the elegance of a table than exquisite bread or breads, +and--unless you live in a large city and depend on the baker--what so +rare? A lady who is very proud of her table, and justly so, said to me +quite lately, "I cannot understand how it is we never have really fine +home-made bread. I have tried many recipes, following them closely, and +I can't achieve anything but a commonplace loaf with a thick, hard +crust; and as for rolls, they are my despair. I have wasted eggs, +butter, and patience so often that I have determined to give them up, +but a fine loaf I will try for." + +"And when you achieve the fine loaf, you may revel in home-made rolls," +I answered. + +And so I advise every one first to make perfect bread, light, white, +crisp, and _thin-crusted_, that rarest thing in home-made bread. + +I have read over many recipes for bread, and am convinced that when the +time allowed for rising is specified, it is invariably too short. One +standard book directs you to leave your sponge two hours, and the bread +when made up a _quarter of an hour_. This recipe strictly followed must +result in heavy, tough bread. As bread is so important, and so many +fail, I will give my own method from beginning to end; not that there +are not numberless good recipes, but simply because they frequently need +adapting to circumstances, and altering a recipe is one of the things a +tyro fears to do. + +I make a sponge over night, using a dried yeast-cake soaked in a pint of +warm water, to which I add a spoonful of salt, and, if the weather is +warm, as much soda as will lie on a dime; make this into a stiff batter +with flour--it may take a quart or less, flour varies so much, to give a +rule is impossible; but if, after standing, the sponge has a watery +appearance, make it thicker by sprinkling in more flour, beat hard a few +minutes, and cover with a cloth--in winter keep a piece of thick flannel +for the purpose, as a chill is fatal to your sponge--and set in a warm +place free from draughts. + +The next morning, when the sponge is quite light--that is to say, at +least twice the bulk it was, and like a honeycomb--take two quarts of +flour, more or less, as you require, but I recommend at first a small +baking, and this will make three small loaves; in winter, flour should +be dried and warmed; put it in your mixing bowl, and turn the sponge +into a hole in the center. Have ready some water, rather more than +lukewarm, but not _hot_. Add it gradually, stirring your flour into the +sponge at the same time. The great fault in making bread is getting the +dough too stiff; it should be as soft as possible, without being at all +sticky or wet. Now knead it with both hands from all sides into the +center; keep this motion, occasionally dipping your hands into the flour +if the dough sticks, but do not add more flour unless the paste sticks +very much; if you have the right consistency it will be a smooth mass, +very soft to the touch, _yet not sticky_, but this may not be attained +at a first mixing without adding flour by degrees. When you have kneaded +the dough until it leaves the bowl all round, set it in a warm place to +rise. When it is well risen, feels very soft and warm to the touch, and +is twice its bulk, knead it once more thoroughly, then put it in tins +either floured, and the flour not adhering shaken out, or buttered, +putting in each a piece of dough half the size you intend your loaf to +be. Now everything depends on your oven. Many people bake their bread +slowly, leaving it in the oven a long time, and this causes a thick, +hard crust. When baked in the modern iron oven, quick baking is +necessary. Let the oven be quite hot, then put a little ball of paste +in, and if it browns palely in seven to ten minutes it is about right; +if it burns, it is too hot; open the damper ten minutes. Your bread, +after it is in the tins, will rise much more quickly than the first +time. Let it get light, but not too light--_twice its bulk_ is a good +rule; but if it is light before your oven is ready, and thus in danger +of getting too porous, work it down with your hand, it will not harm it, +although it is better so to manage that the oven waits for the bread +rather than the bread for the oven. A small loaf--and by all means make +them small until you have gained experience--will not take more than +three quarters of an hour to bake; when a nice yellow brown, take it +out, turn it out of the tin into a cloth, and tap the bottom; if it is +crisp and smells cooked, the loaf is done. Once the bottom is brown it +need remain no longer. Should that, however, from fault of your oven, be +not brown, but soft and white, you must put it back in the oven, the +bottom upwards. An oven that does not bake at the bottom will, however, +be likely to spoil your bread. It is sometimes caused by a careless +servant leaving a collection of ashes underneath it; satisfy yourself +that all the flues are perfectly clean and clear before beginning to +bake, and if it still refuses to do its duty, change it, for you will +have nothing but loss and vexation of spirit while you have it in use. I +think you will find this bread white, evenly porous (not with small +holes in one part and caverns in another; if it is so you have made your +dough too stiff, and it is not sufficiently kneaded), and with a thin, +crisp crust. Bread will surely fail to rise at all if you have scalded +the yeast; the water must never be too hot. In winter, if it gets +chilled, it will only rise slowly, or not at all, and in using baker's +or German yeast take care that it is not stale, which will cause heavy, +irregular bread. + +In making bread with compressed yeast proceed in exactly the same way, +excepting that the sponge will not need to be set over night, unless you +want to bake very early. + +If you have once produced bread to your satisfaction you will find no +difficulty in making rolls. Proceed as follows: + +Take a piece of the dough from your baking after it has risen once. To a +piece as large as a man's fist take a large tablespoonful of butter and +a little powdered sugar; work them into the dough, put it in a bowl, +cover it, and set it in a warm place to rise--a shelf behind the stove +is best; if you make this at the same time as your bread, you will find +it takes longer to rise; the butter causes that difference; when very +light, much lighter than your bread should be, take your hand and push +it down till it is not larger than when you put it in the bowl; let it +rise again, and again push it down, but not so thoroughly; do this once +or twice more, and you have the secret of light rolls. You will find +them rise very quickly, after once or twice pushing down. When they have +risen the third or fourth time, take a little butter on your hands, and +break off small pieces about the size of a walnut and roll them round. +Either put them on a tin close together, to be broken apart, or an inch +or two from each other, in which case work in a little more flour, and +cut a cleft on the top, and once more set to rise; half an hour will be +long enough generally, but in this case you must judge for yourself, +they sometimes take an hour; if they look swelled very much and smooth +they will be ready. Have a nice hot oven, and bake for twelve to fifteen +minutes. + +Add a little more sugar to your dough and an egg, go through the same +process, brush them over with sugar dissolved in milk, and you will have +delicious rusks. + +The above is my own method of making rolls, and the simplest I know of; +but there are numbers of other recipes given in cookery books which +would be just as good if the exact directions for letting them rise were +given. As a test--and every experiment you try will be so much gained in +your experience--follow the recipe given for rolls in any good cookery +book, take part of the dough and let it rise as therein directed, and +bake, set the other part to rise as _I_ direct, and notice the +difference. + +KREUZNACH HORNS.--Either take a third of the dough made for bread with +three quarts of flour, or set a sponge with a pint of flour and a +yeast-cake soaked in half a pint of warm water or milk, making it into a +stiffish dough with another pint of flour; then add four ounces of +butter, a _little_ sugar, and two eggs; work well. If you use the bread +dough, you will need to dredge in a little more flour on account of the +eggs, but not _very much_; then set to rise as for rolls, work it down +twice or thrice, then turn the dough out on the molding board lightly +floured, roll it as you would pie-crust into pieces six inches square, +and quarter of an inch thick, make two sharp, quick cuts across it from +corner to corner, and you will have from each square four three-cornered +pieces of paste; spread each _thinly_ with soft butter, flour lightly, +and roll up very lightly from the wide side, taking care that it is not +squeezed together in any way; lay them on a tin with the side on which +the point comes uppermost, and bend round in the form of a horseshoe; +these will take some time to rise; when they have swollen much and look +light, brush them over with white of egg (not beaten) or milk and +butter, and bake in a good oven. + +KRINGLES are made from the same recipe, but with another egg and two +ounces of sugar (powdered) added to the dough when first set to rise; +then, when well risen two or three times, instead of rolling with a pin +as for horns, break off pieces, roll between your hands as thick as your +finger, and form into figure eights, rings, fingers; or take three +strips, flour and roll them as thick as your finger, tapering at each +end; lay them on the board, fasten the three together at one end, and +then lay one over the other in a plait, fasten the other end, and set to +rise, bake; when done, brush over with sugar dissolved in milk, and +sprinkle with sugar. + +All these breads are delicious for breakfast, and may easily be had +without excessive early rising if the sponge is set in the _morning_, +dough made in the afternoon, and the rising and working done in the +evening; when, instead of making up into rolls, horns, or kringles, +push the dough down thoroughly, cover with a damp folded cloth, and put +in a _very_ cold place if in summer--not on ice of course--then next +morning, as soon as the fire is alight, mold, but do not push down any +more, put in a very warm spot, and when light, bake. + +In summer, as I have said, I think it safest, to prevent danger of +souring, to put a little soda in the sponge for bread; and for rolls, or +anything requiring to rise several times, it is an essential precaution. + +BRIOCHE.--I suppose the very name of this delectable French dainty will +call up in the mind's eye of many who read this book that great "little" +shop, _Au Grand Brioche_, on the Boulevarde Poissonière, where, on +Sunday afternoons, scores of boys from the Lycées form _en queue_ with +the general public, waiting the hour when the piles of golden brioche +shall be ready to exchange for their eager sous. But I venture to say, a +really fine brioche is rarely eaten on this side the Atlantic. They +being a luxury welcome to all, and especially aromatic of Paris, I tried +many times to make them, obtaining for that purpose recipes from French +friends, and from standard French books, but never succeeded in +producing the ideal brioche until I met with Gouffé's great book, the +"_Livre de Cuisine_," after reading which, I may here say, all secrets +of the French kitchen are laid bare; no effort is spared to make +everything plain, from the humble _pot-au-feu_ to the most gorgeous +monumental _plât_. And I would refer any one who wants to become +proficient in any French dish, to that book, feeling sure that, in +following strictly the directions, there will be no failure. It is the +one book I have met with on the subject in which no margin is left for +your own knowledge, if you have it, to fill up. But to the brioche. + + +PARIS JOCKEY-CLUB RECIPE FOR BRIOCHE. + +Sift one pound of flour, take one fourth of it, and add rather more than +half a cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in half a gill of warm water, +make into a sponge with a _very little_ more water, put it in a warm +place; when it is double its volume take the rest of the flour, make a +hole in the center, and put in it an equal quantity of salt and sugar, +about a teaspoonful, and two tablespoonfuls of water to dissolve them. +Three quarters of a pound of butter and four eggs, beat well, then add +another egg, beat again, and add another, and so on until seven have +been used; the paste must be soft, but not spread; if too firm, add +another egg. Now mix this paste with the sponge thoroughly, beating +until the paste leaves the sides of the bowl, then put it in a crock and +cover; let it stand four hours in a warm place, then turn it out on a +board, _spread it and double it four times_, return it to the crock, and +let it rise again two hours; repeat the former process of doubling and +spreading, and put it in a very cold place for two hours, or until you +want to use it. Mold in any form you like, but the true brioche is two +pieces, one as large again as the other; form the large one into a ball, +make a deep depression in the center, on which place the smaller ball, +pressing it gently in; cut two or three gashes round it with a sharp +knife, and bake a beautiful golden brown. These brioche are such a +luxury, and so sure to come out right, that the trouble of making them +is well worth the taking, and for another reason: every one knows the +great difficulty of making puff paste in summer, and a short paste is +never handsome; but take a piece of brioche paste, roll it out thin, +dredge with flour, fold and roll again, then use as you would puff +paste; if for sweet pastry, a little powdered sugar may be sprinkled +through it instead of dredging with flour. This makes a very handsome +and delicious crust. Or, another use to which it may be put is to roll +it out, cut it in rounds, lay on them mince-meat, orange marmalade, jam, +or merely sprinkle with currants, chopped citron, and spices, fold, +press the edges, and bake. + +Before quitting the subject of breads I must introduce a novelty which I +will call "soufflée bread." It is quickly made, possible even when the +fire is poor, and so delicious that I know you will thank me for making +you acquainted with it. + +Use two or three eggs according to size you wish, and to each egg a +tablespoonful of flour. Mix the yolks with the flour and with them a +dessert-spoonful of butter melted, and enough milk to make a very +_thick_ batter, work, add a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar, +work till quite smooth, then add the whites of the eggs in a firm froth, +stir them in gently, and add a _quarter_ teaspoonful of soda and half a +one of cream of tartar. Have ready an iron frying-pan (or an earthen one +that will stand heat is better), made hot with a tablespoonful of butter +in it, also hot, but not so hot as for frying. Pour the batter (which +should be of the consistency of sponge cake batter) into the pan, cover +it with a lid or tin plate, and set it back of the stove if the fire is +hot--if very slow it may be forward; when well risen and near done, put +it in the oven, or if the oven is cold you may turn it gently, not to +deaden it. Serve when done (try with a twig), the under side uppermost; +it should be of a fine golden brown and look like an omelet. This +soufflée bread is equally good _baked_ in a tin in which is rather more +butter than enough to grease it; the oven must be _very hot indeed_. +Cover it for the few minutes with a tin plate or lid, to prevent it +scorching before it has risen; when it has puffed up remove the lid, and +allow it to brown, ten to fifteen minutes should bake it; turn it out as +you would sponge cake--very carefully, not to deaden it. To succeed with +bread you must use the very best flour. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PASTRY. + + +TO MAKE good puff paste is a thing many ladies are anxious to do, and in +which they generally fail, and this not so much because they do not make +it properly, as because they handle it badly. A lady who was very +anxious to excel in pastry once asked me to allow her to watch me make +paste. I did so, and explained that there was more in the manner of +using than in the making up. I then gave her a piece of my paste when +completed, and asked her to cover some patty pans while I covered +others, cautioning her as to the way she must cover them; yet, when +those covered by her came out of the oven they had not risen at all, +they were like rich short paste; while my own, made from the same paste, +were toppling over with lightness. I had, without saying anything, +pressed my thumb slightly on one spot of one of mine; in that spot the +paste had not risen at all, and I think this practical demonstration of +what I had tried to explain was more useful than an hour's talk would +have been. + +I will first give my method of making, which is the usual French way of +making "_feuilletonage_." Take one pound of butter, or half of it lard; +press all the water out by squeezing it in a cloth; this is important, +as the liquid in it would wet your paste; take a third of the butter, or +butter and lard, and rub it into one pound of _fine_ flour; add no salt +if your butter is salted; then take enough water (to which you may add +the well-beaten white of an egg, but it is not absolutely necessary) to +make the flour into a smooth, firm dough; it must not be too stiff, or +it will be hard to roll out, or too soft, or it will never make good +paste; it should roll easily, yet not stick; work it till it is very +smooth, then roll it out till it is half an inch thick; now lay the +whole of the butter in the center, fold one-third the paste over, then +the other third; it is now folded in three, with the butter completely +hidden; now turn the ends toward you, and roll it till it is half an +inch thick, taking care, by rolling very evenly, that the butter is not +pressed out at the other end; now you have a piece of paste about two +feet long, and not half that width; flour it lightly, and fold _over_ +one third and under one third, which will almost bring it to a square +again; turn it round so that what was the side is now the end, and roll. +Most likely now the butter will begin to break through, in which case +fold it, after flouring lightly, in three, as before, and put it on a +dish on the ice, covering it with a damp cloth. You may now either leave +it for an hour or two, or till next day. Paste made the day before it is +used is much better and easier to manage, and in winter it may be kept +for four or five days in a cold place, using from it as required. + +When ready to use your paste finish the making by rolling it out, +dredging a _little_ flour, and doubling it in three as before, and roll +it out thin; do this until from first to last it has been so doubled and +rolled seven times. + +Great cooks differ on one or two points in making pastry; for instance, +Soyer directs you to put the yolk of an egg instead of the white, and a +squeeze of lemon juice into the flour, and expressly forbids you to +work it before adding the mass of butter, while Jules Gouffé says, "work +it until smooth and shining." I cannot pretend to decide between these +differing doctors, but I pursue the method I have given and always have +light pastry. And now to the handling of it: It must only be touched by +the lightest fingers, every cut must be made with a sharp knife, and +done with one quick stroke so that the paste is not dragged at all; in +covering a pie dish or patty pan, you are commonly directed to mold the +paste over it as thin as possible, which conveys the idea that the paste +is to be pressed over and so made thin; this would destroy the finest +paste in the world; roll it thin, say for small tartlets, less than a +quarter of an inch thick, for a pie a trifle thicker, then lay the dish +or tin to be covered on the paste, and cut out with a knife, dipped in +_hot_ water or flour, a piece a little larger than the mold, then line +with the piece you have cut, touching it as little as possible; press +only enough to make the paste adhere to the bottom, but on no account +press the border; to test the necessity of avoiding this, gently press +one spot on a tart, before putting it in the oven, only so much as many +people always do in making pie, and watch the result. When your tartlets +or pies are made, take each up on your left hand, and with a sharp knife +dipped in flour trim it round quickly. To make the cover of a pie adhere +to the under crust, lay the forefinger of your right hand lengthwise +round the border, but as far from the edge as you can, thus forming a +groove for the syrups, and pressing the cover on at the same time. A +word here about fruit pies: Pile the fruit high in the center, leaving a +space all round the sides almost bare of fruit, when the cover is on +press gently the paste, as I have explained, into this groove, then +make two or three deep holes in the groove; the juice will boil out of +these holes and run round this groove, instead of boiling out through +the edges and wasting. + +This is the pastry-cook's way of making pies, and makes a much handsomer +one than the usual flat method, besides saving your syrup. To ornament +fruit pies or tartlets, whip the white of an egg, and stir in as much +powdered sugar as will make a thin meringue--a large tablespoonful is +usually enough--then when your pies or tartlets are baked, take them +from the oven, glaze with the egg and sugar, and return to the oven, +leaving the door open; when it has set into a frosty icing they are +ready to serve. + +It is worth while to accomplish puff paste, for so many dainty trifles +may be made with it, which, attempted with the ordinary short paste, +would be unsightly. Some of these that seem to me novel I will describe. + +Rissolettes are made with trimmings of puff paste; if you have about a +quarter of a pound left, roll it out very thin, about as thick as a +fifty-cent piece; put about half a spoonful of marmalade or jam on it, +in places about an inch apart, wet lightly round each, and place a piece +of paste over all; take a small round cutter as large as a dollar, and +press round the part where the marmalade or jam is with the thick part +of the cutter; then cut them out with a cutter a size larger, lay them +on a baking tin, brush over with white of egg; then cut some little +rings the size of a quarter dollar, put one on each, egg over again, and +bake twenty minutes in a nice hot oven; then sift white sugar all over, +put them back in the oven to glaze; a little red currant jelly in each +ring looks pretty; serve in the form of a pyramid. + +PASTRY TABLETS.--Cut strips of paste three inches and a half long, and +an inch and a half wide, and as thick as a twenty-five cent piece; lay +on half of them a thin filmy layer of jam or marmalade, not jelly; then +on each lay a strip without jam, and bake in a quick oven. When the +paste is well risen and brown, take them out, glaze them with white of +egg and sugar, and sprinkle chopped almonds over them; return to the +oven till the glazing is set and the almonds just colored; serve them +hot or cold on a napkin piled log-cabin fashion. + +FRANGIPANÉ TARTLETS.--One quarter pint of cream, four yolks of eggs, two +ounces of flour, three macaroons, four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, +the peel of a grated lemon, and a little citron cut very fine, a little +brandy and orange-flower water. Put all the ingredients, except the +eggs, in a saucepan--of course you will mix the flour smooth in the +cream first--let them come to a boil slowly, stirring to prevent lumps; +when the flour smells cooked, take it off the fire for a minute, then +stir the beaten yolks of eggs into it. Stand the saucepan in another of +boiling water and return to the stove, stirring till the eggs seem +done--about five minutes, if the water boils all the time. Line patty +pans with puff paste, and fill with frangipané and bake. Ornament with +chopped almonds and meringue, or not, as you please. + +It is very difficult to make fine puff paste in warm weather, and almost +impossible without ice; for this reason I think the brioche paste +preferable; but if it is necessary to have it for any purpose, you must +take the following precautions: + +Have your water iced; have your butter as firm as possible by being +kept on ice till the last moment; make the paste in the coolest place +you have, and under the breeze of an open window, if possible; make it +the day before you use it, and put it on the ice between every "turn," +as each rolling out is technically called; then leave it on the ice, as +you use it, taking pieces from it as you need them, so that the warmth +cannot soften the whole at once, when it would become quite +unmanageable. The condition of the oven is a very important matter, and +I cannot do better than transcribe the rules given by Gouffé, by which +you may test its fitness for any purpose: + +Put half a sheet of writing paper in the oven; if it catches fire it is +too hot; open the dampers and wait ten minutes, when put in another +piece of paper; if it blackens it is still too hot. Ten minutes later +put in a third piece; if it _gets dark brown_ the oven is right for all +small pastry. Called "_dark brown paper heat_." _Light brown paper heat_ +is suitable for _vol-au-vents_ or fruit pies. _Dark yellow paper heat_ +for large pieces of pastry or meat pies, pound cake, bread, etc. _Light +yellow paper heat_ for sponge cake, meringues, etc. + +To obtain these various degrees of heat, you try paper every ten minutes +till the heat required for your purpose is attained. But remember that +"light yellow" means the paper only tinged; "dark yellow," the paper the +color of ordinary pine wood; "light brown" is only a shade darker, about +the color of nice pie-crust, and dark brown a shade darker, by no means +coffee color. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHAT TO HAVE IN YOUR STORE-ROOM. + + +ONE great trouble with many young housekeepers is betrayed by the common +remark, "Cookery books always require so many things that one never has +in the house, and they coolly order you to 'moisten with gravy,' 'take a +little gravy,' as if you had only to go to the pump and get it." It is +very true that economy in cooking is much aided by having a supply of +various condiments; warmed-over meat may then be converted into a +delicious little entrée with little trouble. I would recommend, +therefore, any one who is in earnest about reforming her dinner table to +begin by expending a few dollars in the following articles: + + + 1 bottle of capers, + 1 " olives, + 1 " gherkins, + 1 " soy, + 1 " anchovies, + 1 " tarragon vinegar, + 1 " claret, + 1 " white wine, + 1 " sherry for cooking, + 1 " brandy, + 1 " Harvey sauce, + 1 " walnut ketchup. + +And a package of compressed vegetables and a few bay leaves. + + +Ten dollars thus spent may seem a good deal of money to a young +housewife trying to make her husband's salary go as far as it will; but +I assure her it is in the end an economy, especially in a small family, +who are so apt to get tired of seeing the same thing, that it has to be +thrown or given away. With these condiments and others I have yet to +mention you will have no trouble in using every scrap; not using it and +eating it from a sense of duty, and wishing it was something better, but +enjoying it. With your store-room well provided, you can indeed go for +gravy "as if to the pump." + +Besides the foregoing list of articles to be bought of any good grocer, +there are others which can be made at home to advantage, and once made +are always ready. Mushroom powder I prefer for any use to mushroom +catsup; it is easily made and its uses are infinite. Sprinkled over +steak (when it must be sifted) or chops, it is delicious. For ordinary +purposes, such as flavoring soup or gravy, it need not be sifted. To +prepare it, take a peck of large and very fresh mushrooms, look them +over carefully that they are not wormy, then cleanse them with a piece +of flannel from sand or grit, then peel them and put them in the sun or +a cool oven to dry; they require long, slow drying, and must become in a +state to crumble. Your peck will have diminished by the process into +half a pint or less of mushroom powder, but you have the means with it +of making a rich gravy at a few minutes' notice. + +Apropos of gravies--that much-vexed question in small households--for +without gravies on hand you cannot make good hash, or many other things +that are miserable without, and excellent with it. Yet how difficult it +is to have gravy always on hand every mistress of a small family knows, +in spite of the constant advice to "save your trimming to make stock." +Do by all means save your bones, gristle, odds and ends of meat of all +kinds, and convert them into broth; but even if you do, it often happens +that the days you have done so no gravy is required, and then it sours +quickly in summer, although it may be arrested by reboiling. In no +family of three or four are there odds and ends enough, unless there is +a very extravagant table kept, to insure stock for every day. My remedy +for this, then, is to make a stock that will keep for months or +years--in other words, _glaze_. So very rarely forming part of a +housewife's stores, yet so valuable that the fact is simply astonishing; +with a piece of glaze, you have a dish of soup on an emergency, rich +gravy for any purpose, and all with the expenditure of less time than +would make a pot of sweetmeats. + +Take six pounds of a knuckle of veal or leg of beef, cut it in pieces +the size of an egg, as also half a pound of lean ham; then rub a quarter +of a pound of butter on the bottom of your pot, which should hold two +gallons; then put in the meat with half a pint of water, three +middle-sized onions, with two cloves in each, a turnip, a carrot, and a +_small_ head of celery; then place over a quick fire, occasionally +stirring it round, until the bottom of the pot is covered with a thick +glaze, which will adhere lightly to the spoon; then fill up the pot with +cold water, and when on the boiling point, draw it to the back of the +stove, where it may gently simmer three hours, if veal, six if beef, +carefully skimming it to remove scum. This stock, as it is, will make a +delicious foundation, with the addition of salt, for all kinds of clear +soup or gravies. To reduce it to glaze proceed as follows: Pass the +stock through a fine hair sieve or cloth into a pan; then fill up the +pot again with _hot_ water, and let it boil four hours longer to obtain +all the glutinous part from the meat; strain, and pour both stocks in a +large pot or stew-pan together; set it over the fire, and let it boil +as fast as possible with the lid off, leaving a large spoon in it to +prevent it boiling over, and to stir occasionally. When reduced to about +three pints, pour it into a small stew-pan or saucepan, set again to +boil, but more slowly, skimming it if necessary; when it is reduced to a +quart, set it where it will again boil quickly, stirring it well with a +wooden spoon until it begins to get thick and of a fine yellowish-brown +color; at this point be careful it does not burn. + +You may either pour it into a pot for use, or, what is more convenient +for making gravies, get a sausage skin from your butcher, cut a yard of +it, tie one end very tightly, then pour into it by means of a large +funnel the glaze; from this cut slices for use. A thick slice dissolved +in hot water makes a cup of nutritious soup, into which you may put any +cooked vegetables, or rice, or barley. A piece is very useful to take on +a journey, especially for an invalid who does not want to depend on +wayside hotel food, or is tired of beef-tea. + +The foregoing is the orthodox recipe for glaze, and if you have to buy +meat for the purpose the very best way in which you can make it; but if +it happen that you have some strong meat soup or jelly, for which you +have no use while fresh, then boil it down till it is thick and brown +(not burnt); it will be excellent glaze; not so fine in flavor, perhaps, +but it preserves to good use what would otherwise be lost. Very many +people do not know the value of pork for making jelly. If you live in +the country and kill a pig, use his hocks for making glaze instead of +beef. + +Glaze also adds much to the beauty of many dishes. If roast beef is not +quite brown enough on any one spot set your jar of glaze--for this +purpose it is well to have some put in a jar as well as in the skin--in +boiling water. Keep a small stiff brush; such as are sold for the +purpose at house-furnishing stores, called a glazing brush, are best; +but you may manage with any other or even a stiff feather. When the +glaze softens, as glue would do, brush over your meat with it, it will +give the lacking brown; or, if you have a ham or tongue you wish to +decorate you may "varnish" it, as it were, with the melted glaze; then +when cold beat some fresh butter to a white cream, and with a kitchen +syringe, if you have one, a stiff paper funnel if you have not, trace +any design you please on the glazed surface; this makes a very handsome +dish, and if your ham has been properly boiled will be very satisfactory +to the palate. Of the boiling of ham I will speak in another chapter. + +I have a few more articles to recommend for your store-room, and then I +think you will find yourself equal to the emergency of providing an +elegant little meal if called upon unexpectedly, provided you have any +cold scraps at all in the house, and _maître d'hôtel_ butter. + +To make the latter, take half a pound of fine butter, one tablespoonful +of very fresh parsley, chopped not too fine, salt, pepper, and a small +tablespoonful of lemon juice; mix together, but do not work more than +sufficient for that purpose, and pack in a jar, keeping it in a cool +place. A tablespoonful of this laid in a hot dish on which you serve +beefsteak, chops, or any kind of fish, is a great addition, and turns +plain boiled potatoes into _pomme de terre à la maître d'hôtel_. It is +excellent with stewed potatoes, or added to anything for which parsley +is needed, and not always at hand; a spoonful with half the quantity of +flour stirred into a gill of milk or water makes the renowned _maître +d'hôtel_ sauce (or English parsley butter) for boiled fish, mutton, or +veal. In short, it is one of the most valuable things to have in the +house. Equally valuable, even, and more elegant is the preparation known +as "Ravigotte" or Montpellier butter. + +Take one pound in equal quantities of chervil, tarragon, burnet +(pimpernel), chives, and garden cress (peppergrass); scald _two_ +minutes, drain quite dry; pound in a mortar three hard eggs, three +anchovies, and one scant ounce of pickled cucumbers, and same quantity +of capers well pressed to extract the vinegar; add salt, pepper, and a +bit of garlic half as large as a pea, rub all through a sieve; then put +a pound of fine butter into the mortar, which must be well cleansed from +the herbs, add the herbs, with two tablespoonfuls of oil and one of +tarragon vinegar, mix perfectly, and if not of a fine green, add the +juice of some pounded spinach. + +This is the celebrated "_beurre de Montpellier_" sold in Paris in tiny +jars at a high price. Ravigotte is the same thing, only in place of the +eggs, anchovies, pickles, and capers, put half a pound more butter; it +is good, but less piquant. + +Pack in a jar, and keep cool. This butter is excellent for many +purposes. For salad, beaten with oil, vinegar, and yolks of eggs, as for +mayonnaise, it makes a delicious dressing. For cold meat or fish it is +excellent, and also for chops. + +Two or three other articles serve to simplify the art of cooking in its +especially difficult branches, and in the branches a lady finds +difficult to attend to herself without remaining in the kitchen until +the last minute before dinner; but with the aid of blanc and roux a +fairly intelligent girl can make excellent sauces. + +For roux melt slowly half a pound of butter over the fire, skim it, let +it settle, then dredge in eight ounces of fine flour, stir it till it is +of a bright brown, then put away in a jar for use. + +Blanc is the same thing, only it is not allowed to brown; it should be +stirred only enough to make all hot through, then put away in a jar. + +If you need thickening for a white sauce and do not wish to stand over +it yourself, having taught your cook the simple fact that a piece of +blanc put into the milk _before it boils_ (or it will harden instead of +melt) and allowed to dissolve, stirring constantly, will make the sauce +you wish, she will be able at all times to produce a white sauce that +you need not be ashamed of. When the sauce is nearly ready to serve, +stir in a good piece of butter--a large spoonful to half a pint; when +mixed, the sauce is ready. Brown sauce can always be made by taking a +cup of broth or soup and dissolving in the same way a piece of the roux; +and also, if desired, a piece of Montpellier butter. If there is no soup +of course you make it with a piece of glaze. + +Brown flour is also a convenient thing to have ready; it is simply +cooking flour in the oven until it is a _pale_ brown; if it is allowed +to get dark it will be bitter, and, that it may brown evenly, it +requires to be laid on a large flat baking pan and stirred often. Useful +for thickening stews, hash, etc. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LUNCHEON. + + +LUNCHEON is usually, in this country, either a forlorn meal of cold meat +or hash, or else a sort of early dinner, both of which are a mistake. If +it is veritably _luncheon_, and not early dinner, it should be as unlike +that later meal as possible for variety's sake, and, in any but very +small families, there are so many dishes more suitable for luncheon than +any other meal, that it is easy to have great variety with very little +trouble. + +I wish it were more the fashion here to have many of the cold dishes +which are popular on the other side the Atlantic; and, in spite of the +fact that table prejudices are very difficult to get over, I will append +a few recipes in the hope that some lady, more progressive than +prejudiced, may give them a trial, convinced that their excellence, +appearance, and convenience will win them favor. + +By having most dishes cold at luncheon, it makes it a distinct meal from +the hot breakfast and dinner. In summer, the cold food and a salad is +especially refreshing; in winter, a nice hot soup or purée--thick soup +is preferable at luncheon to clear, which is well fitted to precede a +heavy meal--and some savory _entrée_ are very desirable, while cold +raised pie, galantine, jellied fish, and potted meats may ever, at that +season, find their appropriate place on the luncheon table. The +potatoes, which are the only vegetable introduced at strict lunch, +should be prepared in some fancy manner, as croquettes, mashed and +browned, _à la maître d'hôtel_, or in snow. The latter mode is pretty +and novel; I will, therefore, include it in my recipes for luncheon +dishes. Omelets, too, are excellent at luncheon. + +In these remarks I am thinking especially of large families, whose +luncheon table might be provided with a dish of galantine, one of +collared fish, and a meat pie, besides the steak, cutlets, or +warmed-over meat, without anything going to waste. In winter most cold +jellied articles will keep a fortnight, and in summer three or four +days. + +WINDSOR PIE.--Take slices of veal cutlet, half an inch thick, and very +thin slices of lean boiled ham; put at the bottom of one of these +veal-pie dishes or "bakers," about two to three inches deep, a layer of +the veal, seasoned, then one of ham, then one of force-meat, made as +follows: Take a little veal, or if you have sausage-meat ready-made, it +will do, as much fine dry bread-crumbs, a dessert-spoonful of _finely_ +chopped parsley, in which is a salt-spoonful of powdered thyme, savory, +and marjoram, if you have them, with salt and pepper, and mix with +enough butter to make it a crumbling paste; lay a _thin_ layer of this +on the ham, then another of veal, then ham and force-meat again, until +the dish is quite full. Lay something flat upon it, and then a weight +for an hour. You must have prepared, from bones and scraps of veal, +about a pint of stiff veal jelly; pour this over the meat, and then take +strips of rich puff paste (the _brioche_ paste would be excellent in hot +weather), wet the edge of the dish, and lay the strips round, pressing +them lightly to the dish; roll the cover a little larger than the top +of the dish, and lay it on, first wetting the surface, _not the edge_, +of the strips round the lips of the dish; press the two together, then +make a hole in the center and ornament as you please; but I never +ornament the _edge_ of a pie, as it is apt to prevent the paste from +rising. An appropriate and simple ornament for meat pies is to roll a +piece of paste very thin, cut it in four diamond-shaped pieces, put one +point of each to the hole in the center so that you have one on each +end, and one each side, then roll another little piece of paste as thin +as possible, flour it and double it, then double it again, bring all the +corners together in your hand, like a little bundle, then with a sharp +knife give a quick cut over the top of the ball of paste, cutting quite +deeply, then another across; if your cut has been clean and quick, you +will now be able to turn half back the leaves of paste as if it were a +half-blown rose. The ends which you have gathered together in your hand +are to be inserted in the hole in the center of the pie. Then brush over +with yolk of egg beaten very well in a little milk or water, and bake an +hour and a half. + +This way of covering and ornamenting a pie is appropriate for all meat +pies; pigeon pie should, however, have the little red feet skinned by +dipping in boiling water, then rubbed in a cloth, when skin and nails +peel off; if allowed to lie in the water, the flesh comes too; then one +pair is put at each end of the pie, a hole being cut to insert them, or +four are put in the center instead of the rose. + +The Windsor pie is intended to be eaten cold, as are all veal and ham +pies, the beauty of the jelly being lost in a hot pie. Do not fail to +try it on that account, for cold pies are excellent things. + +ANOTHER VEAL AND HAM PIE, more usual, and probably the "weal and hammer" +that "mellered the organ" of Silas Wegg, was manufactured by Mrs. Boffin +from this recipe; it is as follows: + +Take the thick part of breast of veal, removing all the bones, which put +on for gravy, stewing them long and slowly; put a layer of veal, pepper +and salt, then a thin sprinkling of ham; if boiled, cut in slices; if +raw, cut a slice in dice, which scald before using, then more veal and +again ham. If force-meat balls are liked, make some force-meat as for +Windsor pie, using if you prefer it chopped hard-boiled eggs in place of +chopped meat, and binding into a paste with a raw egg; then make into +balls, which drop into the crevices of the pie; boil two or three eggs +quite hard, cut each in four and lay them round the sides and over the +top, pour in about a gill of gravy, and cover the same as the Windsor +pie. In either of these pies the force-meat may be left out, a +sweetbread cut up, or mushrooms put in. + +A chicken pie to eat cold is very fine made in this way. + +RAISED PORK PIES are so familiar to every one who has visited England, +and, in spite of the greasy idea, are so very good, that I introduce a +well-tried recipe, feeling sure any one who eats pork at all will find +it worth while to give them a trial; they will follow it with many +another. + +The paste for them is made as follows: + +Rub into two pounds of flour a liberal half pound of butter, then melt +in half a pint of hot, but not boiling milk, another half pound--or it +may be lard; pour this into the flour, and knead it into a smooth, firm +paste. Properly raised pies should be molded by hand, and I will +endeavor to describe the method in case any persevering lady would like +to try and have the orthodox thing. But pie molds of tin, opening at +the side, are to be bought, and save much trouble; the mold, if used, +should be well buttered, and the pie taken out when done, and returned +to the oven for the sides to brown. + +To "raise" a pie, proceed thus: While the paste is warm, form a ball of +paste into a cone; then with the fist work inside it, till it forms an +oval cup; continue to knead till you have the walls of an even +thickness, then pinch a fold all around the bottom. If properly done, +you have an oval, flat-bottomed crust, with sides about two inches high; +fill this with pork, fat and lean together, well peppered and salted; +then work an oval cover, as near the size of the bottom cover as you +can, and wet the edges of the wall, lay the cover on, and pinch to match +the bottom; ornament as directed for Windsor pie, wash with egg, and +bake a pale brown in a moderate oven; they must be well cooked, or the +meat will not be good. One containing a pound of meat may be cooked an +hour and a quarter. All these pies are served in slices, cut through to +the bottom. + +Galantines are very handsome dishes, not very difficult to make, and +generally popular. I give a recipe for a very simple and delicious one: + +Take a fine breast of veal, remove all gristle, tendons, bones, and trim +to fifteen inches in length and eight wide; use the trimmings and bones +to help make the jelly, then put on the meat a layer of force-meat made +thus: Take one pound of sausage meat, or lean veal, to which add half a +pound of bread-crumbs, parsley and thyme to taste; grate a _little_ +nutmeg, pepper, salt, and the juice of half a lemon; have also some long +strips an inch thick of fat bacon or pork, and lean of veal, and lean +ham, well seasoned with pepper, salt, and finely chopped shallots. Lay +on the meat a layer of force-meat an inch thick, leaving an inch and a +half on each side uncovered; then lay on your strips of ham, veal, and +bacon fat, alternately; then another of force-meat, but only half an +inch thick, as too much force-meat will spoil the appearance of the +dish; if you have any cold tongue, lay some strips in, also a few +blanched pistachio nuts (to be obtained of a confectioner) will give the +appearance of true French galantine. Roll up the veal, and sew it with a +packing or coarse needle and fine twine, tie it firmly up in a piece of +linen. Observe that you do not put your pistachio nuts amid the +force-meat, where, being green, their appearance would be lost; put them +in crevices of the meats. + +Cook this in sufficient water to cover, in which you must have the +trimmings of the breast and a knuckle of veal, or hock of pork, two +onions, a carrot, half a head of celery, two cloves, a blade of mace, +and a good bunch of parsley, thyme and bay leaf, two ounces of salt. Set +the pot on the fire till it is at boiling point, then draw it to the +back and let it simmer three hours, skimming carefully; then take it +from the fire, leaving it in the stock till nearly cold; then take it +out, remove the string from the napkin, and roll the galantine up +tighter--if too tight at first it will be hard--tying the napkin at each +end only; then place it on a dish, set another dish on it, on which +place a fourteen-pound weight; this will cause it to cut firm. When +quite cold, remove strings and cloth, and it is ready to be ornamented +with jelly. When the stock in which the galantine was cooked is cold +take off the fat and clarify it, first trying, however, if it is in +right condition, by putting a little on ice. If it is not stiff enough +to cut firm, you must reduce it by boiling; if too stiff, that is +approaching glaze, add a _little_ water, then clarify by adding whites +of eggs, as directed to clarify soup (see soups). A glass of sherry and +two spoonfuls of tarragon or common vinegar are a great improvement. +Some people like this jelly cut in dice, to ornament the galantine, part +of it may then also serve to ornament other dishes at the table. But I +prefer to have the galantine enveloped in jelly, which may be done by +putting it in an oblong soup tureen or other vessel that will contain +it, leaving an inch space all round, then pouring the jelly over it. + +Jellied fish is a favorite dish with many, and is very simple to +prepare; it is also very ornamental. Take flounders or almost any flat +fish that is cheapest at the time you require them. Clean and scrape +them, cut them in small pieces, but do not cut off the fins; put them in +a stew-pan with a few small button onions or one large one, a half +teaspoonful of sugar, a glass of sherry, a dessert-spoonful of lemon +juice, and a small bunch of parsley. To one large flounder put a quart +of water, and if you are going to jelly oysters put in their liquor and +a little salt. Stew long and slowly, skimming well; then strain, and if +not perfectly clear clarify as elsewhere directed. (See if your stock +jellies, by trying it on ice before you clarify.) Now take a mold, put +in it pieces of cold salmon, eels that have been cooked, or oysters, the +latter only just cooked enough in the stock to plump them; pour a little +of the jelly in the mold, then three or four half slices of lemon, then +oysters or the cold fish, until the mold is near full, disposing the +lemon so that it will be near the sides and decorate the jelly; then +pour the rest of the jelly over all and stand in boiling water for a few +minutes, then put it in a cold place, on ice is best, for some hours. +When about to serve, dip the mold in hot water, turn out on a dish, +garnish with lettuce leaves or parsley and hard-boiled eggs. The latter +may be introduced into the jelly cut in quarters if it is desired; very +ornamental force-meat balls made bright green with spinach juice are +also an improvement in appearance. + +A NEW MAYONNAISE (Soyer's).--Put a quarter of a pint of stiff veal jelly +(that has been nicely flavored with vegetables) on ice in a bowl, +whisking it till it is a white froth; then add half a pint of salad oil +and six spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, _by degrees_, first oil, then +vinegar, continually whisking till it forms a white, smooth, sauce-like +cream; season with half a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter ditto of white +pepper, and a very little sugar, whisk it a little more and it is ready. +It should be dressed pyramidically over the article it is served with. +The advantage of this sauce is that (although more delicate than any +other) you may dress it to any height you like, and it will remain so +any length of time; if the temperature is cool, it will remain hours +without appearing greasy or melting. It is absolutely necessary, +however, that it should be prepared on ice. + +All these dishes, however, are only adapted for large families, but +there are several ways of improving on the ordinary lunch table of very +small ones. And nothing is more pleasant for the mistress of one of +these very small families than to have a friend drop in to lunch, and +have a _recherché_ lunch to offer with little trouble. Warming over will +aid her in this, and to that chapter I refer her; but there are one or +two ways of having cold relishes always ready, which help out an +impromptu meal wonderfully. + +Potted meats are a great resource to English housekeepers; this side +the Atlantic they are chiefly known through the medium of Cross & +Blackwell, though latterly one or two American firms have introduced +some very admirable articles of the sort. Home-made potted meats are, +however, better and less expensive than those bought; they should be +packed away in jars, Liebig's extract of meat jars not being too small +for the purpose, as, while covered with the fat they keep well; once +opened, they require eating within a week or ten days, except in very +cold weather. + +Potted bloater is one of the least expensive and appetizing of all +potted meats. To make it, take two or three or more bloaters, cut off +the heads and cleanse them, put them in the oven long enough to cook +them through; take them out, take off the skin, and remove the meat from +the bones carefully; put the meat of the fish in a jar with half its +weight of butter, leave it to _slowly_ cook in a cool oven for an hour, +then take it out, put the fish into a mortar or strong dish, pour the +butter on it carefully, but don't let the gravy pass too, unless the +fish is to be eaten very quickly, as it would prevent it keeping. Beat +both butter and fish till they form a paste, add a little cayenne, and +press it into small pots, pouring on each melted butter, or mutton suet. +Either should be the third of an inch thick on the bloater. This makes +excellent sandwiches. + +POTTED HAM.--Take any remains of ham you have, even fried, if of a nice +quality, is good for the purpose; take away all stringy parts, sinew, or +gristle, put it in a slow oven with its weight of butter, let it stay +macerating in the butter till very tender, then beat it in a mortar, add +cayenne, and pack in pots in the same way as the bloater. Thus you may +pot odds and ends of any meat or fish you have, and as a little potted +meat goes a long way, when you have a little lobster, a bit of chicken +breast, or even cold veal, I advise you to use it in this way; you will +then have a little stock of dainties in the house to fall back on at any +time for unexpected calls--a very important thing in the country. + +Potted chicken or veal requires either a little tongue or lean ham to +give flavor; but failing these, a little ravigotte butter, beaten in +after the meat is well pounded, is by no means a bad substitute. + +Many people like the flavor of anchovies, but do not like the idea of +eating raw fish; for these anchovy butter is very acceptable. + +Take the anchovies out of the liquor in which they are packed, but do +not wash them, put them in twice their weight of butter in a jar, which +stand in boiling water; set all back of the stove for an hour, then +pound, add cayenne, and pack in glasses. + +Unexpected company to luncheon with a lady who has to eat that meal +alone generally, and (as is the unwise way of such ladies) makes it a +very slender meal, is one of the ordeals of a young housekeeper; company +to lunch and nothing in the house. But there is generally a dainty +luncheon in every house if you know how to prepare it; there certainly +always will be if you keep your store-room supplied with the things I +have named. Let the table be prettily laid at all times, then if you +have potted meat and preserves, have them put on the table. Are there +cold potatoes? If so cut them up into potato salad, if they are whole; +if broken, warm them in a wineglass of milk, a teaspoonful of flour, +and a piece as large as an egg of _maître d'hôtel_ butter. Have you +such scraps of cold meat as could not come to table? Toss them up with a +half cup of water, a slice of glaze (oh, blessed ever-ready glaze!) a +teaspoonful of ravigotte, or _maître d'hôtel_, and a teaspoonful of roux +or blanc, according as your meat is light or dark, season, and serve. Or +you have no meat, then you have eggs, and what better than an omelet and +such an omelet as the following? Take the crumb of a slice of bread, +soak it in hot milk (cold will do, but hot is better), beat up whites of +four eggs to a high froth; mix the bread with all the milk it will +absorb, _no more_, into a paste, add the yolks of eggs with a little +salt, set the pan on the fire with an ounce of butter. Let it get very +hot, then mix the whites of eggs with the yolks and bread lightly, pour +in the pan, and move about for a minute; if the oven is hot, when the +omelet is brown underneath, set the pan in the oven for five minutes, or +until the top is set; then double half over, and serve. If your guests +have a liking for sweets, and your potted meats supply the savory part +of your luncheon, then have a brown gravy ready to serve with it. Put +into a half cup of boiling water a slice of glaze, a spoonful of roux, +and enough Harvey sauce, or mushroom powder, to flavor. If your omelet +is to be sweet, before you fold it put in a layer of preserves. + +The advantage of the omelet I have here given is that it keeps plump and +tender till cold, so that five minutes of waiting does not turn it into +leather, the great objection with omelets generally. + +Potatoes for luncheon, as I have said, should always be prepared in some +fancy way, and snow is a very pretty one. Have some fine mealy potatoes +boiled, carefully poured off, and set back of the stove with a cloth +over them till they are quite dry and fall apart; then have a colander, +or coarse wire sieve made _hot_ and a _hot_ dish in which to serve them, +pass the floury potatoes through the sieve, taking care not to crush the +snow as it falls. You require a large dish heaping full, and be +careful it is kept hot. + +This mode of preparing potatoes, although very pretty and novel, must +never be attempted with any but the whitest and mealiest kind. + +The remains of cold potatoes may be prepared thus: Put three ounces of +butter in a frying-pan in which fry three onions sliced till tender, but +not very brown, then put on the potatoes cut in slices, and shake them +till they are of a nice brown color, put a spoonful of chopped parsley, +salt, pepper, and juice of a lemon, shake well that all may mix +together, dish, and serve very hot. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A CHAPTER ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN VERY SMALL FAMILIES. + + +A VERY small family, "a young _ménage_," for instance, is very much more +difficult to cater for without waste than a larger one; two people are +so apt to get tired of anything, be it ever so good eating, when it has +been on the table once or twice; therefore it would be useless to make +galantine or the large pies I have indicated, except for occasions when +guests are expected; but, as I hope to aid young housekeepers to have +nice dishes when alone, I will devote this chapter to their needs. + +The chapter on "Warming Over" will be very useful also to this large +class. + +In the first place it is well to have regard, when part of a dish leaves +the table, as to whether it, or any particular part of it, will make a +nice little cold dish, or a _rechauffé_; in that case have it saved, +unless it is required for the servants' dinner (it is well to manage so +that it is not needed for that purpose); for instance, if there is the +wing and a slice or two of the breast of a chicken left, it will make a +dainty little breakfast dish, or cold, in jelly, be nice for lunch. +There is always jelly if you have roast chicken, if you manage properly, +and this is how you do it: + +Carefully save the feet, throat, gizzard, and liver of your chickens; +scald the feet by pouring boiling water over them; leave them just a +minute, and pull off the outer skin and nails; they come away very +readily, leaving the feet delicately white; put these with the other +giblets, properly cleansed, into a small saucepan with an onion, a slice +of carrot, a sprig of parsley, and a pint of water (if you have the +giblets of one chicken), if of two, put a quart; let this _slowly_ +simmer for two hours and a half; it will be reduced to about half, and +form a stiff jelly when cold; a glass of sherry, and squeeze of lemon, +or teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar, makes this into a delicious aspic, +and should be added if to be eaten cold. The jelly must of course be +strained. + +In roasting chickens, if you follow the rule for meat, that is, put no +water in the pan, but a piece of butter, and dredge a _very little_ +flour over the chicken, you will have a nice brown glaze at the bottom +of the pan, provided it has been cooked in a _quick oven_; if in a cool +oven there will be nothing brown at all; but we will suppose the bird is +browned to a turn; pour your gravy from the giblets into the pan, take +off every bit of the glaze or osma-zone that adheres, and let it +dissolve, rubbing it with the back of the spoon; then, if you are likely +to have any chicken left cold, pour off a little gravy in a cup through +a fine strainer, leaving in your pan sufficient for the dinner; in this +mash up the liver till it is a smooth paste which thickens the gravy, +and serve. Some object to liver, therefore the use of it is a matter of +taste. If you dress the chickens English fashion, you will _need_ the +liver and gizzard to tuck under the wings; in this case, stew only the +feet and throat, using a little meat of any kind, if you have it, to +take their place; but on no account fail to use the feet, as they are as +rich in jelly as calves' feet in proportion to their size. + +The jelly laid aside will be enough to ornament and give relish to a +little dish of cold chicken, and changes it from a dry and commonplace +thing to a _recherché_ one. If two chickens are cooked it is more +economical than one; there is, then, double the amount of gravy, +generally sufficient, if you lay some very nice pieces of cold chicken +in a bowl, to pour over it and leave it enveloped in jelly; you still +then, if from dinner for two people, have perhaps joints enough to make +a dish of curry or fricassee, or any of the many ways in which cold +chicken may be used, for which see chapter on "_Warming Over_." + +For small households large joints are to be avoided, but even a small +roast is a large joint when there are but two or three to eat it. For +this reason it is a good plan to buy such joints as divide well. A +sirloin of beef is better made into two fine dishes than into one roast, +and then warmed over twice. Every one knows that "_Filet de b[oe]uf +Chateaubriand_" is one of the classical dishes of the French table, that +to a Frenchman luxury can go no further; but every one does not know how +entirely within his power it is to have that dish as often as he has +roast beef; how convenient it would be to so have it. Here it is: When +your sirloin roast comes from the butcher, take out the tenderloin or +fillets, which you must always choose thick; cut it across into steaks +an inch thick, trim them, cover them with a coat of butter (or oil, +which is much better), and broil them ten minutes, turning them often; +garnish with fried potatoes, and serve with _sauce Chateaubriand_, as +follows: Put a gill of white wine (or claret will do if you have no +white) into a saucepan, with a piece of glaze, weighing an ounce and a +half; add three quarters of a pint of _espagnole_, and simmer fifteen +minutes; when ready to serve, thicken with two ounces of _maître +d'hôtel_ butter in which a dessert-spoonful of flour has been worked. +That is how Jules Gouffé's recipe runs; but, as no small family will +keep _espagnole_ ready made, allow a little more glaze (of course the +recipe as given may be divided to half or quarter, provided the correct +proportions are retained), and use a tablespoonful of roux and the +_maître d'hôtel_ butter, both of which you have probably in your +store-room; if not, brown a little flour, chop some parsley, and add to +two ounces of butter; work them together, then let them dissolve in the +sauce, for which purpose let it go off the boil; let the sauce simmer a +minute, skim, and serve. + +The sirloin of beef, denuded of its fillet, is still a good roast; and +as you can't have your cake and eat it too, and hot fresh roast beef is +better than the same warmed over, warm ye never so wisely, I think this +plan may commend itself to those who like nice _little_ dinners. + +A nice little dinner of a soup, an _entrée_, or made dish, salad, and +dessert, really costs no more than frequent roast meat, or even steak +and pudding, by following some such plan as this: + +Sunday.--_Pot-au-feu_ and roast lamb, leg of mutton or other good joint, +etc. + +Monday.--Rice or vermicelli soup made with remains of the _bouillon_ +from _pot-au-feu_. If the Sunday joint was a fore or hindquarter of lamb +it should have been divided, say the leg from the loin, thus providing +choice roasts for two days, and yet having enough cold lamb--that +favorite dish with so many--for luncheon with a salad; and, surprising +to say, after hot roast lamb for dinner Sunday, cold lunch for Monday, +another roast Monday, and cold or warmed up for lunch Tuesday, there +will still be (supposing as I do, in preparing this chapter, that the +family consists only of gentleman, lady, and servant) remains enough +from the two cold joints to make cromesquis of lamb (see recipe), a +little dish of mince, or a delicate _sauté_ of lamb for breakfast. It is +surprising what may be done with odds and ends in a small family; a tiny +plate of pieces, far too small to make an appearance on the table, and +which, if special directions are not given, will seem to Bridget not +worth saving, will, with each piece dipped into the batter _à la +Carême_, and fried in hot fat, make a tempting dish for breakfast, or an +_entrée_ for dinner or luncheon. Two tablespoonfuls only of chopped meat +of any kind will make croquettes for two or three people; hence, 'save +the pieces.' But to return to our bills of fare: I have given the two +roasts of lamb for consecutive days, because the weather in lamb season +is usually too warm to keep it; when this can be done, however, it is +pleasanter to leave the second joint of lamb till Tuesday. Should a +forequarter (abroad held in greater esteem than the hindquarter) have +been chosen, get the butcher to take out the shoulder in one round thick +joint, English fashion; this crisply roasted is far more delicious than +the leg; you then have the chops to be breaded, and an excellent dish of +the neck and breast, either broiled, curried, stewed with peas, or +roast. + +Yet how often we see a whole quarter of lamb put in the oven for two or +three people who get tired of the sight of it cold, yet feel in economy +bound to eat it. + +Should sirloin of beef have been the Sunday dinner, you will know what +to do with it, from directions already given; and as a sirloin of beef, +even with the fillet out, will be more than required for one dinner, it +may serve for a third day, dressed in one of the various ways I shall +give in chapter on "Warming Over." You have still at your disposal the +bouilli or beef from which you have made your _pot-au-feu_, which, if it +has been carefully boiled, not galloped, nor allowed to fall to rags, is +very good eating. Cut thin with lettuce, or in winter celery, in about +equal quantities, and a good salad dressing, it is excellent; or, made +into hash, fritadella, or even rissoles, is savory and delicious; only +bear in mind with this, as all cooked meats, the gravy drawn out must be +replaced by stock or glaze; it is very easy to warm over bouilli +satisfactorily, as a cup of the soup made from it can always be kept for +gravy. + +A leg of mutton makes two excellent joints, and is seldom liked cold--as +beef and lamb often are. + +Select a large fine leg, have it cut across, that each part may weigh +about equally; roast the thick or fillet end and serve with or without +onion sauce (_à la soubise_); boil the knuckle in a small quantity of +water, just enough to cover it, with a carrot, turnip, onion, and bunch +of parsley, and salt in the water, serve with caper sauce and mashed +turnips. The broth from this is excellent soup served thus: Skim it +carefully, take out the vegetables, and chop a small quantity of parsley +very fine, then beat up in a bowl two eggs, pour into them a little of +the broth--not boiling--beating all the time, then draw your soup back +till it is off the boil, and pour in the eggs, stirring continually till +it is on the boiling point again (but it must not boil, or the eggs will +curdle and spoil the soup), and then turn it into a _hot_ tureen and +serve. Use remains of the cold roast and boiled mutton together, to make +made dishes; between the days of having the roast and boiled mutton you +may have had a fowl, and the remains from that will make you a second +dish to go with your joint. + +The remains from the first cooked mutton, in form of curry, mince, +salmi, or _sauté_, will be a second dish with your fowl. + +Veal is one of the most convenient things to have for a small family, as +it warms over in a variety of ways, and in some is actually better than +when put on the table as a joint. By having a little fish one day, +instead of soup, and a little game another, and remembering when you +have an especially dainty thing, to have one with it a little more +substantial and less costly, you may have variety at little expense. + +For instance, if you find it convenient to have for dinner fritadella +(see "_Warming Over_") or miroton of beef, or cold mutton curried, you +might have broiled birds, or roast pigeon, or game. In this consists +good management, to live so that the expenses of one day balance those +of the other--unless you are so happily situated that expense is a small +matter, in which case these remarks will not apply to you at all. Then, +never mind warming over, or making one joint into two; let your poor +neighbors and Bridget's friends enjoy your superfluity. To the woman +with a moderate income it usually is a matter of importance, or ought to +be, that her weekly expenditure should not exceed a certain amount, and +for this she must arrange that any extra expense is balanced by a +subsequent economy. + +Salads add much to the health and elegance of a dinner; it is in early +spring an expensive item if lettuce is used; but no salad can be more +delicious or more healthful than dressed celery; and by buying when +cheap, arranging with a man to lay in your cellar, covered with soil, +enough for the winter's use, it need cost but moderately. Celeriac, or +turnip-rooted celery is another salad that is very popular with our +German friends; it is a bulbous celery, the root being the part eaten; +these are cooked like potatoes, cut in slices, and dressed with oil and +vinegar, or mayonnaise, it is exceedingly good. Potato salad is always +procurable, and in summer at lunch, instead of the hot vegetable, or in +winter when green salad is dear, is very valuable. It may be varied by +the addition, one day, of a few chopped pickles, another, a little +onion, or celery, or parsley, or tarragon, a little ravigotte butter +beaten to cream with the vinegar, or with meat, as follows: Boil the +potatoes in their skins, peel them, cut them into pieces twice the +thickness of a fifty-cent piece, and put them into a salad bowl with +cold meat (bouilli from soup is excellent); put to them a teaspoonful of +salt, half that quantity of pepper, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, three +or even four of oil, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. You can vary +this by putting at different times some chopped celery or pickles, +olives, or anchovies. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ON FRYING AND BROILING. + + +FRYING is one of the operations in cookery in which there are more +failures than any other, or, at least, there appear to be more, because +the failure is always so very apparent. Nothing can make a dish of +breaded cutlets on which are bald white spots look inviting, or +livid-looking fish, just flaked here and there with the bread that has +been persuaded to stay on. And, provided you have enough fat in the +pan--there should always be enough to immerse the article; therefore use +a deep iron or enameled pan--there can be but two reasons why you fail. +Your fat has not been hot enough, or your crumbs have not been fine and +_even_. + +Many suppose when the fat bubbles and boils in the pan that it is quite +hot; it is far from being so. Others again are so much nearer the truth +that they know it must become _silent_, that is, boil and cease to boil, +before it is ready, but even that is not enough; it must be silent some +time, smoke, and appear to be on the point of burning, then drop a bit +of bread in; if it crisps and takes color directly, quickly put in your +articles. + +These articles, whether cutlets or fish, must have been carefully +prepared, or herein may lie the second cause of failure. Any cookery +book will give you directions how to crumb, follow them; but what some +do not tell you is, that your bread-crumbs should be _finely sifted_; +every coarse crumb is liable to drop off and bring with it a good deal +of the surrounding surface. + +I also follow the French plan in using the egg, and mix with it oil and +water in the proportion of three eggs, one tablespoonful of oil, one of +water, and a little salt, beat together and use. It is a good plan to +keep a supply of _panure_ or dried bread-crumbs always ready. Cut any +slices of baker's bread, dry them in a cool oven so that they remain +quite colorless, or they will not do for the purpose. When as dry as +crackers, crush under a rolling-pin, and sift; keep in a jar for use. + +In no branch of cooking is excellence more appreciated than in that of +frying. A dish of _filets de sole_ or cutlets, crisp and golden brown, +is an ornament to any table, and is seldom disdained by any one. Apropos +of _filets de sole_; it is very high-sounding yet very attainable, as I +shall show. I was staying with a friend early in spring, a lady always +anxious for table novelties. "Oh, do tell me what fish to order, I +should like something fried, now that you are here to tell cook how to +do it; she hasn't the wildest idea, although she would be astounded to +hear me say so." "Have you ever had flounders?" I asked. "Flounders!" My +friend's pretty nose went up the eighth of an inch, and her confidence +in my powers as counselor went down to zero. "Flounders! but they are a +very common fish you know." "I know they are very delicious," I +answered. "Order them, and trust me; but I must coax the autocrat of +your kitchen to allow me to cook and prepare them myself." + +An hour before dinner I went into the kitchen, put at least a pound of +lard into a deep frying-pan, and set it where it would get gradually +hot, then I turned my attention to the fish; they were thick, firm +flounders, and were ready cleaned, scraped, and the heads off. I then +proceeded to bone one in the following way: Take a sharp knife and split +the flounder right down the middle of the back, then run the knife +carefully between the flesh and bones going toward the edge. You have +now detached one quarter of the flesh from the bone, do the other half +in the same way, and when the back is thus entirely loose from the bone, +turn the fish over and do the same with the other part. You will now +find you can remove the bone whole from the fish, detaching, as you do +so, any flesh still retaining the bone, then you have two halves of the +fish; cut away the fins, and you have four quarters of solid fish. Now +see if the fat is very hot, set it forward while you wipe your fish dry, +and dip each piece in milk, then in flour. Try if the fat is hot by +dropping a crumb into it; if it browns at once, put in the fish. When +they are beautifully brown, which will be in about ten minutes, take +them up in the colander, and then lay them on a towel to absorb any fat, +lay them on a hot dish, and garnish with slices of lemon and parsley or +celery tops. + +Now when this dish made its appearance, my friend's husband, a _bon +vivant_, greeted it with, "Aha! _Filets de sole à la Delmonico_," and as +nothing to the contrary was said until dinner was over, he ate them +under the impression that they were veritable _filets de sole_. Of +course I can't pretend to say whether M. Delmonico imports his soles, or +uses the homely flounder; but I do know that one of his frequenters knew +no difference. + +Oysters should be laid on a cloth to drain thoroughly, then rolled in +fine sifted cracker dust, and dropped into very hot fat; do not put more +oysters in the pan than will fry without one overlapping the other. +Very few minutes will brown them beautifully, if your fat was hot +enough, and as a minute too long toughens and shrinks them, be very +careful that it browns a cube of bread almost directly, before you begin +the oysters. Egg and bread-crumb may be used instead of cracker dust, +but it is not the proper thing, and is a great deal more trouble. Should +you be desirous of using it, however, the oysters must be carefully +wiped _dry_ before dipping them; while for cracker dust they are not +wiped, but only drained well. + +Fish of any kind, fried in batter _à la Carême_ (see recipe), is very +easy to do, and very nice. + +Carefully save veal, lamb, beef, and pork drippings. Keep a crock to put +it in, and, clarified as I shall direct, it is much better than lard for +many purposes, and for frying especially; it does not leave the dark +look that is sometimes seen on articles fried in lard. The perfection of +"friture," or frying-fat, according to Gouffé, is equal parts of lard +and beef fat melted together. + +Yet there are families where dripping is never used--is looked upon as +unfit to use--while the truth is that many persons quite unable to eat +articles fried in lard would find no inconvenience from those fried in +beef fat. It is as wholesome as butter, and far better for the purpose. +Butter, indeed, is only good for frying such things as omelets or +scrambled eggs; things that are cooked in a very short time, and require +no great degree of heat. + +The same may be said of oil, than which, for fish, nothing can be +better. Yet it can only be used once, and is unsuitable for things +requiring long-sustained heat, as it soon gets bitter and rank. + +Do not be afraid to put a pound or two of fat in your pan for frying; it +is quite as economical as to put less for it can be used over and over +again, a pail or crock being kept for the purpose of receiving it. +Always in returning it to the crock pour it through a fine strainer, so +that no sediment or brown particles may pass which would spoil the next +frying. + +To clarify dripping, when poured from the meat-pan, it should go into a +bowl, instead of the crock in which you wish to keep it. Then pour into +the bowl also some boiling water, and add a little salt, stir it, and +set it away. Next day, or when cold, run a knife round the bowl, and +(unless it is pork) it will turn out in a solid cake, leaving the water +and impurities at the bottom. Now scrape the bottom of your dripping, +and put it in more boiling water till it melts, then stir again, another +pinch of salt add, and let it cool again. When you take off the cake of +fat, scrape it as before, and it is ready to be melted into the general +crock, and will now keep for months in cool weather. If you are having +frequent joints it is as well to do all your dripping together, once a +week; but do not leave it long at any season with water under it, as +that would taint it. Fat skimmed from boiled meat, _pot-au-feu_, before +the vegetables, etc., go in, is quite as good as that from roast, +treated in the same way. + +Frying in batter is very easy and excellent for some things, such as +warming over meat, being far better than eggs and crumbs. Carême gives +the following recipe, which is excellent: + +Three quarters of a pound of sifted flour, mixed with two ounces of +butter melted in warm water; blow the butter off the water into the +flour first, then enough of the water to make a _soft_ paste, which +beat smooth, then more warm water till it is batter thick enough to mask +the back of a spoon dipped into it, and salt to taste; add the _last +thing_ the whites of two eggs well beaten. + +Another batter, called _à la Provençale_, is also exceedingly good, +especially for articles a little dry in themselves, such as chickens to +be warmed over, slices of cold veal, etc. + +Take same quantity of flour, two yolks of eggs, four tablespoonfuls of +oil, mix with _cold_ water, and add whites of eggs and salt as before. +Into this batter I sometimes put a little chopped parsley, and the least +bit of powdered thyme, or grated lemon-peel, or nutmeg; this is, +however, only a matter of taste. + +BROILING is the simplest of all forms of cooking, and is essentially +English. To broil well is very easy with a little attention. A brisk +clear fire, not too high in the stove, is necessary to do it with ease; +yet if, as must sometimes happen, to meet the necessities of other +cooking, your fire is very large, carefully fix the gridiron on two +bricks or in any convenient manner, to prevent the meat scorching, then +have the gridiron _very hot_ before putting your meat upon it; turn it, +if chop or steak, as soon as the gravy begins to start on the upper +side; if allowed to remain without turning long, the gravy forms a pool +on the top, which, when turned, falls into the fire and is lost; the +action of the heat, if turned quickly, seals the pores and the gravy +remains in the meat. If the fire is not very clear, put a cover over the +meat on the gridiron, it will prevent its blackening or burning--if the +article is thick I always do so--and it is an especially good plan with +birds or chickens, which are apt to be raw at the joints unless this is +done; indeed, with the latter, I think it a good way to put them in a +hot oven ten minutes before they go on to broil, then have a spoonful of +_maître d'hôtel_ butter to lay on the breast of each. Young spring +chickens are sometimes very dry, in which case dip them in melted +butter, or, better still, oil them all over a little while before +cooking. There is nothing more unsightly than a sprawling dish of +broiled chickens; therefore, in preparing them place them in good form, +then, with a gentle blow of the rolling-pin, break the bones that they +may remain so. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +ROASTING. + + +IN spite of Brillat-Savarin's maxim that one may become a cook, but must +be born a _rotisseur_, I am inclined to think one may also, by +remembering one or two things, become a very good "roaster" (to +translate the untranslatable), especially in our day, when the oven has +taken the place of the spit, although a great deal of meat is spoiled in +roasting; a loin of lamb or piece of beef, that comes to the table so +pale that you can't tell whether it has been boiled or merely wilted in +the oven, is an aggravation so familiar, that a rich brown, well-roasted +joint is generally a surprise. Perhaps the cook will tell you she has +had the "hottest kind of an oven;" but then she has probably also had a +well of water underneath it, the vapor from which, arising all the time, +has effectually soddened the meat, and checked the browning. The surface +of roast meat should be covered with a rich glaze, scientifically called +"osma-zone." That the meat may be thus glazed, it should always go into +a _hot_ oven, so that, as the gravy exudes, it may congeal on the +outside, thus sealing up the pores. The general plan, however, is to put +meat into a warm oven an hour or two earlier than it should go, with a +quantity of water and flour underneath it. The result in hot weather I +have known to be very disagreeable, the tepid oven having, in fact, +given a stale taste to the joint before it began to cook, and it at all +times results in flavorless, tough meat. There is no time saved, either, +in putting the meat in while the oven is yet cool. Heat up the oven till +it is quite brisk, then put the meat in a pan, in which, if it is fat, +you require _no water_; if very lean, you may put half a teacup, just +enough to prevent the pan burning; you may rub a little flour over the +joint or not, as you please, but never more than the surface moisture +absorbs; have no clinging particles of flour upon the joint, neither put +salt nor pepper upon the meat before it goes into the oven; salt draws +out the gravy, which it is your object to keep in, and the flavor of +pepper is entirely changed by the parching it undergoes when on the +surface of the meat, the odor of scorched pepper, while cooking, being +very offensive to refined nostrils. This does not occur when pepper is +not on the surface; for the _inside_ of birds, in stuffing, and in meat +pies it is indispensable, and the flavor undergoes no change. This +remark on pepper applies also to broiling and frying. Always pepper +_after_ the article is cooked, and both for appearance and delicacy of +flavor white pepper should always be used in preference to black. + +Meat, while in the oven, should be carefully turned about so that it may +brown equally, and when it has been in half the time you intend to give +it, or when the upper surface is well browned, turn it over. When it +comes out of the oven put it on a hot dish, then carefully pour off the +fat by holding the corner of the meat pan over your dripping-pan, and +very gently allowing the fat to run off; do not shake it; when you see +the thick brown sediment beginning to run too, check it; if there is +still much fat on the surface, take it off with a spoon; then pour into +the pan a little boiling water and salt, in quantity according to the +quantity of sediment or glaze in the pan, and with a spoon rub off every +speck of the dried gravy on the bottom and sides of the pan. Add no +flour, the gravy must be thick enough with its own richness. If you have +added too much water, so that it looks poor, you may always boil it down +by setting the pan on the stove for a few minutes; but it is better to +put very little water at first, and add as the richness of the gravy +allows. Now you have a rich brown gravy, instead of the thick +whitey-brown broth so often served with roast meat. Every drop of this +gravy and that from the dish should be carefully saved if left over. + +Save all dripping, except from mutton or meat with which onions are +cooked, for purposes which I shall indicate in another place. + +Veal and pork require to be very thoroughly cooked. For them, therefore, +the oven must not be too hot, neither must it be lukewarm, a good even +heat is best; if likely to get too brown before it is thoroughly cooked, +open the oven door. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BOILING. + + +BOILING is one of the things about which cooks are most careless; +theoretically they almost always know meat should be slowly boiled, but +their idea of "slow" is ruled by the fire; they never attempt to rule +that. There is a good rule given by Gouffé as to what slow boiling +actually is: the surface of the pot should only show signs of ebullition +at one side, just an occasional bubble. _Simmering_ is a still slower +process, and in this the pot should have only a sizzling round one part +of the edge. All fresh meat should boil _slowly_; ham or corn beef +should barely simmer. Yet they must not go off the boil at all, which +would spoil fresh meat entirely; steeping in water gives a flat, insipid +taste. + +All vegetables except potatoes, asparagus, peas, and cauliflower should +boil as fast as possible; these four only moderately. Most vegetables +are boiled far too long. Cabbage is as delicate as cauliflower in the +summer and fall if boiled in plenty of water, to which a salt spoonful +of soda has been added, _as fast as possible_ for twenty minutes or half +an hour, then drained and dressed. In winter it should be cut in six or +eight pieces, boiled _fast_, in plenty of water, for half an hour, _no +longer_. Always give it plenty of room, let the water boil rapidly when +you put it in the pot, which set on the hottest part of the fire to +come to that point again, and you will have no more strong, rank, yellow +stuff on your table, no bad odor in your house. Peas require no more +than twenty minutes' boiling if young; asparagus the same; the latter +should always be boiled in a saucepan deep enough to let it stand up in +the water when tied up in bunches, for this saves the heads. Potatoes +should be poured off the minute they are done, and allowed to stand at +the back of the stove with a clean cloth folded over them. They are the +only vegetable that should be put into _cold_ water. When new, boiling +water is proper. When quite ripe they are more floury if put in cold +water. + +SOUPS.--As I have before said, I do not pretend to give many recipes, +only to tell you how to succeed with the recipes given in other books. I +shall, therefore, only give one recipe which I know is a novelty and one +for the foundation of all soups. In one sense I have done the latter +already. The stock for glaze is an excellent soup before it is reduced; +but I will also give Jules Gouffé's method of making _pot-au-feu_, it +being a most beautifully clear soup. + +It often happens, however, that you have sufficient stock from bones, +trimmings of meat, and odds and ends of gravies, which may always be +turned to account; but the stock from such a source, although excellent, +will not always be clear; therefore, you must proceed with it in the +following manner, unless you wish to use it for thick soup: + +Make your stock boiling hot and skim well; then have ready the whites of +three eggs (I am supposing you have three quarts of stock--one egg to a +quart), to which add half a pint of cold water; whisk well together; +then add half a pint of the boiling stock gradually, still whisking the +eggs; then stir the boiling stock rapidly, pouring in the whites of +eggs, etc.; as you do it, stir quickly till nearly boiling again, then +take it from the fire, let it remain till the whites of eggs separate; +then strain through a clean, fine cloth into a basin. This rule once +learned will clear every kind of soup or jelly. + +There are many people who are good cooks, yet fail in clear soup, which +is with them semi-opaque, while it should be like sherry. The cause of +this opacity is generally quick boiling while the meat is in. This gives +it a milky appearance. After the stock is once made and clear, quick +boiling will do no harm, but of course wastes the soup, unless resorted +to for the purpose of making it stronger. A word here about coloring +soup: Most persons resort to burnt sugar, and, very carefully used, it +is not at all a bad makeshift. But how often have we a rich-looking soup +put before us, the vermicelli appearing to repose under a lake of strong +russet _bouillon_, but which, on tasting, we find suggestive of nothing +but burnt sugar and salt, every bit of flavor destroyed by the acrid +coloring. Sometimes stock made by the recipe for _pot-au-feu_ (to +follow) requires no color; this depends on the beef; but usually all +soup is more appetizing in appearance for a little browning, and for +this purpose I always use burnt onions in preference to anything else. +If you have none in store when the soup is put on, put a small onion in +the oven (or on the back of the stove; should you be baking anything the +odor would taint); turn it often till it gets quite black, but not +_charred_. Then put it to the soup; it adds a fine flavor as well as +color, and you need not fear overdoing it. + +Soup that is to be reduced must be very lightly salted; for this reason +salt is left out altogether for glaze, as the reduction causes the +water only to evaporate, the salt remains. + +GOUFFÉ'S POT-AU-FEU.--Four pounds of lean beef, six quarts of water, six +ounces of carrot, six of turnip, six of onion, half an ounce of celery, +one clove, salt. + +Put the meat on in cold water, and just before it comes to the boil skim +it, and throw in a wineglass of cold water, skim again, and, when it is +"on the boil," again throw in another wineglass of cold water; do this +two or three times. The object of adding the cold water is to keep it +just off the boil until all the scum has risen, as the boiling point is +when it comes to the surface, yet once having boiled, the scum is broken +up, and the soup is never so clear. + +The meat must simmer slowly, _not boil_, for three hours before the +vegetables are added, then for a couple of hours more. + +It is necessary to be very exact in the proportions of vegetables; but, +of course, after having weighed them for soups once or twice, you will +get to know about the size of a carrot, turnip, etc., that will weigh +six ounces. The exact weight is given until the eye is accustomed to it. + +This soup strained, and boiled down to one half, becomes _consommé_. + +CELERY CREAM is a most delicious and little-known white soup, and all +lovers of good things will thank me for introducing it. + +Have some nice veal stock, or the water in which chickens have been +boiled, reduced till it is rich enough, will do, or some very rich +mutton broth, but either of the former are preferable; then put on a +half cup of rice in a pint of rich milk, and grate into it the white +part and root of two heads of celery. Let the rice milk cook very +slowly at the back of the stove, adding more milk before it gets at all +stiff; when tender enough to mash through a coarse sieve or fine +colander add it to the stock, which must have been strained and be quite +free from sediment, season with salt and a little _white_ pepper or +cayenne, boil all together gently a few minutes. It should look like +rich cream, and be strongly flavored with celery. Of course the quantity +of rice, milk, and celery must depend on the quantity of stock you have. +I have given the proportion for one quart, which, with the milk, etc., +added, would make about three pints of soup. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SAUCES. + + +TALLEYRAND said England was a country with twenty-four religions and +only one sauce. He might have said two sauces, and he would have been +literally right as regards both England and America. Everything is +served with brown sauce or white sauce. And how often the white sauce is +like bookbinder's paste, the brown, a bitter, tasteless brown mess! +Strictly speaking, perhaps, the French have but two sauces either, +_espagnole_, or brown sauce, and white sauce, which they call the mother +sauces; but what changes they ring on these mother sauces! The espagnole +once made, with no two meats is it served alike in flavor, and in this +matter of flavor the artist appears. In making brown sauce for any +purpose, bethink yourself of anything there may be in your store-room +with which to vary its flavor, taking care that it shall agree with the +meat for which it is intended. The ordinary cook flies at once to +Worcestershire or Harvey sauce, which are excellent at times, but +"_toujours perdrix_" is not always welcome. A pinch of mushroom powder, +or a few chopped oysters, are excellent with beef or veal; so will be a +spoonful of Montpellier butter stirred in, or curry, not enough to +yellow the sauce, but enough to give a dash of piquancy. A pickled +walnut chopped, or a gherkin or two, go admirably with mutton or pork +chops. In short, this is just where imagination and brains will tell in +cooking, and little essays of invention may be tried with profit. But +beware of trying too much; make yourself perfect in one thing before +venturing on another. + +ESPAGNOLE, or brown sauce, is simply a rich stock well flavored with +vegetables and herbs, and thickened with a piece of _roux_ or with brown +flour. + +WHITE SAUCE is one of those things we rarely find perfectly made; bad, +it is the _ne plus ultra_ of badness; good, it is delicious. Those who +have tried to have it good, and failed, I beg to try the following +method of making it: Take an ounce and a half of butter and a scant +tablespoonful of flour, mix both with a spoon into a paste; when smooth +add half a pint of warm milk, a _small_ teaspoonful of salt, and the +sixth part of one of _white_ pepper; set it on the fire till it boils, +and is thick enough to mask the back of the spoon transparently; then +add a squeeze of lemon juice, and another ounce and a half of fresh +butter; stir this till quite blended. This sauce is the foundation for +many others, and, for some purposes, the beaten yolk of an egg is +introduced when just off the boil. Capers may be added to it, or chopped +mushrooms, or chopped celery, or oysters, according to the use for which +it is intended. The object of adding the second butter is because +boiling takes away the flavor of butter; by stirring half of it in, +without boiling, you retain it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +WARMING OVER. + + +HASH is a peculiarly American institution. In no other country is every +remnant of cold meat turned into that one unvarying dish. What do I say? +_remnants_ of cold meat! rather _joints_ of cold meat, a roast of beef +of which the tenderloin had sufficed for the first day's dinner, the leg +of mutton from which a few slices only have been taken, the fillet of +veal, available for so many delicate dishes, all are ruthlessly turned +into the all-pervading hash. The curious thing is that people are not +fond of it. Men exclaim against it, and its name stinks in the nostrils +of those unhappy ones whose home is the boarding-house. + +Yet hash in itself is not a bad dish; when I say it is a peculiarly +_American_ institution, I mean, that when English people speak of hash, +they mean something quite different--meat warmed in slices. Our hash, in +its best form--that is, made with nice gravy, garnished with sippets of +toast and pickles, surrounded with mashed potatoes or rice--is dignified +abroad by the name of _mince_, and makes its appearance as an elegant +little _entrée_. Nor would it be anathematized in the way it is with us, +if it were only occasionally introduced. It is the familiarity that has +led to contempt. "But what shall I do?" asks the young wife +distressfully; "John likes joints, and he and I and Bridget can't +possibly eat a roast at a meal." + +Very true; and it is to just such perplexed young housekeepers that I +hope this chapter will be especially useful--that is to say, small +families with moderate means and a taste for good things. In this, as in +many other ways, large families are easier to cater for; they can +consume the better part of a roast at a meal, and the remains it is no +great harm to turn into hash, although even they might, with little +trouble and expense, have agreeable variety introduced into their bill +of fare. + +In England and America there is great prejudice against warmed-over +food, but on the continent one eats it half the time in some of the most +delicious-made dishes without suspecting it. Herein lies the secret. +With us and our transatlantic cousins the warming over is so artlessly +done, that the _hard_ fact too often stares at us from out the watery +expanse in which it reposes. + +One great reason of the failure to make warmed-over meat satisfactory is +the lack of gravy. On the goodness of this (as well as its presence) +depends the success of your _réchauffé_. + +The glaze, for which I have given the recipe, renders you at all times +independent in this respect, but at the same time it should not alone be +depended on. Every drop of what remains in the dish from the roast +should be saved, and great care be taken of all scraps, bones, and +gristle, which should be carefully boiled down to save the necessity of +flying to the glaze for every purpose. I will here give several recipes, +which I think may be new to many readers. + +SALMI OF COLD MEAT is exceedingly good. Melt butter in a saucepan, if +for quite a small dish two ounces will be sufficient; when melted, stir +in a little flour to thicken; let it brown, but not burn, or, if you are +preparing the dish in haste, put in some brown flour; then add a glass +of white or red wine and a cup of broth, or a cup of water and a slice +of glaze, a sprig or two of thyme, parsley, a small onion, chopped, and +one bay leaf, pepper, and salt. Simmer all thoroughly (all savory dishes +to which wine is added should simmer long enough for the distinct +"winey" flavor to disappear, only the strength and richness remaining). +Strain this when simmered half an hour and lay in the cold meat. Squeeze +in a little lemon juice and draw the stew-pan to the back of the stove, +but where it will cook no longer, or the meat will harden. Serve on +toast, and pour the sauce over. A glass of brandy added to this dish +when the meat goes in is a great addition, if an extra fine salmi is +desired. By not allowing the flour and butter to brown and using white +wine, this is a very fine sauce in which to warm cold chicken, veal, or +any _white_ meat. + +B[OE]UF À LA JARDINIÈRE.--Put in a fireproof dish if you have it, or a +thick saucepan, a pint of beef broth, a small bunch each of parsley, +chervil, tarragon--very little of this--shallot or onion, capers, +pickled gherkins, of each or any a teaspoonful chopped fine; roll a +large tablespoonful of butter with a dessert-spoonful of brown flour, +stir it in; then take slices of underdone beef, with a blunt knife hack +each slice all over in fine dice, but not to separate or cut up the +slices; then pepper and salt each one and lay it in with the herbs, +sprinkle a layer of herbs over the beef and cover closely; then stand +the dish in the oven to slowly cook for an hour, or, if you use a +stew-pan, set in a pan of boiling water on the stove for an hour where +the water will just boil. Serve on a dish surrounded with young carrots +and turnips if in season, or old ones cut. + +BEEF AU GRATIN.--Cut a little fat bacon or pork very thin, sprinkle on +it chopped parsley, onion, and mushrooms (mushroom powder will do) and +bread-crumbs; then put in layers of beef, cut thick, and well and +closely hacked, then another layer of bacon or pork cut thin as a wafer, +and of seasoning, crumbs last; pour over enough broth or gravy to +moisten well, in which a little brandy or wine may be added if an +especially good dish is desired; bake slowly an hour. + +PSEUDO BEEFSTEAK.--Cut cold boiled or roast beef in thick slices, broil +slowly, lay in a _hot_ dish in which you have a large spoonful of +Montpellier butter melted, sprinkle a little mushroom powder if you +desire, and garnish with fried potato. + +CUTLETS À LA JARDINIÈRE.--Trim some thick cutlets from a cold leg of +mutton, or chops from the loin, dip them in frying batter, _à la +Carême_, fry crisp and quickly, and serve wreathed round green peas, or +a ragout made as follows: Take young carrots, turnips, green peas, white +beans; stew gently in a little water to which the bones of the meat and +trimmings have been added (and which must be carefully removed not to +disfigure the vegetables). Encircle this ragout with the fried cutlets, +and crown with a cauliflower. + +CROMESQUIS OF LAMB is a Polish recipe. Cut some underdone lamb--mutton +will of course do--quite small; also some mushrooms, cut small, or the +powder. Put in a saucepan a piece of glaze the size of a pigeon's egg, +with a _little_ water or broth, warm it and thicken with yolks of two +eggs, just as you would make boiled custard, that is, without letting +it come to the boil, or it will curdle; then add the mushrooms and meat, +let all get cold, and divide it into small pieces, roll in bread-crumbs +sifted, then in egg, then in crumbs again, and fry in very hot fat; or +you may, _after_ rolling in bread-crumbs, lay each piece in a spoon and +dip it into frying batter; let the extra batter run off, and drop the +cromesquis into the hot fat. These will be good made of beef and rolled +up in a bard of fat pork cut thin, and fried; serve with sauce piquant +made thus: Take some chopped parsley, onion, and pickled cucumbers, +simmer till tender, and thicken with an equal quantity of butter and +flour. Of course your own brightness will tell you that, if you are in +haste, a spoonful of Montpellier butter, the same of flour, melted in a +little water, to which you add a teaspoonful of vinegar, will make an +excellent sauce piquant, and this same is excellent for anything fried, +as breaded chops, croquettes, etc. I may here say, that where two or +three herbs are mentioned as necessary, for instance, parsley, tarragon, +and chervil, if you have no tarragon you must leave it out, or chervil +the same. It is only a matter of flavoring, at the same time _flavor_ is +a great deal, and these French herbs give that indescribable _cachet_ to +a dish which is one of the secrets of French cooking. Therefore if you +are a wise matron you will have a supply on hand, even if only bought +dry from the druggist. + +MIROTON OF BEEF.--Peel and cut into thin slices two large onions, put +them in a stew-pan with two ounces of butter, place it over a slow fire; +stir the onions round till they are rather brown, but not in the least +burnt; add a teaspoonful of brown flour, mix smoothly, then moisten with +half a pint of broth, or water with a little piece of glaze, three +salt-spoonfuls of salt unless your broth was salted, then half the +quantity or less, two of sugar, and one of pepper. Put in the cold beef, +cut in thin slices as lean as possible, let it remain five minutes at +the back of the stove; then serve on a very hot dish garnished with +fried potatoes, or sippets of toast. To vary the flavor, sometimes put a +spoonful of tarragon or plain vinegar, or a teaspoonful of mushroom +powder, or a pinch of curry, unless objected to, or a few sweet herbs. +In fact, as you may see, variety is as easy to produce as it is rare to +meet with in average cooking, and depends more on intelligence and +thoughtfulness than on anything else. + +The simplest of all ways of warming a joint that is not far cut, is to +wrap it in thickly buttered paper, and put it in the oven again, +contriving, if possible, to cover it closely, let it remain long enough +to get _hot_ through, not to cook. By keeping it closely covered it will +get hot through in less time, and the steam will prevent it getting hard +and dry; make some gravy hot and serve with the meat. If your gravy is +good and plentiful, your meat will be as nice as the first day; without +gravy it would be an unsatisfactory dish. If you cannot manage to cover +the joint in the oven, you may put it in a pot over the fire _without_ +water, but with a dessert spoonful of vinegar to create steam; let it +get hot through, and serve as before. + +For the third day the meat may be warmed up in any of the ways I am +going to mention, repeating once more, that you must have gravy of some +kind, or else carefully make some, with cracked bones, gristle, etc., +stewed _long_, and nicely flavored with any kind of sauce. + +RAGOUT.--A very nice ragout may be made from cold meat thus: Slice the +meat, put it in a stew-pan in which an onion, or several if you like +them, has been sliced; squeeze half a lemon into it, or a +dessert-spoonful of vinegar, cover closely without water, and when it +begins to cook, set the stew-pan at the back of the stove for three +quarters of an hour, shaking it occasionally. The onions should now be +brown; take out the meat, dredge in a little flour, stir it round, and +add a cup of gravy, pepper, salt, and a small quantity of any sauce or +flavoring you prefer; stew gently a minute or two, then put the meat +back to get hot, and serve; garnish with sippets of toast, or pickles. + +A NICE LITTLE BREAKFAST DISH IS made thus: Cut two long slices of cold +meat and three of bread, buttered thickly, about the same shape and +size; season the meat with pepper, salt, and a little finely chopped +parsley; or, if it is veal, a little chopped ham; then lay one slice of +bread between two of meat, and have the other two slices outside; fasten +together with short wooden skewers. If you have a quick oven, put it in; +and take care to baste with butter thoroughly, that the bread may be all +over crisp and brown. If you can't depend on your oven, fry it in very +hot fat as you would crullers; garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve +very hot. + +TO WARM A GOOD-SIZED PIECE OF BEEF.--Trim it as much like a thick fillet +as you can; cut it horizontally half way through, then scoop out as much +as you can of the meat from the inside of each piece. Chop the meat fine +that you have thus scooped out, season with a little finely chopped +parsley and thyme, a shred of onion, if you like it; or if you have +celery boil a little of the coarser part till tender, chop it and add +as much bread finely crumbled as you have meat, and a good piece of +butter; add pepper and salt, and make all into a paste with an egg, +mixed with an equal quantity of gravy or milk; fill up the hollow in the +meat and tie, or still better, sew it together. You may either put this +in a pot with a slice of pork or bacon, and a cup of gravy; or you may +brush it over with beaten egg, cover it with crumbs, and pour over these +a cup of butter, melted, so that it moistens every part; and bake it, +taking care to baste well while baking; serve with nice gravy. + +BEEF OLIVES are no novelty to the ear, but it is a novel thing to find +them satisfactory to the palate. + +Take some stale bread-crumbs, an equal quantity of beef finely chopped, +some parsley, and thyme; a little scraped ham if you have it, a few +chives, or a slice of onion, all chopped small as possible; put some +butter in a pan, and let this force-meat just simmer, _not fry_, in it +for ten minutes. While this is cooking, cut some underdone oblong slices +of beef about half an inch thick, hack it with a sharp knife on _both +sides_; then mix the cooked force-meat with the yolk of an egg and a +tablespoonful of gravy; put a spoonful of this paste in the center of +each slice of meat and tie it up carefully in the shape of an egg. Then +if you have some nice gravy, thicken it with a piece of butter rolled in +flour, roll each olive slightly in flour and lay it in the gravy and let +it very gently _simmer_ for half an hour. A few chopped oysters added to +the gravy will be a great addition. Or you may lay each olive on a thin +slice of fat pork, roll it up, tie it, dip it in flour, and bake in a +quick oven until beautifully brown. + +TO WARM OVER COLD MUTTON.--An excellent and simple way is to cut it, if +loin, into chops, or leg, into thick collops, and dip each into egg +well beaten with a tablespoonful of milk, then in _fine_ bread-crumbs +and fry in plenty of _very hot_ fat. + +If your crumbs are not very fine and even, the larger crumbs will fall +off, and the appearance be spoilt. These chops will be almost as nice, +if quickly fried, as fresh cooked ones. They will also be excellent if, +instead of being breaded, they are dipped into thick batter (see recipe) +and fried brown in the same way. This method answers for any kind of +meat, chicken thus warmed over being especially good. The batter, or egg +and bread-crumbs form a sort of crust which keeps it tender and juicy. +Any attempt to fry cold meat without either results in a hard, stringy, +uneatable dish. + +WHITE MEAT OF ANY KIND is excellent warmed over in a little milk, in +which you have cut a large onion, and, if you like it, a slice of salt +pork or ham, and a little sliced cucumber, if it is summer; thicken with +the yolks of one or two eggs, added after the whole has simmered twenty +minutes; take care the egg thickens in the gravy, but does not _boil_, +or it will curdle. If it is in winter, chop a teaspoonful of pickled +cucumber or capers and add just on going to table. In summer when you +have the sliced cucumber, squeeze half a lemon into the gravy, the last +thing, to give the requisite dash of acid. You may vary the above by +adding sometimes a few chopped oysters; at others, mushrooms, or celery. +The last must be put in with the onion and before the meat. + +DEVILED MEAT.--Our better halves are usually fond of this, especially +for breakfast or lunch. + +For this dish take a pair of turkey or chicken drumsticks or some nice +thick wedges of underdone beef or mutton, score them deeply with a +knife and rub them over with a sauce made thus: A teaspoonful of +vinegar, the same of Harvey or Worcestershire sauce, the same of +mustard, a _little_ cayenne, and a tablespoonful of salad oil, or butter +melted; mix all till like cream, and take care your meat is thoroughly +moistened all over with the mixture, then rub your gridiron with butter. +See that the fire is clear, and while the gridiron is getting hot, chop +a teaspoonful of parsley very fine, mix it up with a piece of butter the +size of a walnut, and lay this in a dish which you will put to get hot. +Then put the meat to be grilled on the fire and turn often, so that it +will not burn; when hot through and brown, lay it in the hot dish, lay +another hot dish over it, and serve as quickly as possible with hot +plates. + +Or the grill may be served with what Soyer calls his _Mephistophelian +sauce_, which he especially designed for serving with deviled meats. +Chop six shallots or small onions, wash and press them in the corner of +a clean cloth, put them in a stew-pan with half a wineglass of chili +vinegar (pepper sauce), a chopped clove, a tiny bit of garlic, two bay +leaves, an ounce of glaze; boil all together ten minutes; then add four +tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce, a _little_ sugar, and ten of broth +thickened with roux (or water will do if you have no broth). + +It will be remarked that in many French recipes a _little_ sugar is +ordered. This is not meant to sweeten, or even be perceptible; but it +enriches, softens, tones, as it were, the other ingredients as salt +does. + +SOYER'S FRITADELLA (twenty recipes in one).--Put half a pound of +bread-crumb to soak in a pint of cold water; take the same quantity of +any kind of roast, or boiled meat, with a little fat, chop it fine, +press the bread in a clean cloth to extract the water; put in a +stew-pan two ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of chopped onions; fry +two minutes and stir, then add the bread, stir and fry till rather dry, +then the meat; season with a teaspoonful of salt, half of pepper, and a +little grated nutmeg, and lemon peel; stir continually till very hot, +then add two eggs, one at a time; mix well and pour on a dish to get +cold. Then take a piece, shape it like a small egg, flatten it a little, +egg and bread-crumb it all over, taking care to keep in good shape. Do +all the same way, then put into a frying-pan a quarter of a pound of +lard or dripping, let it get hot, and put in the pieces, and sauté (or +as we call it "_fry_") them a fine yellow brown. Serve very hot with a +border of mashed potatoes, or any garniture you fancy. Sauce piquant, or +not, as you please. + +The above can be made with any kind of meat, poultry, game, fish, or +even vegetables; hard eggs, or potatoes, may be introduced in small +quantities, and they may be fried instead of sautéed (frying in the +French and strict sense, meaning as I need hardly say, entire immersion +in very hot fat). To _fry_ them you require at least two pounds of fat +in your pan. + +Oysters or lobsters prepared as above are excellent. + +Boileau says, "_Un diner réchauffé ne valut jamais rien_." But I think a +good French cook of the present day would make him alter his opinion. + +Indeed Savarin quotes a friend of his own, a notable gourmand, who +considered spinach cooked on Monday only reached perfection the +following Saturday, having each day of the week been warmed up with +butter, and each day gaining succulence and a more marrowy consistency. + +The only trouble I find in relation to this part of my present task is +the difficulty of knowing when to leave off. There are so many ways of +warming meats to advantage--and in every one way there is the suggestion +for another--that I suffer from an _embarras de richesse_, and have had +difficulty in selecting. Dozens come to my mind, blanquettes, patties, +curries, as I write; but as this is not, I have said, to be a recipe +book, I forbear. Of one thing I am quite sure: when women once know how +to make nice dishes of cold meat they will live well where they now live +badly, and for less money; and "hash" will be relegated to its proper +place as an occasional and acceptable dish. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ON FRIANDISES. + + + "Le rôle du gourmand finit avec l'entremets, et celui du friand + commence au dessert."--_Grimod de la Reynière._ + + +AMERICAN ladies, as a rule, excel in cake making and preserving, and I +feel that on that head I have very little to teach; indeed, were they as +accomplished in all branches of cooking as in making dainty sweet dishes +this book would be uncalled for. + +Yet, notwithstanding their undoubted taste and ability in making +"_friandises_," it seems to me a few recipes borrowed from what the +French call _la grande cuisine_, and possible of execution at home, will +be welcome to those who wish to vary the eternal ice cream and charlotte +russe, with other sweets more elegant and likely to be equally popular. + +ICED SOUFFLÉ À LA BYRON.--One pint of sugar syrup of 32 degrees (get +this at a druggist's if you do not understand sugar boiling), three +gills of strained raspberry juice, one lemon, one gill of maraschino, +fifteen yolks of eggs, two ounces of chocolate drops, half a pint of +very thick cream whipped. + +Method of making this and the next recipe is as follows: Mix the syrup +and yolks of eggs, strain into a warm bowl, add the raspberry and lemon +juice and maraschino, whisk till it creams well, then take the bowl out +of the hot water and whisk ten minutes longer; add the chocolate drops +and whipped cream; lightly fill a case or mold, and set in a freezer for +two hours, then cover the surface with lady-fingers (or sponge cake) +dried in the oven a pale brown, and rolled. Serve at once. + +Another frozen _soufflé_ is as follows: + +One pint of syrup, 32 degrees, half a pint of noyeau, half a pint of +cherry juice, two ounces of bruised macaroons, half a pint of thick +cream whipped, made in the same way as the last. I may here say that the +fruit juices can be procured now at all good druggists, so that these +_soufflés_ are very attainable in winter, and as noyeau and maraschino +do not form part of the stores in a family of small means, I will give +in this chapter recipes for the making of very fair imitations of the +genuine _liqueurs_. + +BISCUIT GLACÉ À LA CHARLES DICKENS.--One pint of syrup (32°), fifteen +yolks of eggs, three gills of peach pulp, colored pink with cochineal, +one gill of noyeau, half a pint of thick cream, and a little chocolate +water-ice, made with half a pint of syrup and four ounces of the best +chocolate smoothly mixed and frozen ready. + +Mix syrup, yolks, peach pulps, noyeau, and a few drops of vanilla, whip +high; mix with the whipped cream, and set in ice for one hour and a half +in brick-shaped molds, then turn out (if very firm), and cut in slices +an inch thick, and coat them all over, or on top and sides, with the +chocolate ice, smoothing with a knife dipped in cold water; serve in +paper cases. + +BISCUIT GLACÉ À LA THACKERAY.--One pint of syrup (32°), one pint of +strawberry pulp, fifteen yolks of eggs, one ounce of vanilla sugar +(flavor a little sugar with vanilla), half a pint of thick cream. + +Mix syrup, yolks, strawberry, and vanilla sugar, whipping as before, +then add the whipped cream lightly; fill paper cases, either round or +square; surround each with a band of stiff paper, to reach half an inch +above the edge of the case, the bands to be pinned together to secure +them; place them in a freezer. When about to send to table, remove the +bands of paper, and cover with macaroons bruised fine and browned in the +oven. The bands of paper are meant to give the biscuit the appearance of +having risen while supposed to bake. + +These delicious ices were invented by Francatelli, the Queen of +England's chief cook, to do homage to the different great men whose +names they bear, on the occasion of preparing dinners given in their +honor. They read as if somewhat intricate, but any lady who has ever had +ice cream made at home, and had the patience to make charlotte russe, +need not shrink appalled before these novelties, or fear for a +successful result. + +Baba is a cake many call for at a confectioner's, yet few, if any one, +attempts to make it at home. That the recipes generally offered do not +lead to success may be one reason, and I offer the following, quite +sure, if accurately followed, such a baba will result as never was eaten +outside of Paris. + +BABA.--One pound of flour; take one quarter of it, and make a sponge +with half an ounce of compressed yeast and a little warm water, set it +to rise, make a hole in the rest of the flour, add to it ten ounces of +butter, three eggs, and a dessert-spoonful of sugar, a little salt, +unless your butter salts it enough, which is generally the case. Beat +all together well, then add five more eggs, one at a time, that is to +say, add one egg and beat well, then another and beat again, and so on +until the five are used. When the paste leaves the bowl it is beaten +enough, but not before; then add the sponge to it, and a large half +ounce of citron chopped, the same of currants, and an ounce and a half +of sultana raisins, seedless. Let it rise to twice its size, then bake +it in an oven of dark yellow paper heat; the small round babas are an +innovation of the pastry-cook to enable him to sell them uncut. But the +baba proper should be baked in a large, deep, upright tin, such as a +large charlotte russe mold, when they keep for several days fresh, and +if they get stale, make delicious fritters, soaked in sherry and dipped +in frying batter. + +In some cases, however, it may be preferred to make them as usually seen +at French pastry cooks; for this purpose you require a dozen small-sized +_round_ charlotte russe molds, which fill half full only, as they rise +very much; bake these in a hotter oven, light brown paper heat; try with +a twig as you would any other cake, if it comes out dry it is done; then +prepare a syrup as follows: Boil half pound of sugar in a pint of water, +add to this the third of a pint of rum, and some apricot pulp--peach +will of course do--and boil all together a few minutes; pour this half +an inch deep in a dish, and stand the cake or cakes in it; it should +drink up all the syrup, you may also sprinkle some over it. If any syrup +remains, use it to warm over your cake when stale, instead of the +sherry. + +Baba was introduced into France by Stanislas Leczinski, king of Poland, +and the father-in-law of Louis XIV.; and his Polish royal descendants +still use with it, says Carême, a syrup made of Malaga wine and one +sixth part of _eau de tanaisie_. + +But, although our forefathers seemed to have relished tansy very much, +to judge from old recipe books, I doubt if such flavoring would be +appreciated in our time. + +SAVARINS--commonly called wine cake by New York pastry cooks--are made +as follows: + +One pound of flour, of which take one quarter to make a sponge, using +half an ounce of German compressed yeast, and a little warm milk; when +it has risen to twice its bulk, add one gill of hot milk, two eggs, and +the rest of the flour; mix well; then add one more egg and beat, +another, still beating; then add three quarters of a pound of fresh +butter, a quarter of an ounce of salt, half an ounce of sugar, and half +a gill of hot milk, beat well; then add eggs, one at a time, beating +continually, until you have used five more. Cut in small dice three +ounces of candied orange peel; butter a tin, which should be deep and +straight-sided--a tin pudding boiler is not a bad thing--and sprinkle +with chopped almonds. Fill the mold half full, and when risen to twice +its bulk, bake in a moderate oven, dark yellow paper heat. When served, +this cake should stand in a dish of syrup, flavored with rum, as for +baba, or with sherry wine. + +BOUCHÉES DES DAMES, a very ornamental and delicious little French cake, +is sufficiently novel to deserve a place here, I think. Make any nice +drop cake batter (either sponge, or sponge with a little butter in it I +prefer); drop one on buttered paper and bake; if it runs, beat in a +_little_ more flour and sugar, but not much, or your cakes will be +brittle; they should be the size, when done, of a fifty-cent piece, and +I find half a teaspoonful of batter dropped generally makes them about +right. Have a tin cutter or tin box lid, if you have no cutter so small, +about the size, and with it trim each cake when baked; then take half +the number and spread some with a very thin layer of red currant jelly, +others with peach or raspberry; then on each so spread put a cake that +is unspread, thus making a tiny sandwich or jelly cake. If you have +different sorts of jelly, put each separate, as you must adapt the +flavor of your icing to the jelly. For red currant, ice with chocolate +icing. Recipes for icing are so general that I refer you to your cookery +book. Those with peach may have white icing, flavored with almond, or +with rum, beating in a little more sugar if the flavoring dilutes your +icing too much. Almond flavoring goes well with raspberry. Cakes with +raspberry jelly or jam should be iced pink, coloring the icing with +prepared cochineal or cranberry juice. Thus you have your cakes brown, +pink, and white, which look very pretty mixed. + +The process of icing is difficult to do after they are put together, but +they are much handsomer this way, and keep longer. You require, to +accomplish it, a good quantity of each kind of icing, and a number of +little wooden skewers; stick one into each cake and dip it in the icing, +let it run off, then stand the other end of the skewer in a box of sand +or granulated sugar. The easiest way is to ice each half cake before +putting in the jelly; when the icing is hard spread with jelly, and put +together. + +CURAÇOA may be successfully imitated by pouring over eight ounces of the +_thinly_ pared rind of very ripe oranges a pint of boiling water, cover, +and let it cool; then add two quarts of brandy, or strong French spirit, +cover closely, and let it stand fourteen days, shaking it every day. +Make a clarified syrup of two pounds of sugar into one pint of water, +well boiled; strain the brandy into it, leaving it covered close +another day. Rub up in a mortar one drachm of potash, with a teaspoonful +of the liqueurs; when well blended, put this into the liqueur, and in +the same way pound and add a drachm of alum, shake well, and in an hour +or two filter through thin muslin. Ready for use in a week or two. + +MARASCHINO.--Bruise slightly a dozen cherry kernels, put them in a deep +jar with the outer rind of three oranges and two lemons, cover with two +quarts of gin, then add syrup and leave it a fortnight, as for curaçoa. +Stir syrup and spirit together, leave it another day, run it through a +jelly bag, and bottle. Ready to use in ten days. + +NOYEAU.--Blanch and pound two pounds of bitter almonds, or four of peach +kernels; put to them a gallon of spirit or brandy, two pounds of white +sugar candy--or sugar will do--a grated nutmeg, and a pod of vanilla; +leave it three weeks covered close, then filter and bottle; but do not +use it for three months. To be used with caution. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FRENCH CANDY AT HOME. + + +THIS chapter I shall have to make one of recipes chiefly, for it treats +of a branch of cooking not usually found in cookery books, or at least +there is seldom anything on the art of confectionery beyond molasses or +cream taffy and nougat. These, therefore, I shall not touch upon, but +rather show you how to make the expensive French candies. + +The great art of making these exquisite candies is in boiling the sugar, +and it is an art easily acquired with patience. + +Put into a marbleized saucepan (by long experience in sugar-boiling I +find them less likely to burn even than brass, and I keep one for the +purpose) one pound of sugar and half a pint of water; when it has boiled +ten minutes begin to try it; have a bowl of water with a piece of ice +near you, and drop it from the end of a spoon. When it falls to the +bottom, and you can take it up and make it into a softish ball (not at +all sticky) between your thumb and finger, it is at the right point; +remove it from the fire to a cold place; when cool, if perfectly right, +a thin jelly-like film will be over the surface, _not a sugary one_; if +it is sugary, and you want your candy very creamy, you must add a few +spoonfuls of water, return to the fire and boil again, going through +the same process of trying it. You must be careful that there is not the +least inclination to be brittle in the ball of candy you take from the +water; if so, it is boiled a degree too high; put a little water to +bring it back again, and try once more. A speck of cream of tartar is +useful in checking a tendency in the syrup to go to sugar. When you have +your sugar boiled just right set it to cool, and when you can bear your +finger in it, begin to beat it with a spoon; in ten minutes it will be a +white paste resembling lard, which you will find you can work like bread +dough. This, then, is your foundation, called by French confectioners +_fondant_; with your _fondant_ you can work marvels. But to begin with +the simplest French candies. + +Take a piece of _fondant_, flavor part of it with vanilla, part of it +with lemon, color yellow (see coloring candies), and another part with +raspberry, color pink; make these into balls, grooved cones, or anything +that strikes your fancy, let them stand till they harden, they are then +ready for use. + +Take another part of your _fondant_, have some English walnuts chopped, +flavor with vanilla and color pink; work the walnuts into the paste as +you would fruit into a loaf cake; when mixed, make a paper case an inch +wide and deep, and three or four inches long; oil it; press the paste +into it, and when firm turn it out and cut into cubes. Or, instead of +walnuts, use chopped almonds, flavor with vanilla, and leave the +_fondant_ white. This makes VANILLA ALMOND CREAM. + +TUTTI FRUTTI CANDY.--Chop some almonds, citron, a _few_ currants, and +seedless raisins; work into some _fondant_, flavor with rum and lemon, +thus making Roman punch, or with vanilla or raspberry; press into the +paper forms as you did the walnut cream. You see how you can ring the +changes on these bars, varying the flavoring, inventing new +combinations, etc. + +FONDANT PANACHÉ.--Take your _fondant_, divide it in three equal parts, +color one pink and flavor as you choose, leave the other white and +flavor also as you please; but it must agree with the pink, and both +must agree with the next, which is chocolate. Melt a little unsweetened +chocolate by setting it in a saucer over the boiling kettle, then take +enough of it to make your third piece of _fondant_ a fine brown; now +divide the white into two parts; make each an inch and a half wide, and +as long as it will; do the same with the chocolate _fondant_; then take +the pink, make it the same width and length, but of course, not being +divided, it will be twice as thick; now butter slightly the back of a +plate, or, better still, get a few sheets of waxed paper from the +confectioner's; lay one strip of the chocolate on it, then a strip of +white on that, then the pink, the other white, and lastly the chocolate +again; then lightly press them to make them adhere, but not to squeeze +them out of shape. You have now an oblong brick of parti-colored candy; +leave it for a few hours to harden, then trim it neatly with a knife and +cut it crosswise into slices half an inch think, lay on waxed paper to +dry, turning once in a while, and pack away in boxes. + +If your _fondant_ gets very hard while you work, stand it over hot water +a few minutes. + +Creamed candies are very fashionable just now, and, your _fondant_ once +ready, are very easy to make. + +CREAM WALNUTS.--Make ready some almonds, some walnuts in halves, some +hazelnuts, or anything of the sort you fancy; let them be very dry. Take +_fondant_ made from a pound of sugar, set it in a bowl in a saucepan of +boiling water, stirring it till it is like cream. Then having flavored +it with vanilla or lemon, drop in your nuts one by one, taking them out +with the other hand on the end of a fork, resting it on the edge of your +bowl to drain for a second, then drop the nut on to a waxed or buttered +paper neatly. If the nut shows through the cream it is too hot; take it +out of the boiling water and beat till it is just thick enough to mask +the nut entirely, then return it to the boiling water, as it cools very +rapidly and becomes unmanageable, when it has to be warmed over again. + +VERY FINE CHOCOLATE CREAMS are made as follows: Boil half a pound of +sugar with three tablespoonfuls of thick cream till it makes a _soft_ +ball in water, then let it cool. When cool beat it till it is very +white, flavor with a few drops of vanilla and make it into balls the +size of a large pea; then take some unsweetened chocolate warmed, mix it +with a piece of _fondant_ melted--there should be more chocolate than +sugar--and when quite smooth and thick enough to mask the cream, drop +them in from the end of a fork, take them out, and drop on to wax paper. + +Another very fine candy to be made without heat, and therefore +convenient for hot weather, is made as follows: + +PUNCH DROPS.--Sift some powdered sugar. Have ready some fine white +gum-arabic, put a tablespoonful with the sugar (say half a pound of +sugar), and make it into a firm paste; if too wet, add more sugar, +flavor with lemon and a tiny speck of tartaric acid or a very little +lemon juice. Make the paste into small balls, then take more sugar and +make it into icing with a spoonful of Santa Cruz rum and half the white +of an egg. Try if it hardens, if not, beat in more sugar and color it a +bright pink, then dip each ball in the pink icing and harden on wax +paper. These are very novel, beautiful to look at, and the flavors may +vary to taste. + +TO MAKE COCHINEAL COLORING WHICH IS QUITE HARMLESS.--Take one ounce of +powdered cochineal, one ounce of cream of tartar, two drachms of alum, +half a pint of water; boil the cochineal, water, and cream of tartar +till reduced to one half, then add the alum, and put up in small bottles +for use. Yellow is obtained by the infusion of Spanish saffron in a +little water, or a still better one from the grated rind of a ripe +orange put into muslin, and a little of the juice squeezed through it. + +Be careful in boiling the sugar for _fondant_, not to stir it after it +is dissolved; stirring causes it to become rough instead of creamy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A CHAPTER FOR PEOPLE OF VERY SMALL MEANS. + + +I AM sorry to say in these days this chapter may appeal to many, who are +yet not to be called "poor people," who may have been well-to-do and +only suffering from the pressure of the times, and for whose cultivated +appetites the coarse, substantial food of the laboring man (even if they +could buy it) would not be eatable, who must have what they do have +good, or starve. But, as some of the things for which I give recipes +will seem over-economical for people who can afford to buy meat at least +once a day, I advise those who have even fifty dollars a month income to +skip it; reminding them, if they do not, "that necessity knows no law." + +A bone of soup meat can be got at a good butcher's for ten or fifteen +cents, and is about the best investment, for that sum I know of, as two +nourishing and savory meals, at least, for four or five persons can be +got from it. + +Carefully make a nice soup, with plenty of vegetables, rice, or any +other thickening you like. Your bone will weigh from four to six pounds, +perhaps; put it on with water according to size, and let it boil down +slowly until nice and strong. If you have had any scraps of meat or +bones, put them also to your soup. + +When you serve it, keep back a cup of soup and a few of the vegetables, +and save the meat, from which you can make a very appetizing hash in the +following way: Take the meat from the bone, chop it with some cold +potatoes and the vegetables you saved from the soup. Cold stewed onions, +boiled carrots or turnips, all help to make the dish savory. Chop an +onion very fine, unless you have cold ones, a little parsley and thyme, +if liked, and sometimes, for variety's sake, if you have it, a pinch of +curry powder, not enough to make it hot or yellow, yet to impart +piquancy. If you have a tiny bit of fried bacon or cold ham or cold +pork, chop it with the other ingredients, mix all well, moisten with the +cold soup, and, when nicely seasoned, put the hash into an iron +frying-pan, in which you have a little fat made hot; pack it smoothly +in, cover it with a pot-lid, and either set it in a hot oven, or leave +it to brown on the stove. If there was more soup than enough to moisten +the hash, put it on in a tiny saucepan, with a little brown flour made +into a paste with butter, add a drop of tomato catsup, or a little +stewed tomato, or anything you have for flavoring, and stir till it +boils. Then turn the hash out whole on a dish, it should be brown and +crisp, pour the gravy you have made round it, and serve. For a change +make a pie of the hash, pouring the gravy in through a hole in the top +when done. + +It is not generally known that a very nice plain paste can be made with +a piece of bread dough, to which you have added an egg, and some lard, +dripping, or butter. The dripping is particularly nice for the hash pie, +and, as you need only a piece of dough as large as an orange, you will +probably have enough from the soup, if you skimmed off all the fat +before putting the vegetables in (see _pot-au-feu_); work your dripping +into the dough, and let it rise well, then roll as ordinary pie-crust. +Potato crust is also very good for plain pies of any sort, but as there +are plenty of recipes for it, I will not give one here. + +One of the very best hashes I ever ate was prepared by a lady who, in +better times, kept a very fine table. And she told me there were a good +many cold beans in it, well mashed; and often since, when taking +"travelers' hash" in an hotel, I have thought of that savory dish with +regret. + +Instead of making your chopped meat into hash, vary it, by rolling the +same mixture into egg-shaped pieces, or flat cakes, flouring them, and +frying them nicely in very hot fat; pieces of pork or bacon fried and +laid round will help out the dish, and be an improvement to what is +already very good. + +To return once more to the soup bone. If any one of your family is fond +of marrow, seal up each end of the bone with a paste made of flour and +water. When done, take off the paste, and remove the marrow. Made very +hot, and spread on toast, with pepper and salt, it will be a relish for +some one's tea or breakfast. + +In this country there is a prejudice against sheep's liver; while in +England, where beef liver is looked upon as too coarse to eat (and falls +to the lot of the "cats-meat man," or cat butcher), sheep's is esteemed +next to calf's, and it is, in fact, more delicate than beef liver. The +nicest way to cook it is in very _thin_ slices (not the inch-thick +pieces one often sees), each slice dipped in flour and fried in pork or +bacon fat, and pork or bacon served with it. But the more economical way +is to put it in a pan, dredge it with flour, pin some fat pork over it, +and set it in a hot oven; when very brown take it out; make nice brown +gravy by pouring water in the pan and letting it boil on the stove, +stirring it well to dissolve the glaze; pour into the dish, and serve. +The heart should be stuffed with bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, and a +_little_ onion, and baked separately. Or, for a change, you may chop the +liver up with a few sweet herbs and a little pork (onion, or not, as you +like), and some bread-crumbs. Put all together in a crock, dredge with +flour, cover, and set in a slow oven for an hour and a half; then serve, +with toasted bread around the dish. + +It is very poor economy to buy inferior meat. One pound of fine beef has +more nourishment than two of poor quality. But there is a great +difference in prices of different parts of meat, and it is better +management to choose the cheap part of fine beef than to buy the sirloin +of a poor ox even at the same price; and, by good cooking many parts not +usually chosen, and therefore sold cheaply, can be made very good. Yet +you must remember, that a piece of meat at seven cents a pound, in which +there is at least half fat and bone, such as brisket, etc., is less +economical than solid meat at ten or twelve. + +Pot roasts are very good for parts of meat not tender enough for +roasting, the "cross-rib," as some butchers term it, being very good for +this purpose; it is all solid meat, and being very lean, requires a +little fat pork, which may be laid at the bottom of the pot; or better +still, holes made in the meat and pieces of the fat drawn through, +larding in a rough way, so that they cut together. A pot roast is best +put on in an iron pot, without water, allowed to get finely brown on one +side, then turned, and when thoroughly brown on the other a little water +may be added for gravy; chop parsley or any seasoning that is +preferred. Give your roast at least three hours to cook. Ox cheek, as +the head is called, is very good, and should be very cheap; prepare it +thus: + +Clean the cheek, soak it in water six hours, and cut the meat from the +bones, which break up for soup; then take the meat, cut into neat +pieces, put it in an earthen crock, a layer of beef, some thin pieces of +pork or bacon, some onions, carrots, and turnips, cut _thin_, or chopped +fine, and sprinkled over the meat; also, some chopped parsley, a little +thyme, and bay leaf, pepper and salt, and a clove to each layer; then +more beef and a little pork, vegetables, and seasoning, as before. When +all your meat is in pour over it, if you have it, a tumbler of hard +cider and one of water, or else two of water, in which put a half gill +of vinegar. If you have no tight-fitting cover to your crock, put a +paste of flour and water over it to keep the steam in. Place the crock +in a slow oven five or six hours, and when it is taken out remove the +crust and skim. Any piece of beef cooked in this way is excellent. + +Ox heart is one of the cheapest of dishes, and really remarkably nice, +and it is much used by economical people abroad. + +The heart should be soaked in vinegar and water three or four hours, +then cut off the lobes and gristle, and stuff it with fat pork chopped, +bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt; then tie it in a cloth +and very slowly simmer it (large end up) for two hours; take it up, +remove the cloth, and flour it, and roast it a nice brown. Lay in the +pan in which it is to be roasted some fat pork to baste it. Any of this +left over is excellent hashed, or, warmed in slices with a rich brown +gravy, cannot be told from game. Another way is to stuff it with sage +and onions. It must always be served _very hot_ with hot plates and on a +very hot dish. + +Fore quarter of mutton is another very economical part of meat, if you +get your butcher to cut it so that it may not only be economical, but +really afford a choice joint. Do not then let him hack the shoulder +across, but, before he does a thing to it, get him to take the shoulder +out in a round plate-shaped joint, with knuckle attached; if he does +this well, that is, cuts it close to the bone of the ribs, you will have +a nice joint; then do not have it chopped at all; this should be roasted +in the oven very nicely, and served with onion sauce or stewed onions. +If onions are not liked, mashed turnips are the appropriate vegetable. +This joint, to be enjoyed, must be properly carved, and that is, across +the middle from the edge to the bone, the same as a leg of mutton; and +like the leg, you must learn, as I cannot describe it in words, where +the bone lies, then have that side nearest you and cut from the opposite +side. + +You have, besides this joint, another roast from the ribs, or else cut +it up into chops till you come to the part under the shoulder; from this +the breast should be separated and both either made into a good Irish +stew, or the breast prepared alone in a way I shall describe, the neck +and thin ribs being stewed or boiled. + +The neck of mutton is very tender boiled and served with parsley or +caper sauce; the liquor it is boiled in served as broth, with vegetables +and rice, or prepared as directed in a former chapter for the broth from +leg of mutton. + +The mode I am about to give of preparing breast of mutton was told me by +a Welsh lady of rank, at whose table I ate it (it appeared as a side +dish), and who said, half laughingly, "Will you take some 'fluff'? We +are very fond of it, but breast of mutton is such a despised dish I +never expect any one else to like it." I took it, on my principle of +trying everything, and did find it very good. This lady told me that, +having of course a good deal of mutton killed on her father's estate, +and the breast being always despised by the servants, she had invented a +way of using it to avoid waste. Her way was this: + +Set the breast of mutton on the fire whole, just covered with water in +which is a little salt. When it comes to the boil draw it back and let +it _simmer_ three hours; then take it up and draw out the bones, and lay +a force-meat of bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, chopped suet, salt and +pepper all over it; double or roll it, skewer it, and coat it thickly +with egg and bread-crumbs; then bake in a moderate oven, basting it +often with nice dripping or butter; when nicely brown it is done, and +eats like the tenderest lamb. It was, when I saw it, served on a bed of +spinach. I like it better on a bed of stewed onions. + +I now give some dishes made without meat. + +RAGOUT OF CUCUMBER AND ONIONS.--Fry equal quantities of large cucumbers +and onions in slices until they are a nice brown. The cucumber will +brown more easily if cut up and put to drain some time before using; +then flour each slice. When both are brown, pour on them a cup of water, +and let them stew for half an hour; then take a good piece of butter in +which you have worked a dessert-spoonful of flour (browned); add pepper, +salt, and a little tomato catsup or stewed tomato. This is a rich-eating +dish if nicely made, and will help out cold meat or a scant quantity of +it very well. A little cold meat may be added if you have it. ONION +SOUP.--Fry six large onions cut into slices with a quarter of a pound of +butter till they are of a bright brown, then well mix in a tablespoonful +of flour, and pour on them rather more than a quart of water. Stew +gently until the onions are quite tender, season with a spoonful of salt +and a little sugar; stir in quickly a _liaison_ made with the yolks of +two eggs mixed with a gill of milk or cream (do not let it boil +afterwards), put some toast in a tureen, and serve very hot. + +PEA SOUP.--Steep some yellow split peas all night, next morning set them +on to boil with two quarts of water to a pint of peas; in the water put +a tiny bit of soda. In another pot put a large carrot, a turnip, an +onion, and a large head of celery, all cut small and covered with water. +When both peas and vegetables are tender, put them together, season with +salt, pepper, and a little sugar, and let them gently stew till thick +enough; then strain through a colander, rubbing the vegetables well, and +return to the pot while you fry some sippets of bread a crisp brown; +then stir into the soup two ounces of butter in which you have rolled a +little flour. + +This soup is simply delicious, and the fact of it being _maigre_ will +not be remembered. + +POTATO SOUP is another of this good kind, for meat is scarcely required, +so good is it without. + +Boil some potatoes, then rub them through a colander into two quarts of +hot milk (skimmed does quite well); have some fine-chopped parsley and +onion, add both with salt and pepper, stew three quarters of an hour; +then stir in a large piece of butter, and beat two eggs with a little +cold milk, stir in quickly, and serve with fried bread. There should be +potatoes enough to make the soup as thick as cream. Do not be +prejudiced against a dish because there is no meat in it, and you think +it cannot be nourishing. This chapter is not written for those with whom +meat, or money, is plentiful; and if it be true that man is nourished +"not by what he eats, but by what he assimilates," and, according to an +American medical authority, "what is eaten with distaste is not +assimilated" (Dr. Hall), it follows that an enjoyable dinner, even +without meat, will be more nourishing than one forced down because it +lacks savor; that potato soup will be more nourishing than potatoes and +butter, with a cup of milk to drink, because more enjoyable. Yet it +costs no more, for the soup can be made without the eggs if they are +scarce. + +Or say bread and butter and onions. They will not be very appetizing, +especially if they had to be a frequent meal, yet onion soup is made +from the same materials, and in France is a very favorite dish, even +with those well able to put meat in it if they wished. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A FEW THINGS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER. + + +EVERY housekeeper has pet "wrinkles" of her own which she thinks are +especially valuable; some are known to all the world, others are new to +many. So it may be with mine; but, on the chance that some few things +are as new to my friends as they were to me, I jot them down without any +pretense of order or regularity. + +Lemons will keep fresher and better in water than any other way. Put +them in a crock, cover them with water. They will in winter keep two or +three months, and the peel be as fresh as the day they were put in. Take +care, of course, that they do not get frosted. In summer change the +water twice a week; they will keep a long time. + +In grating nutmegs begin at the flower end; if you commence at the +other, there will be a hole all the way through. + +Tea or coffee made hot (not at all scorched), before water is added, are +more fragrant and stronger. Thus, by putting three spoonfuls of tea in +the pot and setting in a warm place before infusing, it will be as +strong as if you make tea with four spoonfuls without warming it, and +much more fragrant. + +Vegetables that are strong can be made much milder by tying a bit of +bread in a clean rag and boiling it with them. + +Bread dough is just as good made the day before it is used; thus, a +small family can have fresh bread one day, rolls the next, by putting +the dough in a cold place enveloped in a damp cloth. In winter, kept +cold, yet not in danger of freezing, it will keep a week. + +Celery seed takes the place of celery for soup or stews when it is +scarce; parsley seed of parsley. + +Green beans, gherkins, etc., put down when plentiful in layers of rock +salt, will keep crisp and green for months, and can be taken out and +pickled when convenient. + +Lemon or orange peel grated and mixed with powdered sugar and a squeeze +of its own juice (the sugar making it into paste) is excellent to keep +for flavoring; put it into a little pot and it will keep for a year. + +Bread that is very stale may be made quite fresh for an hour or two by +dipping it quickly into milk or water, and putting it in a brisk oven +till _quite hot through_. It must be eaten at once, or it will be as +stale as ever when cold. + +Meat to be kept in warm weather should be rubbed over with salad oil, +every crevice filled with ginger; meat that is for roasting or frying is +much better preserved in this way than with salt; take care that every +part of the surface has a coat of oil. Steaks or chops cut off, which +always keep badly, should be dipped into warm butter or even dripping, +if oil is not handy (the object being to exclude the air), and then hung +up till wanted. + +Mutton in cold weather should be hung four or five weeks in a place not +subject to changes of temperature, and before it is so hung, every +crevice filled with ginger and thoroughly dredged with flour, which +must be then rubbed in with the hand till the surface is quite dry. This +is the English fashion of keeping venison. + +It may be useful for those who burn kerosene to know that when their +lamps smell, give a bad light, and smoke, it is not necessary to buy new +burners. Put the old ones in an old saucepan with water and a +tablespoonful of soda, let them boil half an hour, wipe them, and your +trouble will be over. + +Meat that has become slightly tainted may be quite restored by washing +it in water in which is a teaspoonful of borax, cutting away every part +in the least discolored. + +In summer when meat comes from the butcher's, if it is not going to be +used the same day, it should be washed over with vinegar. + +Poultry in summer should always have a piece of charcoal tied in a rag +placed in the stomach, to be removed before cooking. Pieces of charcoal +should also be put in the refrigerator and changed often. + +Oyster shells put one at a time in a stove that is "clinkered" will +clean the bricks entirely. They should be put in when the fire is +burning brightly. + +Salt and soapstone powder (to be bought at the druggist's) mend fire +brick; use equal quantities, make into a paste with water, and cement +the brick; they will be as strong as new ones. + +Ink spilled on carpets may be entirely removed by rubbing while wet with +blotting paper, using fresh as it soils. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ON SOME TABLE PREJUDICES. + + +MANY people have strong prejudices against certain things which they +have never even tasted, or which they do frequently take and like as a +part of something else, without knowing it. How common it is to hear and +see untraveled people declare that they dislike garlic, and could not +touch anything with it in. Yet those very people will take +Worcestershire sauce, in which garlic is actually predominant, with +everything they eat; and think none but English pickles eatable, which +owe much of their excellence to the introduction of a _soupçon_ of +garlic. Therefore I beg those who actually only know garlic from hearsay +abuse of it, or from its presence on the breath of some inveterate +garlic eater, to give it a fair trial when it appears in a recipe. It is +just one of those things that require the most delicate handling, for +which the French term a "_suspicion_" is most appreciated; it should +only be a suspicion, its presence should never be pronounced. As Blot +once begged his readers, "Give garlic a fair trial in a _rémolade_ +sauce." (Montpellier butter beaten into mayonnaise is a good _rémolade_ +for cold meat or fish.) + +Curry is one of those things against which many are strongly prejudiced, +and I am inclined to think it is quite an acquired taste, but a taste +which is an enviable one to its possessors; for them there is endless +variety in all they eat. The capabilities of curry are very little known +in this country, and, as the taste for it is so limited, I will not do +more in its defense than indicate a pleasant use to which it may be put, +and in which form it would be a welcome condiment to many to whom "a +curry," pure and simple, would be obnoxious. I once knew an Anglo-Indian +who used curry as most people use cayenne; it was put in a pepper-box, +and with it he would at times pepper his fish or kidneys, even his eggs. +Used in this way, it imparts a delightful piquancy to food, and is +neither hot nor "spicy." + +Few people are so prejudiced as the English generally, and the +stay-at-home Americans; but the latter are to be taught by travel, the +Englishman rarely. + +The average Briton leaves his island shores with the conviction that he +will get nothing fit to eat till he gets back, and that he will have to +be uncommonly careful once across the channel, or he will be having +fricasseed frogs palmed on him for chicken. Poor man! in his horror of +frogs, he does not know that the Paris restaurateur who should give the +costly frog for chicken, would soon end in the bankruptcy court. + +"If I could only get a decent dinner, a good roast and plain potato, I +would like Paris much better," said an old Englishman to me once in that +gay city. + +"But surely you can." + +"No; I have been to restaurants of every class, and called for beefsteak +and roast beef, but have never got the real article, although it's my +belief," said he, leaning forward solemnly, "that I have eaten _horse_ +three times this week." Of course the Englishman of rank, who has spent +half his life on the continent, is not at all the _average_ Englishman. + +Americans think the hare and rabbits, of which the English make such +good use, very mean food indeed, and if they are unprejudiced enough to +try them, from the fact that they are never well cooked, they dislike +them, which prejudice the English reciprocate by looking on squirrels as +being as little fit for food as a rat. And a familiar instance of +prejudice from ignorance carried even to insanity, is that of the Irish +in 1848, starving rather than eat the "yaller male," sent them by +generous American sympathizers; yet they come here and soon get over +that dislike. Not so the French, who look on oatmeal and Indian meal as +most unwholesome food. "_Ça pêse sur l'estomac, ça creuse l'estomac_," I +heard an old Frenchwoman say, trying to dissuade a mother from giving +her children mush. + +The moral of all of which is, that for our comfort's sake, and the +general good we should avoid unreasonable prejudices against unfamiliar +food. We of course have a right to our honest dislikes; but to condemn +things because we have heard them despised, is prejudice. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS--VALEDICTORY. + + +I HAVE alluded, in an earlier chapter, to the fact that many +inexperienced cooks are afraid of altering recipes; a few words on this +subject may not be out of place. As a rule, a recipe should be +faithfully followed in all important points; for instance, in making +soup you cannot because you are short of the given quantity of meat, put +the same amount of water as directed for the full quantity, without +damaging your soup; but you may easily reduce water and _every other +ingredient_ in the same proportion; and, in mere matters of flavoring, +you may vary to suit circumstances. If you are told to use cloves, and +have none, a bit of mace may be substituted. + +If you read a recipe, and it calls for something you have not, consider +whether that something has anything to do with the substance of the +dish, or whether it is merely an accessory for which something else can +be substituted. For instance, if you are ordered to use cream in a +sauce, milk with a larger amount of well-washed butter may take its +place; but if you are told to use cream for charlotte russe or trifles, +there is no way in which you could make milk serve, since it is not an +accessory but the chief part of those dishes. For a cake in which cream +is used, butter whipped to a cream may take its place. Wine is usually +optional in savory dishes; it gives richness only. + +Again, in cakes be very careful the exact proportions of flour, eggs, +and milk are observed; of butter you can generally use more or less, +having a more or less rich cake in proportion. In any but plain cup +cakes (which greatly depend on soda and acid for their lightness) never +lessen the allowance of eggs; never add milk if a cake is too stiff (but +an extra egg may always be used), unless milk is ordered in the recipe, +when more or less may be used as needed. Flavoring may be always varied. + +In reducing a recipe always reduce _every ingredient_, and it can make +no difference in the results. Sometimes, in cookery books, you are told +to use articles not frequently found in ordinary kitchens; for instance, +a larding-needle (although that can be bought for twenty-five cents at +any house-furnishing store, and should always be in a kitchen); but, in +case you have not one for meat, you may manage by making small cuts and +inserting slips of bacon. + +Another article that is very useful, but seldom, if ever, to be found in +small kitchens, is a salamander; but when you wish to brown the top of a +dish, and putting it in the oven would not do, or the oven is not quick +enough to serve, an iron shovel, made nearly red, and a few red cinders +in it, is a very good salamander. It must be held over the article that +requires browning near enough to color it, yet not to burn. + +In the recipes I have given nothing is required that cannot be obtained, +with more or less ease, in New York. For syrups, fruit juices, etc., +apply to your druggist; if he has not them he will tell you where to +obtain them. We often make up our minds that because a thing is not +commonly used in this country, it is impossible to get it. Really there +are very few things not to be got in New York City to the intelligent +seeker. You need an article of French or Italian or may be English +grocery, that your grocer, a first-class one, perhaps, has not, and you +make up your mind you cannot get it. But go into the quarters where +French people live, and you can get everything belonging to the French +_cuisine_. So prejudiced are the French in favor of the productions of +_la belle France_, that they do not believe in our parsley or our chives +or garlic or shallots; for I know at least one French grocer who imports +them for his customers. On being asked why he brought them from France +to a country where those very things were plentiful, he answered: + +"Oh, French herbs are much finer." + +Needless to say tarragon is one of the herbs so imported, and can thus +be bought; but, as several New Jersey truck gardeners grow all kinds of +French herbs, they can be got in Washington Market, and most druggists +keep them dried; but for salads, Montpellier butter, and some other +uses, the dried herb would not do, although for flavoring it would +serve; but the far better way is to grow them for yourself, as I have +done. Any large seedsman will supply you with burnet, tarragon, and +borage (very useful for salads, punch, etc.) seeds, and if you live in +the country, have an herb bed; if in town, there are few houses where +there is not ground enough to serve for the purpose; but even in these +few houses one can have a box of earth in the kitchen window, in which +your seeds will flourish. + +Parsley is a thing in almost daily request in winter, yet it is very +expensive to buy it constantly for the sake of using the small spray +that often suffices. It is a good plan, therefore, in fall, to get a few +roots, plant them in a pot or box, and they will flourish all winter, +if kept where they will not freeze, and be ready for garnishing at any +minute. + +Always, as far as your means allow, have every convenience for cooking. +By having utensils proper for every purpose you save a great deal of +work and much vexation of spirit. Yet it should be no excuse for bad +work that such utensils are not at hand. A willing and intelligent cook +will make the best of what she has. Apropos of this very thing Gouffé +relates that a friend of his, an "artist" of renown, was sent for to the +chateau of a Baron Argenteuil, who had taken a large company with him, +unexpectedly crowding the chateau in every part. He was shown into a +dark passage in which a plank was suspended from the ceiling, and told +this was to be his kitchen. He had to fashion his own utensils, for +there was nothing provided, and his pastry he had to bake in a +frying-pan--besides building two monumental _plâts_ on that board--and +prepare a cold _entrée_. But he cheerfully set to work to overcome +difficulties, achieved his task, and was rewarded by the plaudits of the +diners. Such difficulties as these our servants never have to encounter, +and a cheerful endeavor to make the best of everything should be the +rule. Yet, let us spare them all the labor we can, or rather make it as +easy and pleasant as possible; they will be more proud of their +well-furnished kitchen, more cheerful in it, than they will of one where +everything for their convenience is grudged, and such pride and +cheerfulness will be your gain. + +There is always a great deal of talk about servants in America, how bad +and inefficient they are, how badly they contrast with those of England. +Certainly, they are not so efficient as those of the older country; how +could they be? There, girls who are intended for servants have ever held +before their eyes what they may or may not do in the future calling, and +how it is to be done. But take one of these orderly, efficient girls, +put her in an American family as general servant or as cook, where two +are kept, washing and ironing to do, and a variety of other work, and +see how your English servant would stare at your requirements. She has +been accustomed to her own line of work at home; if housemaid, she has +been dressed for the day at noon; if cook, she has never done even her +own washing. + +She may, and will no doubt, fall into the way of the country, after a +while, and on account of her early habits of respect, will make a good +servant perhaps. But many of them would be quite indignant at being +asked to do the average servant's work here. I am speaking now of the +_trained_ servants; but, comparing the London "maid-of-all-work" or +"slavey" with our own general servants, and considering how much more is +expected of the latter, the comparison seems to me vastly in the favor +of our own Bridgets. We may rest assured, however smoothly the wheels of +household management glide along in wealthy families across the water, +people who can only keep one or two have all our troubles with servants +and a few added, and their faults are just as general a subject of +conversation among ladies. + +France (out of Paris, from Parisian servants deliver me!) and Germany +seem the favored lands where one servant does the work of three or four. +Yet even they, are, they say, degenerating. Let us, then, be contented +and make the best of what we have, assured that even Biddy is not so +hopeless as she is painted. Kindness (not weakness), firmness, and +patience work wonders, even with the roughest Emerald that ever crossed +the sea. + +I have said somewhere else that you must beware of attempting too much +at once; perfect yourself in one thing before you attempt another. Take +breaded chops or fried oysters, make opportunities for having them +rather often, and do not rest satisfied until you have them as well +fried as you have ever seen them anywhere; "practice makes perfect," and +you certainly will achieve perfection if you are not discouraged by one +failure. But above all things never make experiments for company; let +them be made when it really matters little whether you succeed or not, +and let your experiments be on a _small_ scale; don't attempt to fry a +_large_ dish of oysters or chops until it is a very easy task, or make +more than half a pound of puff paste at first; for if you fail with a +large task before you, you will be tired and disheartened, hate the +sight of what you are doing, and, as a consequence, not be likely to +return to it very soon. The same may be said of cooks; some of them are +very fond of experiments, which taste I should always encourage; but do +not let them jump from one experiment to the other; if they try a dish +and fail, they often make up their minds that the fault is not theirs, +that it is not worth while to "bother" with it. Here your knowledge will +be of service; you will show them that it can be done, how it should be +done, and order the dish cook failed in, frequently, giving it +sufficient surveillance to prevent your family suffering from her +inexperience; for, as a witty Frenchman said of Mme. du Deffaud's cook, +"Between her and Brinvilliers there is only the difference of +intention." + +Few things add more to a man or woman's social reputation than the fact +that they keep a good table. It need not be one where + + "The strong table groans + Beneath the smoking sirloin stretched immense;" + +but a table where whatever you do have will be good, be it pork and +beans, or salmi; the pork and beans would satisfy a Bostonian, the salmi +Grimod de la Reynière himself. I do not admit with Di Walcott that + + "The turnpike road to people's hearts I find + Lies through their mouths, or I mistake mankind." + +But it is a fact that good living--by this I do not mean extravagant +living--presupposes good breeding. Well-bred people sometimes live +badly; but ill-bred people seldom or ever live well, in the right sense +of the term. + +Now, by way of valedictory, let me repeat that I do not think a lady's +best or proper place is the kitchen; but it is quite possible to have a +perfectly served table, yet spend very little time there. Only that one +little hour a day that Talleyrand, the busy man full of intrigue and +statecraft, found time to spend with his cook, would insure your table +being well served. For, after devoting say a few winter months to +perfecting yourself in a few things, you will be able to teach your +cook, who is often ambitious to excel if put in the right way. A word +here about cooks. + +The knowledge that if they fail to do a thing well you will do it +yourself, will often put them on their mettle to do their best; while +the feeling that you don't know, will make them careless. + +Servants have a great deal more _amour propre_ than people imagine; +therefore, stimulate it by judicious praise and appreciation; let them +think that to send in a dish perfect, is a glory to themselves as well +as a pleasure to you. While careful to remark when alone with them upon +any fault that results from carelessness, be equally careful to give all +the praise you can, and repeat to them complimentary remarks that may +have been made on their skill. Servants are usually--such is the +weakness of feminine nature, whether in the drawing-room or the +kitchen--very sensitive to the praise or blame of the gentlemen of the +family. Indulge poor humanity a little when you honestly can. + + + + + INDEX + + + PAGE + Almond creams, 93 + + Altering recipes, 111, 112 + + Asparagus, to boil, 66 + + + Baba, 86 + Small, 87 + Syrup for, 87 + + Batter for frying à la Carême, 59 + " " " " Provençale, 60 + + Beef, B[oe]uf à la jardinière, 74 + " au Gratin, 75 + Filet de b[oe]uf Chateaubriand, 49 + Fritadella, 81 + Little breakfast dish of, 78 + Miroton of, 76 + Olives of, 79 + Pseudo-beefsteak, 75 + Ragout of cold, 78 + Salmi of cold, 73 + Simplest way to warm a joint, 77 + To warm over a large piece, 78 + Sirloin, to make two dishes, 49 + + Biscuit glacé, à la Charles Dickens, 85 + " " " Thackeray, 85 + + Blanc for white sauce, 31 + + Boiling, asparagus, 66 + Cabbage, 65 + Potatoes, 66 + Peas, 65 + Rules for meat, 65 + + Bouchées de dames, 88 + To ice, 89 + + Bread, 12 + Baking, 14 + Cause of failure, 15 + " of thick crust, 14 + Compressed yeast, 15 + Kneading, 14 + Oven heating, 14 + Remarks, 12 + Rules of time for rising, 14 + To set sponge, 13 + + Bread-crumbs for frying, 56 + + Bread dough, to keep a day or two, 106 + " " for pie crust, 97 + Soufflée, 20 + + Brioche, 18 + Jockey Club, recipe for, 19 + for summer pastry, 19, 20 + + Broiling, 60 + Chickens and birds, 61 + + Brown flour, 34 + Sauce, 71 + + Butter, maître d'hôtel, 32 + Montpellier, 33 + Ravigotte, 33 + + + Cabbage, to boil, 65 + + Cakes, Baba, 86 + Bouchées de dames, 83 + Savarins, 88 + + Candies, 92 + Chocolate creams, 94 + Cream almonds, 93 + Cream walnuts, 93 + Fondant, 92 + Fondant panaché, 93 + Punch drops, 94 + Simple French, 92 + Tutti frutti, 92 + Vanilla almond cream, 92 + Walnut cream, 92 + + Celeraic, or turnip-rooted celery, 54 + + Celery seed for soup, 106 + + Celery cream soup, 68 + + Chateaubriand, filet de b[oe]uf, 49 + + Chicken, 48 + Broiling, 60 + Cold, 49 + Pie, 38 + Potted, 44 + Roasting, 48 + Use of the feet, 48 + + Clinkered fire-bricks, 107 + + Cold meat salmi, 73 + Various ways of warming, 72-81 + + Coloring for candy and icing, 95 + + Company to lunch, and nothing in + the house, 44 + + Cromesquis of cold lamb, 75 + + Crumbs for frying, 56 + + Cucumber and onion ragout, 102 + + Curaçoa, to make, 89 + + Curry, 108 + + + Deviled meats, 80 + + Dishes made without meat, 102 + + Dripping, to clarify, 59 + + + Feuilletonage, 23 + + Fire-bricks, to remove clinkers from, 107 + To mend, 107 + + Flavoring, 70 + + Flounders, to bone, 56 + As filet de sole, 56 + + Forequarter of mutton, 101 + + Frangipane tartlets, 26 + + French herbs, 113 + + Friandises, 84 + + Fritadella of cold meat, twenty + recipes in one, 81 + + Frying, 55 + Batter à la Carême, 59 + " " Provençale, 60 + Crumbing, 56 + Filet de sole, 56 + Flounders, 56 + Oil for, 58 + Oysters, 57 + Remarks on, 55 + To clarify dripping for, 59 + To test the heat of fat for, 57 + + + Galantine, 39 + + Garlic, 108 + + Glaze, 30 + To glaze ham, tongue, etc., 32 + + Gouffé's pot-au-feu, 68 + Rules for ovens, 27 + + Gravy, 29-63 + + Grating nutmegs, 105 + + + Ham, to boil, 65 + To glaze, 32 + To pot, 43 + + Hash, 97 + + Heart, beef, 100 + Sheep's, 99 + + + Iced soufflée, 85 + A la Byron, 84 + + Icing, 89 + + Ink, to remove from carpets, 107 + + + Jellied fish or oysters, 41 + + Jelly for cold chicken, 47 + + Jelly from pork, 31 + + + Kerosene lamps, 107 + + Keeping meat, 106 + Poultry, 107 + Dough, 106 + + Kitchen conveniences, 114 + + Kreuznach horns, 16 + + Kringles, 17 + + + Lamb, cromesquis of, 75 + + Lamps, 107 + + Larding needle, 112 + + Leg of mutton, 52 + A la Soubise, 52 + Boiled, 52 + + Lemons, to keep, 105 + Peels, 106 + + Little dinners, 50 + + Liver, sheep's, 98 + + Luncheons, 35 + + + Maître d'hôtel butter, 32 + + Management in small families, 47 + + Maraschino, to make, 90 + + Marrow from soup bone, 98 + + Mayonnaise, new, 42 + + Meat, to keep, 106 + Salad, 52 + + Mephistophelian sauce, 81 + + Miroton of beef, 76 + + Montpellier butter, 33 + + Mushroom powder, 29 + + Mutton broth, 52 + Forequarter, 101 + Leg, 52 + + + Neck of mutton, 101 + + Noyeau, 90 + + Nutmegs, best way to grate, 105 + + + Omelet, new, 45 + + Onion soup, maigre, 103 + + Ornamenting meat pies, 37 + + Ovens, 14 + Gouffé's rules for heating, 27 + + Oysters, to fry, 57 + In jelly, 41 + + Ox cheek, 100 + + + Panaché fondant, 93 + + Parsley seed for soup, 106 + + Parsley in winter, 113 + + Paste, puff, 22 + To handle, 24 + + Pastry tablets, 26 + + Pâte à la Carême for frying, 59 + " " Provençale, 60 + + Peas, to boil, 66 + + Pease soup, maigre, 103 + + Pie, bread dough for crust, 97 + Chicken, to eat cold, 38 + Fruit, 24 + English raised, 38 + To "raise" a, 39 + Veal and ham, 38 + Windsor, 36 + + Pork for jelly, 31 + + Potato salad, 54 + Snow, 45 + Soup, maigre, 103 + To warm over, 46 + + Pot-au-feu, 68 + + Pot roasts, 99 + + Potted meats, 43 + + Punch drops, 94 + + + Ragout of cold meat, 78 + Of cucumber and onion, 102 + + Ravigotte, 33 + + Remarks, preliminary, 1-12 + On boiling, 65 + On bread-making, 12 + On frying, 54 + On kitchen and servants, 114 + On little dinners, 50 + On luncheons, 35 + On maigre dishes, 104 + On management in small families, 47 + On sauces and flavoring, 70 + + Remarks on soups, 67 + On table prejudices, 108 + On true economy in buying meat, 99 + On roasting, 62 + + Rissolettes, 25 + + Rolls, 15 + + Roux, 34 + + Rusks, 16 + + + Salad, Celeraic, 54 + Potato, 54 + Cold meat, 52 + + Salamander, substitute for, 112 + + Sauces, 70 + Flavoring, 70 + Brown or espagnole, 71 + Mephistophelian, 81 + White, 71 + Mayonnaise, 42 + + Savarin (cake), 88 + + Soufflée bread, 20 + Iced, 85 + A la Byron, 84 + + Soup bone, 96 + + Soup, celery cream, 68 + Consommé, 68 + Pot-au-feu, 68 + Onion, 103 + Pease, 103 + Potato, 103 + To color, 67 + To clear stock, 66 + + Sugar boiling for candy, 91 + + + Tainted meat, to restore, 107 + + To make strong vegetables milder, 106 + + Tutti frutti candy, 92 + + + Vanilla almond cream, 92 + + Veal, 53 + + + Warming over, 72 + + What to do with scraps, 45 + + Where to buy articles not in general + use, 112 + + Why meat does not brown in cooking, 62 + + Windsor pie, 36 + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Culture and Cooking, by Catherine Owen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CULTURE AND COOKING *** + +***** This file should be named 29982-8.txt or 29982-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/8/29982/ + +Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Culture and Cooking + Art in the Kitchen + +Author: Catherine Owen + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29982] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CULTURE AND COOKING *** + + + + +Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tn"> +Note:<br /><br /> +Discrepancies between chapter names +in CONTENTS and in chapter headings +have been retained as shown in the original +book. +</div> + +<h5> </h5> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><img src="images/cover2.jpg" width="500" height="782" alt= +"Cover" title="Cover page" /></div> + +<h1><span class="smcap">Culture and Cooking;</span></h1> + +<h5>OR,</h5> + +<h3>ART IN THE KITCHEN.</h3> + +<div class="center2"><small><small>BY</small></small></div> +<div class="center2">CATHERINE OWEN<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center2">"Le Créateur, en obligeant l'homme à manger pour vivre, l'y invite par l'appétit et l'en +récompense par le plaisir."</div> + +<div class="quotsig">—<span class="smcap"><small>Brillat Savarin.</small></span></div> +<p> </p> +<h4>CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO.,<br /> +<small>NEW YORK, LONDON, <span class="smcap">AND</span> PARIS.<br /> +1881</small></h4> + +<h5> +<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>,<br /> +1881,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> O. M. DUNHAM.<br /> +</h5> + +<h6> +PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO.,<br /> +NOS. 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. +</h6> +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">iii</a></span></p> + +<h3>PREFACE.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is not a cookery book. It makes no attempt to +replace a good one; it is rather an effort to fill up the +gap between you and your household oracle, whether +she be one of those exasperating old friends who maddened +our mother with their vagueness, or the newer +and better lights of our own generation, the latest and +best of all being a lady as well known for her novels as +for her works on domestic economy—one more proof, if +proof were needed, of the truth I endeavor to set forth—if +somewhat tediously forgive me—in this little book: +that cooking and cultivation are by no means antagonistic. +Who does not remember with affectionate admiration +Charlotte Bronté taking the eyes out of the potatoes +stealthily, for fear of hurting the feelings of her +purblind old servant; or Margaret Fuller shelling peas?</p> + +<p>The chief difficulty, I fancy, with women trying +recipes is, that they fail and know not why they fail, +and so become discouraged, and this is where I hope +to step in. But although this is not a cookery book, +insomuch as it does not deal chiefly with recipes, I shall +yet give a few; but only when they are, or I believe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">iv</a></span> +them to be, better than those in general use, or good +things little known, or supposed to belong to the domain +of a French <i>chef</i>, of which I have introduced a +good many. Should I succeed in making things that +were obscure before clear to a few women, I shall be as +proud as was Mme. de Genlis when she boasts in her +Memoirs that she has taught six new dishes to a German +housewife. Six new dishes! When Brillat-Savarin +says: "He who has invented <i>one</i> new dish has +done more for the pleasure of mankind than he who has +discovered a star."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">v</a></span></p> + +<table width="100%" summary="TOC" border="0"> +<tr> +<td class="center">CHAPTER I.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"> </td> +<td class="td10"><span class="smcap"><small>Page</small></span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><span class="smcap">Preliminary remarks</span></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER II.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">on bread</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent">Sponge for bread.—One cause of failure.—Why home-made +bread often has a hard crust.—On baking.—Ovens.—More +reasons why bread may fail to be good.—Light +rolls.—Rusks.—Kreuznach horns.—Kringles.—Brioche +(Paris Jockey Club recipe).—Soufflée bread.—A novelty +</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER III.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">pastry.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Why you fail in making good puff paste.—How to +succeed.—How to handle it.—To put fruit pies together so +that the syrup does not boil out.—Ornamenting fruit +pies.—Rissolettes.—Pastry tablets.—Frangipane +tartlets.—Rules for ascertaining the heat of your oven</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER IV.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">what to have in your store-room.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Mushroom powder (recipe).—Stock to keep, or glaze +(recipe).—Uses of glaze.—Glazing meats, hams, tongues, +etc.—Mâitre d'hôtel butter (recipe).—Uses of +it.—Ravigotte or Montpellier butter (recipe).—Uses of +it.—Roux.—Blanc (recipes).—Uses of both.—Brown flour, +its uses</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER V.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">vi</a></span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">luncheons.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Remarks on what to have for luncheons.—English meat +pies.—Windsor pie.—Veal and ham pie.—Chicken +pie.—Raised pork pie.—(Recipes).—Ornamenting meat +pies.—Galantine (recipe).—Fish in jelly.—Jellied +oysters.—A new mayonnaise luncheon for small +families.—Potted meats (recipes).—Anchovy butter.—A new +omelet.—Potato snow.—Lyonnaise potatoes</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER VI.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">a chapter on general management in very small families.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +How to have little dinners.—Hints for bills of fare, +etc.—Filet de bœuf Chateaubriand (recipe).—What to do +with the odds and ends.—Various +recipes.—Salads.—Recipes</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">frying.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Why you fail.—Panure or bread-crumbs, to prepare.—How to +prepare flounders as filets de sole.—Fried oysters.—To +clarify dripping for frying.—Remarks.—Pâte à frire à la +Carême.—Same, à la Provençale.—Broiling</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER VIII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><span class="smcap">roasting</span></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER IX.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">boiling and soups.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Boiling meat.—Rules for knowing exactly the degrees of +boiling.—Vegetables.—Remarks on making soup.—To clear +soup.—Why it is not clear.—Coloring +pot-au-feu.—Consommé.—<i>Crême de celeri</i>, a little known +soup.—Recipes</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER X.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">sauces.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Remarks on making and flavoring sauces.—Espagnole or +brown sauce as it should be.—How to make fine white sauce</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER XI.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">warming over.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Remarks.—Salmi of cold meats.—Bœuf à la +jardinière.—Bœuf au gratin.—Pseudo-beefsteak.—Cutlets à la +jardinière.—Cromesquis of lamb.—Sauce piquant.—Miroton +of beef.—Simple way of warming a joint.—Breakfast +dish.—Stuffed beef.—Beef olives.—Chops à la +poulette.—Devils.—Mephistophelian sauce.—Fritadella, +twenty recipes in one</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER XII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">on friandises.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Biscuit glacée at home (recipes).—Iced soufflés +(recipes).—Baba and syrups for it (recipe).—Savarin and +syrup (recipes).—Bouchées de dames.—How to make +Curaçoa.—Maraschino.—Noyeau</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER XIII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">french candies at home.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +How to make them.—Fondants.—Vanilla.—Almond +cream.—Walnut cream.—Tutti frutti.—Various candies +dipped in cream.—Chocolate creams.—Fondant panaché.—Punch drops</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER XIV.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">for people of very small means.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Remarks.—What may be made of a soup bone.—Several very +economical dishes.—Pot roasts.—Dishes requiring no meat</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER XV.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><span class="smcap">A few things it is well to remember</span></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> +</tr><tr> + + +<td class="center">CHAPTER XVI.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><span class="smcap">On some table prejudices</span></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> +</tr><tr> + +<td class="center">CHAPTER XVII.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="center2"><span class="smcap">a chapter of odds and ends.</span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><p class="indent"> +Altering recipes.—How to have tarragon, burnet, +etc.—Remarks on obtaining ingredients not in common +use.—An impromptu salamander.—Larding needle.—How to +have parsley fresh all winter without expense.—On having +kitchen conveniences.—Anecdote related by Jules +Gouffée.—On servants in America.—A little +advice by way of valedictory</p></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"> </td> +<td class="td10"> </td> + +</tr><tr> +<td class="td90"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> +<td class="td10"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span></p> + +<h1><span class="smcap">Culture and Cooking.</span></h1> +<hr /> + +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">a few preliminary remarks</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexandre Dumas</span>, <i>père</i>, after writing five hundred +novels, says, "I wish to close my literary career with a +book on cooking."</p> + +<p>And in the hundred pages or so of preface—or perhaps +overture would be the better word, since in it a group +of literary men, while contributing recondite recipes, +flourish trumpets in every key—to his huge volume he +says, "I wish to be read by people of the world, and +practiced by people of the art" (<i>gens de l'art</i>); and although +<i>I</i> wish, like every one who writes, to be read by +all the world, I wish to aid the practice, not of the professors +of the culinary art, but those whose aspirations +point to an enjoyment of the good things of life, but +whose means of attaining them are limited.</p> + +<p>There is a great deal of talk just now about cooking; +in a lesser degree it takes its place as a popular topic +with ceramics, modern antiques, and household art. The +fact of it being in a mild way fashionable may do a little +good to the eating world in general. And it may +make it more easy to convince young women of refined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> +proclivities that the art of cooking is not beneath their +attention, to know that the Queen of England's daughters—and +of course the cream of the London fair—have +attended the lectures on the subject delivered at South +Kensington, and that a young lady of rank, Sir James +Coles's daughter, has been recording angel to the association, +is in fact the R. C. C. who edits the "Official +Handbook of Cookery."</p> + +<p>But, notwithstanding all that has been done by South +Kensington lectures in London and Miss Corson's Cooking +School in New York to popularize the culinary art, +one may go into a dozen houses, and find the ladies of +the family with sticky fingers, scissors, and gum pot, +busily porcelainizing clay jars, and not find one where +they are as zealously trying to work out the problems of +the "Official Handbook of Cookery."</p> + +<p>I have nothing to say against the artistic distractions +of the day. Anything that will induce love of the beautiful, +and remove from us the possibility of a return to +the horrors of hair-cloth and brocatel and crochet tidies, +will be a stride in the right direction. But what I do +protest against, is the fact, that the same refined girls +and matrons, who so love to adorn their houses that they +will spend hours improving a pickle jar, mediævalizing +their furniture, or decorating the dinner service, will +shirk everything that pertains to the preparation of food +as dirty, disagreeable drudgery, and sit down to a commonplace, +ill-prepared meal, served on those artistic +plates, as complacently as if dainty food were not a refinement; +as if heavy rolls and poor bread, burnt or +greasy steak, and wilted potatoes did not smack of the +shanty, just as loudly as coarse crockery or rag carpet—indeed +far more so; the carpet and crockery may be due<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> +to poverty, but a dainty meal or its reverse will speak +volumes for innate refinement or its lack in the woman +who serves it. You see by my speaking of rag carpets +and dainty meals in one breath, that I do not consider +good things to be the privilege of the rich alone.</p> + +<p>There are a great many dainty things the household +of small or moderate means can have just as easily as +the most wealthy. Beautiful bread—light, white, crisp—costs +no more than the tough, thick-crusted boulder, +with cavities like eye-sockets, that one so frequently +meets with as <i>home-made bread</i>. As Hood says:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanxa"> +<span class="i05">"Who has not met with home-made bread,</span> +<span class="i0">A heavy compound of putty and lead?"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Delicious coffee is only a matter of care, not expense—and +indeed in America the cause of poor food, even in a +boarding-house, is seldom in the quality of the articles +so much as in the preparation and selection of them—yet +an epicure can breakfast well with fine bread and +butter and good coffee. And this leads me to another +thing: many people think that to give too much attention +to food shows gluttony. I have heard a lady say +with a tone of virtuous rebuke, when the conversation +turned from fashions to cooking, "I give very little time +to cooking, we eat to live only"—which is exactly what +an animal does. Eating to live is mere feeding. Brillat-Savarin, +an abstemious eater himself, among other witty +things on the same topic says, "<i>L'animal se repait, +l'homme mange, l'homme d'esprit seul sait manger.</i>"</p> + +<p>Nine people out of ten, when they call a man an +epicure, mean it as a sort of reproach, a man who is +averse to every-day food, one whom plain fare would +fail to satisfy; but Grimod de la Reyniere, the most cel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span>ebrated +gourmet of his day, author of "<i>Almanach des +Gourmands</i>," and authority on all matters culinary of the +last century, said, "A true epicure can dine well on one +dish, provided it is excellent of its kind." Excellent, +that is it. A little care will generally secure to us the +refinement of having only on the table what is excellent +of its kind. If it is but potatoes and salt, let the salt be +ground fine, and the potatoes white and mealy. Thackeray +says, an epicure is one who never tires of brown +bread and fresh butter, and in this sense every New +Yorker who has his rolls from the Brevoort House, and +uses Darlington butter, is an epicure. There seems to +me, more mere animalism in wading through a long +bill of fare, eating three or four indifferently cooked +vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, each second-rate in quality, +or made so by bad cooking, and declaring that you +have dined well, and are easy to please, than there is in +taking pains to have a perfectly broiled chop, a fine potato, +and a salad, on which any true epicure could dine +well, while on the former fare he would leave the table +hungry.</p> + +<p>Spenser points a moral for me when he says, speaking +of the Irish in 1580, "That wherever they found a plot +of shamrocks or water-cresses they had a feast;" but there +were gourmets even among them, for "some gobbled +the green food as it came, and some picked the faultless +stalks, and looked for the bloom on the leaf."</p> + +<p>Thus it is, when I speak of "good living," I do not +mean expensive living or high living, but living so that +the table may be as elegant as the dishes on which it is +served.</p> + +<p>I believe there exists a feeling, not often expressed perhaps, +but prevalent among young people, that for a lady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> +to cook with her own hands is vulgar; to love to do it +shows that she is of low intellectual caliber, a sort of +drawing-room Bridget. When or how this idea arose it +would be difficult to say, for in the middle ages cooks +were often noble; a Montmorency was <i>chef de cuisine</i> to +Philip of Valois; Montesquieu descended, and was not +ashamed of his descent, from the second cook of the +Connetable de Bourbon, who ennobled him. And from +Lord Bacon, "brightest, greatest, meanest of mankind," +who took, it is said, great interest in cooking, to Talleyrand, +the Machiavelli of France, who spent an hour every +day with his cook, we find great men delighting in the +art as a recreation.</p> + +<p>It is surprising that such an essentially artistic people +as Americans should so neglect an art which a great +French writer calls the "<i>science mignonne</i> of all distinguished +men of the world." Napoleon the Great so +fully recognized the social value of keeping a good table +that, although no gourmet himself, he wished all his +chief functionaries to be so. "Keep a good table," he +told them; "if you get into debt for it I will pay." +And later, one of his most devoted adherents, the Marquis +de Cussy, out of favor with Louis XVIII. on +account of that very devotion, found his reputation as +a gourmet very serviceable to him. A friend applied +for a place at court for him, which Louis refused, till he +heard that M. de Cussy had invented the mixture of +cream, strawberries, and champagne, when he granted +the petition at once. Nor is this a solitary instance in +history where culinary skill has been a passport to fortune +to its possessor. Savarin relates that the Chevalier +d'Aubigny, exiled from France, was in London, in +utter poverty, notwithstanding which, by chance, he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> +invited to dine at a tavern frequented by the young bucks +of that day.</p> + +<p>After he had finished his dinner, a party of young +gentlemen, who had been observing him from their table, +sent one of their number with many apologies and excuses +to beg of him, as a son of a nation renowned for +their salads, to be kind enough to mix theirs for them. +He complied, and while occupied in making the salad, +told them frankly his story, and did not hide his poverty. +One of the gentlemen, as they parted, slipped a +five-pound note into his hand, and his need of it was so +great that he did not obey the prompting of his pride, +but accepted it.</p> + +<p>A few days later he was sent for to a great house, and +learned on his arrival that the young gentleman he had +obliged at the tavern had spoken so highly of his salad +that they begged him to do the same thing again. A +very handsome sum was tendered him on his departure, +and afterwards he had frequent calls on his skill, until +it became the fashion to have salads prepared by d'Aubigny, +who became a well-known character in London, +and was called "<i>the fashionable salad-maker</i>." In a few +years he amassed a large fortune by this means, and +was in such request that his carriage would drive from +house to house, carrying him and his various condiments—for +he took with him everything that could give +variety to his concoctions—from one place, where his +services were needed, to another.</p> + +<p>The contempt for this art of cooking is confined to this +country, and to the lower middle classes in England. By +the "lower middle classes" I mean, what Carlyle terms +the gigocracy—<i>i.e.</i>, people sufficiently well-to-do to keep a +gig or phaeton—well-to-do tradesmen, small professional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> +men, the class whose womenkind would call themselves +"genteel," and many absurd stories are told of the +determined ignorance and pretense of these would-be +ladies. But in no class above this is a knowledge of +cooking a thing to be ashamed of; in England, indeed, +so far from that being the case, indifference to the subject, +or lack of understanding and taste for certain dishes +is looked upon as a sort of proof of want of breeding. +Not to like curry, macaroni, or parmesan, <i>pâté de foie +gras</i>, mushrooms, and such like, is a sign that you have +not been all your life accustomed to good living. Mr. +Hardy, in his "Pair of Blue Eyes," cleverly hits this +prejudice when he makes Mr. Swancourt say, "I knew +the fellow wasn't a gentleman; he had no acquired tastes, +never took Worcestershire sauce."</p> + +<p>Abroad many women of high rank and culture devote +a good deal of time to a thorough understanding +of the subject. We have a lady of the "lordly line of +proud St. Clair" writing for us "Dainty Dishes," and +doing it with a zest that shows she enjoys her work, +although she does once in a while forget something she +ought to have mentioned, and later still we have Miss +Rose Coles writing the "Official Handbook of Cookery."</p> + +<p>But it is in graceful, refined France that cookery is +and has been, a pet art. Any bill of fare or French +cookery book will betray to a thoughtful reader the attention +given to the subject by the wittiest, gayest, and +most beautiful women, and the greatest men. The high-sounding +names attached to French standard dishes are +no mere caprice or homage of a French cook to the great in +the land, but actually point out their inventor. Thus +<i>Bechamel</i> was invented by the Marquis de Bechamel, as +a sauce for codfish; while <i>Filets de Lapereau à la<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> +Berry</i> were invented by the Duchess de Berry, daughter +of the regent Orleans, who himself invented <i>Pain à la +d'Orleans</i>, while to Richelieu we are indebted for hundreds +of dishes besides the renowned mayonnaise.</p> + +<p><i>Cailles à la Mirepois</i>, <i>Chartreuse à la Mauconseil</i>, +<i>Poulets à la Villeroy</i>, betray the tastes of the three great +ladies whose name they bear.</p> + +<p>But not in courts alone has the art had its devotees. +Almost every great name in French literature brings to +mind something its owner said or did about cooking. +Dumas, who was a prince of cooks, and of whom it is +related that in 1860, when living at Varennes, St. Maur, +dividing his time, as usual, between cooking and literature +(<i>Lorsqu'il ne faisait pas sauter un roman, il +faisait sauter des petits oignons</i>), on Mountjoye, a +young artist friend and neighbor, going to see him, he +cooked dinner for him. Going into the poultry yard, +after donning a white apron, he wrung the neck of a +chicken; then to the kitchen garden for vegetables, +which he peeled and washed himself; lit the fire, got +butter and flour ready, put on his saucepans, then cooked, +stirred, tasted, seasoned until dinner time. Then he +entered in triumph, and announced, "<i>Le diner est +servi</i>." For six months he passed three or four days a +week cooking for Mountjoye. This novelist's book says, +in connection with the fact that great cooks in France +have been men of literary culture, and literary men often +fine cooks, "It is not surprising that literary men have +always formed the <i>entourage</i> of a great chef, for, to +appreciate thoroughly all there is in the culinary art, +none are so well able as men of letters; accustomed as +they are to all refinements, they can appreciate better +than others those of the table," thus paying himself and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> +confrères a delicate little compliment at the expense of +the non-literary world; but, notwithstanding the naïve +self-glorification, he states a fact that helps to point my +moral, that indifference to cooking does not indicate refinement, +intellect, or social pre-eminence.</p> + +<p>Brillat-Savarin, grave judge as he was, and abstemious +eater, yet has written the book of books on the art +of eating. It was he who said, "Tell me what you eat, +I will tell you what you are," as pregnant with truth as +the better-known proverb it paraphrases.</p> + +<p>Malherbe loved to watch his cook at work. I think it +was he who said, "A coarse-minded man could never be +a cook," and Charles Baudelaire, the Poe of France, takes +a poet's view of our daily wants, when he says, "that an +ideal cook must have a great deal of the poet's nature, +combining something of the voluptuary with the man +of science learned in the chemical principles of matter;" +although he goes further than we care to follow when +he says, that the question of sauces and seasoning requires +"a chapter as grave as a <i>feuilleton de science</i>."</p> + +<p>It has been said by foreigners that Americans care +nothing for the refinements of the table, but I think +they do care. I have known many a woman in comfortable +circumstances long to have a good table, many +a man aspire to better things, and if he could only get +them at home would pay any money. But the getting +them at home is the difficulty; on a table covered with +exquisite linen, glass, and silver, whose presiding queen +is more likely than not a type of the American lady—graceful, +refined, and witty—on such a table, with such +surroundings, will come the plentiful, coarse, commonplace +dinner.</p> + +<p>The chief reason for this is lack of knowledge on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +part of our ladies: know how to do a thing yourself, and +you will get it well done by others. But how are many +of them to know? The daughters of the wealthy in +this country often marry struggling men, and they know +less about domestic economy than ladies of the higher +ranks abroad; not because English or French ladies take +more part in housekeeping, but because they are at home +all their lives. Ladies of the highest rank never go to a +boarding or any other school, and these are the women +who, with some few exceptions, know best how things +should be done. They are at home listening to criticisms +from papa, who is an epicure perhaps, on the +shortcomings of his own table, or his neighbors'; from +mamma, as to what the soup lacks, why cook is not a +"<i>cordon bleu</i>," etc., while our girls are at school, far +away from domestic comments, deep in the agonies of +algebra perhaps; and directly they leave school, in many +cases they marry. As a preparation for the state of +matrimony most of them learn how to make cake and +preserves, and the very excellence of their attainments +in that way proves how easy it would be for them, with +their dainty fingers and good taste, to far excel their European +cousins in that art which a French writer says is +based on "reason, health, common sense, and sound taste."</p> + +<p>Here let me say, I do not by any means advocate a +woman, who can afford to pay a first-rate cook, avoiding +the expense by cooking herself; on the contrary, I think +no woman is justified in doing work herself that she has +the means given her to get done by employing others. +I have no praise for the economical woman, who, from +a desire to save, does her own work <i>without necessity for +economy</i>. It is <i>not</i> her work; the moment she can afford +to employ others it is the work of some less fortunate per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span>son. +But in this country, it often happens that a good +cook is not to be found for money, although the raw material +of which one might be made is much oftener at +hand. And if ladies would only practice the culinary art +with as much, nay, half as much assiduity as they give to +a new pattern in crochet; devote as much time to attaining +perfection in one dish or article of food, be it perfect +bread, or some French dish which father, brother, +or husband goes to Delmonico's to enjoy, as they do to +the crochet tidies or embroidered rugs with which they +decorate their drawing-rooms, they could then take the +material, in the shape of any ambitious girl they may +meet with, and make her a fine cook. In the time they +take to make a dozen tidies, they would have a dozen +dishes at their fingers' ends; and let me tell you, the +woman who can cook a dozen things, outside of preserves, +in a <i>perfect</i> manner is a rarity here, and a good +cook anywhere, for, by the time the dozen are accomplished, +she will have learned so much of the art of cooking +that all else will come easy. One good soup, bouillon, +and you have the foundation of all others; two +good sauces, white sauce and brown, "<i>les sauces mères</i>" +as the French call them (mothers of all other sauces), +and all others are matters of detail. Learn to make one +kind of roll perfectly, as light, plump, and crisp as +Delmonico's, and all varieties are at your fingers' ends; +you can have kringles, Vienna rolls, Kreuznach horns, +Yorkshire tea cakes, English Sally Lunns and Bath +buns; all are then as easy to make as common soda biscuit. +In fact, in cooking, as in many other things, "<i>ce +n'est que le premier pas que coûte</i>;" failures are almost +certain at the beginning, but a failure is often a step +toward success—if we only know the reason of the failure.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">on bread.</span></h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Of</span> all articles of food, bread is perhaps the one about +which most has been written, most instruction given, +and most failures made. Yet what adds more to the +elegance of a table than exquisite bread or breads, and—unless +you live in a large city and depend on the baker—what +so rare? A lady who is very proud of her table, +and justly so, said to me quite lately, "I cannot understand +how it is we never have really fine home-made +bread. I have tried many recipes, following them +closely, and I can't achieve anything but a commonplace +loaf with a thick, hard crust; and as for rolls, +they are my despair. I have wasted eggs, butter, and +patience so often that I have determined to give them +up, but a fine loaf I will try for."</p> + +<p>"And when you achieve the fine loaf, you may revel +in home-made rolls," I answered.</p> + +<p>And so I advise every one first to make perfect bread, +light, white, crisp, and <i>thin-crusted</i>, that rarest thing +in home-made bread.</p> + +<p>I have read over many recipes for bread, and am convinced +that when the time allowed for rising is specified, +it is invariably too short. One standard book directs +you to leave your sponge two hours, and the bread when +made up a <i>quarter of an hour</i>. This recipe strictly +followed must result in heavy, tough bread. As bread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> +is so important, and so many fail, I will give my own +method from beginning to end; not that there are not +numberless good recipes, but simply because they frequently +need adapting to circumstances, and altering a +recipe is one of the things a tyro fears to do.</p> + +<p>I make a sponge over night, using a dried yeast-cake +soaked in a pint of warm water, to which I add a spoonful +of salt, and, if the weather is warm, as much soda as +will lie on a dime; make this into a stiff batter with +flour—it may take a quart or less, flour varies so much, +to give a rule is impossible; but if, after standing, the +sponge has a watery appearance, make it thicker by +sprinkling in more flour, beat hard a few minutes, and +cover with a cloth—in winter keep a piece of thick flannel +for the purpose, as a chill is fatal to your sponge—and +set in a warm place free from draughts.</p> + +<p>The next morning, when the sponge is quite light—that +is to say, at least twice the bulk it was, and like a +honeycomb—take two quarts of flour, more or less, as +you require, but I recommend at first a small baking, +and this will make three small loaves; in winter, flour +should be dried and warmed; put it in your mixing +bowl, and turn the sponge into a hole in the center. +Have ready some water, rather more than lukewarm, but +not <i>hot</i>. Add it gradually, stirring your flour into the +sponge at the same time. The great fault in making +bread is getting the dough too stiff; it should be as soft +as possible, without being at all sticky or wet. Now +knead it with both hands from all sides into the center; +keep this motion, occasionally dipping your hands into +the flour if the dough sticks, but do not add more flour +unless the paste sticks very much; if you have the right +consistency it will be a smooth mass, very soft to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> +touch, <i>yet not sticky</i>, but this may not be attained at a +first mixing without adding flour by degrees. When +you have kneaded the dough until it leaves the bowl all +round, set it in a warm place to rise. When it is well +risen, feels very soft and warm to the touch, and is twice its +bulk, knead it once more thoroughly, then put it in tins +either floured, and the flour not adhering shaken out, or +buttered, putting in each a piece of dough half the size +you intend your loaf to be. Now everything depends on +your oven. Many people bake their bread slowly, leaving +it in the oven a long time, and this causes a thick, +hard crust. When baked in the modern iron oven, +quick baking is necessary. Let the oven be quite hot, +then put a little ball of paste in, and if it browns palely +in seven to ten minutes it is about right; if it burns, it +is too hot; open the damper ten minutes. Your bread, +after it is in the tins, will rise much more quickly than +the first time. Let it get light, but not too light—<i>twice +its bulk</i> is a good rule; but if it is light before your oven +is ready, and thus in danger of getting too porous, work +it down with your hand, it will not harm it, although it +is better so to manage that the oven waits for the bread +rather than the bread for the oven. A small loaf—and +by all means make them small until you have gained +experience—will not take more than three quarters of an +hour to bake; when a nice yellow brown, take it out, turn +it out of the tin into a cloth, and tap the bottom; if it is +crisp and smells cooked, the loaf is done. Once the bottom +is brown it need remain no longer. Should that, +however, from fault of your oven, be not brown, but +soft and white, you must put it back in the oven, the +bottom upwards. An oven that does not bake at the +bottom will, however, be likely to spoil your bread. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> +is sometimes caused by a careless servant leaving a collection +of ashes underneath it; satisfy yourself that all +the flues are perfectly clean and clear before beginning +to bake, and if it still refuses to do its duty, change it, +for you will have nothing but loss and vexation of spirit +while you have it in use. I think you will find this +bread white, evenly porous (not with small holes in one +part and caverns in another; if it is so you have made +your dough too stiff, and it is not sufficiently kneaded), +and with a thin, crisp crust. Bread will surely fail to +rise at all if you have scalded the yeast; the water must +never be too hot. In winter, if it gets chilled, it will +only rise slowly, or not at all, and in using baker's or +German yeast take care that it is not stale, which will +cause heavy, irregular bread.</p> + +<p>In making bread with compressed yeast proceed in +exactly the same way, excepting that the sponge will not +need to be set over night, unless you want to bake very +early.</p> + +<p>If you have once produced bread to your satisfaction +you will find no difficulty in making rolls. Proceed as +follows:</p> + +<p>Take a piece of the dough from your baking after it +has risen once. To a piece as large as a man's fist take +a large tablespoonful of butter and a little powdered +sugar; work them into the dough, put it in a bowl, cover +it, and set it in a warm place to rise—a shelf behind the +stove is best; if you make this at the same time as +your bread, you will find it takes longer to rise; the +butter causes that difference; when very light, much +lighter than your bread should be, take your hand and +push it down till it is not larger than when you put it +in the bowl; let it rise again, and again push it down,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> +but not so thoroughly; do this once or twice more, and +you have the secret of light rolls. You will find them rise +very quickly, after once or twice pushing down. When +they have risen the third or fourth time, take a little +butter on your hands, and break off small pieces about +the size of a walnut and roll them round. Either put +them on a tin close together, to be broken apart, or an +inch or two from each other, in which case work in a +little more flour, and cut a cleft on the top, and once more +set to rise; half an hour will be long enough generally, +but in this case you must judge for yourself, they sometimes +take an hour; if they look swelled very much and +smooth they will be ready. Have a nice hot oven, and +bake for twelve to fifteen minutes.</p> + +<p>Add a little more sugar to your dough and an egg, go +through the same process, brush them over with sugar +dissolved in milk, and you will have delicious rusks.</p> + +<p>The above is my own method of making rolls, and the +simplest I know of; but there are numbers of other +recipes given in cookery books which would be just as +good if the exact directions for letting them rise were +given. As a test—and every experiment you try will be +so much gained in your experience—follow the recipe +given for rolls in any good cookery book, take part of +the dough and let it rise as therein directed, and bake, +set the other part to rise as <i>I</i> direct, and notice the difference.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kreuznach Horns.</span>—Either take a third of the +dough made for bread with three quarts of flour, or set +a sponge with a pint of flour and a yeast-cake soaked in +half a pint of warm water or milk, making it into a stiffish +dough with another pint of flour; then add four +ounces of butter, a <i>little</i> sugar, and two eggs; work well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> +If you use the bread dough, you will need to dredge in +a little more flour on account of the eggs, but not <i>very +much</i>; then set to rise as for rolls, work it down twice or +thrice, then turn the dough out on the molding board +lightly floured, roll it as you would pie-crust into pieces +six inches square, and quarter of an inch thick, make two +sharp, quick cuts across it from corner to corner, and you +will have from each square four three-cornered pieces of +paste; spread each <i>thinly</i> with soft butter, flour lightly, +and roll up very lightly from the wide side, taking care +that it is not squeezed together in any way; lay them on +a tin with the side on which the point comes uppermost, +and bend round in the form of a horseshoe; these will +take some time to rise; when they have swollen much +and look light, brush them over with white of egg +(not beaten) or milk and butter, and bake in a good +oven.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kringles</span> are made from the same recipe, but with +another egg and two ounces of sugar (powdered) added +to the dough when first set to rise; then, when well risen +two or three times, instead of rolling with a pin as for +horns, break off pieces, roll between your hands as thick +as your finger, and form into figure eights, rings, fingers; +or take three strips, flour and roll them as thick as your +finger, tapering at each end; lay them on the board, +fasten the three together at one end, and then lay one +over the other in a plait, fasten the other end, and set to +rise, bake; when done, brush over with sugar dissolved in +milk, and sprinkle with sugar.</p> + +<p>All these breads are delicious for breakfast, and may +easily be had without excessive early rising if the sponge +is set in the <i>morning</i>, dough made in the afternoon, +and the rising and working done in the evening; when,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> +instead of making up into rolls, horns, or kringles, push +the dough down thoroughly, cover with a damp folded +cloth, and put in a <i>very</i> cold place if in summer—not on +ice of course—then next morning, as soon as the fire is +alight, mold, but do not push down any more, put in a +very warm spot, and when light, bake.</p> + +<p>In summer, as I have said, I think it safest, to prevent +danger of souring, to put a little soda in the sponge for +bread; and for rolls, or anything requiring to rise several +times, it is an essential precaution.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brioche.</span>—I suppose the very name of this delectable +French dainty will call up in the mind's eye of many +who read this book that great "little" shop, <i>Au Grand +Brioche</i>, on the Boulevarde Poissonière, where, on Sunday +afternoons, scores of boys from the Lycées form +<i>en queue</i> with the general public, waiting the hour +when the piles of golden brioche shall be ready to exchange +for their eager sous. But I venture to say, a +really fine brioche is rarely eaten on this side the Atlantic. +They being a luxury welcome to all, and especially +aromatic of Paris, I tried many times to make them, +obtaining for that purpose recipes from French friends, +and from standard French books, but never succeeded +in producing the ideal brioche until I met with Gouffé's +great book, the "<i>Livre de Cuisine</i>," after reading +which, I may here say, all secrets of the French kitchen +are laid bare; no effort is spared to make everything +plain, from the humble <i>pot-au-feu</i> to the most gorgeous +monumental <i>plât</i>. And I would refer any one who wants +to become proficient in any French dish, to that book, +feeling sure that, in following strictly the directions, +there will be no failure. It is the one book I have met +with on the subject in which no margin is left for your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> +own knowledge, if you have it, to fill up. But to the +brioche.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">paris jockey-club recipe for brioche.</span></div> + +<p>Sift one pound of flour, take one fourth of it, and add +rather more than half a cake of compressed yeast, dissolved +in half a gill of warm water, make into a sponge +with a <i>very little</i> more water, put it in a warm place; +when it is double its volume take the rest of the flour, +make a hole in the center, and put in it an equal quantity +of salt and sugar, about a teaspoonful, and two tablespoonfuls +of water to dissolve them. Three quarters of a pound +of butter and four eggs, beat well, then add another egg, +beat again, and add another, and so on until seven have +been used; the paste must be soft, but not spread; if too +firm, add another egg. Now mix this paste with the +sponge thoroughly, beating until the paste leaves the +sides of the bowl, then put it in a crock and cover; let +it stand four hours in a warm place, then turn it out on +a board, <i>spread it and double it four times</i>, return it to +the crock, and let it rise again two hours; repeat the +former process of doubling and spreading, and put it in +a very cold place for two hours, or until you want to use +it. Mold in any form you like, but the true brioche is +two pieces, one as large again as the other; form the +large one into a ball, make a deep depression in the center, +on which place the smaller ball, pressing it gently +in; cut two or three gashes round it with a sharp knife, +and bake a beautiful golden brown. These brioche are +such a luxury, and so sure to come out right, that the +trouble of making them is well worth the taking, and +for another reason: every one knows the great difficulty +of making puff paste in summer, and a short paste is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> +never handsome; but take a piece of brioche paste, roll +it out thin, dredge with flour, fold and roll again, then +use as you would puff paste; if for sweet pastry, a +little powdered sugar may be sprinkled through it instead +of dredging with flour. This makes a very handsome +and delicious crust. Or, another use to which it +may be put is to roll it out, cut it in rounds, lay on +them mince-meat, orange marmalade, jam, or merely +sprinkle with currants, chopped citron, and spices, fold, +press the edges, and bake.</p> + +<p>Before quitting the subject of breads I must introduce +a novelty which I will call "soufflée bread." It is +quickly made, possible even when the fire is poor, and so +delicious that I know you will thank me for making +you acquainted with it.</p> + +<p>Use two or three eggs according to size you wish, and +to each egg a tablespoonful of flour. Mix the yolks +with the flour and with them a dessert-spoonful of butter +melted, and enough milk to make a very <i>thick</i> batter, +work, add a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar, +work till quite smooth, then add the whites of the eggs +in a firm froth, stir them in gently, and add a <i>quarter</i> +teaspoonful of soda and half a one of cream of tartar. +Have ready an iron frying-pan (or an earthen one that +will stand heat is better), made hot with a tablespoonful +of butter in it, also hot, but not so hot as for frying. +Pour the batter (which should be of the consistency of +sponge cake batter) into the pan, cover it with a lid +or tin plate, and set it back of the stove if the fire is +hot—if very slow it may be forward; when well risen +and near done, put it in the oven, or if the oven +is cold you may turn it gently, not to deaden it. +Serve when done (try with a twig), the under side<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> +uppermost; it should be of a fine golden brown and +look like an omelet. This soufflée bread is equally +good <i>baked</i> in a tin in which is rather more butter than +enough to grease it; the oven must be <i>very hot indeed</i>. +Cover it for the few minutes with a tin plate or +lid, to prevent it scorching before it has risen; when it +has puffed up remove the lid, and allow it to brown, ten +to fifteen minutes should bake it; turn it out as you +would sponge cake—very carefully, not to deaden it. To +succeed with bread you must use the very best flour.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">pastry.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">To make</span> good puff paste is a thing many ladies are +anxious to do, and in which they generally fail, and this +not so much because they do not make it properly, as +because they handle it badly. A lady who was very +anxious to excel in pastry once asked me to allow her to +watch me make paste. I did so, and explained that there +was more in the manner of using than in the making +up. I then gave her a piece of my paste when completed, +and asked her to cover some patty pans while I +covered others, cautioning her as to the way she must +cover them; yet, when those covered by her came out +of the oven they had not risen at all, they were like rich +short paste; while my own, made from the same paste, +were toppling over with lightness. I had, without saying +anything, pressed my thumb slightly on one spot of +one of mine; in that spot the paste had not risen at all, +and I think this practical demonstration of what I had +tried to explain was more useful than an hour's talk +would have been.</p> + +<p>I will first give my method of making, which is the +usual French way of making "<i>feuilletonage</i>." Take +one pound of butter, or half of it lard; press all the +water out by squeezing it in a cloth; this is important, +as the liquid in it would wet your paste; take a +third of the butter, or butter and lard, and rub it into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> +one pound of <i>fine</i> flour; add no salt if your butter is +salted; then take enough water (to which you may add +the well-beaten white of an egg, but it is not absolutely +necessary) to make the flour into a smooth, firm dough; it +must not be too stiff, or it will be hard to roll out, or +too soft, or it will never make good paste; it should roll +easily, yet not stick; work it till it is very smooth, then +roll it out till it is half an inch thick; now lay the whole +of the butter in the center, fold one-third the paste over, +then the other third; it is now folded in three, with the +butter completely hidden; now turn the ends toward +you, and roll it till it is half an inch thick, taking care, +by rolling very evenly, that the butter is not pressed out +at the other end; now you have a piece of paste about +two feet long, and not half that width; flour it lightly, +and fold <i>over</i> one third and under one third, which will +almost bring it to a square again; turn it round so that +what was the side is now the end, and roll. Most likely +now the butter will begin to break through, in which +case fold it, after flouring lightly, in three, as before, and +put it on a dish on the ice, covering it with a damp cloth. +You may now either leave it for an hour or two, or till +next day. Paste made the day before it is used is much +better and easier to manage, and in winter it may be kept +for four or five days in a cold place, using from it as +required.</p> + +<p>When ready to use your paste finish the making by +rolling it out, dredging a <i>little</i> flour, and doubling it in +three as before, and roll it out thin; do this until from +first to last it has been so doubled and rolled seven times.</p> + +<p>Great cooks differ on one or two points in making +pastry; for instance, Soyer directs you to put the yolk +of an egg instead of the white, and a squeeze of lemon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> +juice into the flour, and expressly forbids you to work it +before adding the mass of butter, while Jules Gouffé +says, "work it until smooth and shining." I cannot +pretend to decide between these differing doctors, but I +pursue the method I have given and always have light +pastry. And now to the handling of it: It must only be +touched by the lightest fingers, every cut must be made +with a sharp knife, and done with one quick stroke so that +the paste is not dragged at all; in covering a pie dish or +patty pan, you are commonly directed to mold the paste +over it as thin as possible, which conveys the idea that the +paste is to be pressed over and so made thin; this would +destroy the finest paste in the world; roll it thin, say +for small tartlets, less than a quarter of an inch thick, +for a pie a trifle thicker, then lay the dish or tin to be +covered on the paste, and cut out with a knife, dipped in +<i>hot</i> water or flour, a piece a little larger than the mold, +then line with the piece you have cut, touching it as little +as possible; press only enough to make the paste adhere +to the bottom, but on no account press the border; to +test the necessity of avoiding this, gently press one spot +on a tart, before putting it in the oven, only so much as +many people always do in making pie, and watch the +result. When your tartlets or pies are made, take each +up on your left hand, and with a sharp knife dipped in +flour trim it round quickly. To make the cover of a +pie adhere to the under crust, lay the forefinger of your +right hand lengthwise round the border, but as far from +the edge as you can, thus forming a groove for the syrups, +and pressing the cover on at the same time. A word +here about fruit pies: Pile the fruit high in the center, +leaving a space all round the sides almost bare of fruit, +when the cover is on press gently the paste, as I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> +explained, into this groove, then make two or three deep +holes in the groove; the juice will boil out of these holes +and run round this groove, instead of boiling out through +the edges and wasting.</p> + +<p>This is the pastry-cook's way of making pies, and makes +a much handsomer one than the usual flat method, +besides saving your syrup. To ornament fruit pies or +tartlets, whip the white of an egg, and stir in as much +powdered sugar as will make a thin meringue—a large +tablespoonful is usually enough—then when your pies or +tartlets are baked, take them from the oven, glaze with +the egg and sugar, and return to the oven, leaving the +door open; when it has set into a frosty icing they are +ready to serve.</p> + +<p>It is worth while to accomplish puff paste, for so +many dainty trifles may be made with it, which, attempted +with the ordinary short paste, would be unsightly. +Some of these that seem to me novel I will describe.</p> + +<p>Rissolettes are made with trimmings of puff paste; if +you have about a quarter of a pound left, roll it out very +thin, about as thick as a fifty-cent piece; put about half +a spoonful of marmalade or jam on it, in places about +an inch apart, wet lightly round each, and place a piece +of paste over all; take a small round cutter as large as +a dollar, and press round the part where the marmalade +or jam is with the thick part of the cutter; then cut +them out with a cutter a size larger, lay them on a baking +tin, brush over with white of egg; then cut some little +rings the size of a quarter dollar, put one on each, egg +over again, and bake twenty minutes in a nice hot oven; +then sift white sugar all over, put them back in the oven +to glaze; a little red currant jelly in each ring looks +pretty; serve in the form of a pyramid.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span><span class="smcap">Pastry Tablets.</span>—Cut strips of paste three inches +and a half long, and an inch and a half wide, and as +thick as a twenty-five cent piece; lay on half of them +a thin filmy layer of jam or marmalade, not jelly; then +on each lay a strip without jam, and bake in a quick +oven. When the paste is well risen and brown, take +them out, glaze them with white of egg and sugar, +and sprinkle chopped almonds over them; return to +the oven till the glazing is set and the almonds just +colored; serve them hot or cold on a napkin piled log-cabin +fashion.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frangipané Tartlets.</span>—One quarter pint of cream, +four yolks of eggs, two ounces of flour, three macaroons, +four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, the peel of a +grated lemon, and a little citron cut very fine, a little +brandy and orange-flower water. Put all the ingredients, +except the eggs, in a saucepan—of course you will +mix the flour smooth in the cream first—let them +come to a boil slowly, stirring to prevent lumps; +when the flour smells cooked, take it off the fire for +a minute, then stir the beaten yolks of eggs into it. +Stand the saucepan in another of boiling water and return +to the stove, stirring till the eggs seem done—about +five minutes, if the water boils all the time. Line patty +pans with puff paste, and fill with frangipané and bake. +Ornament with chopped almonds and meringue, or not, +as you please.</p> + +<p>It is very difficult to make fine puff paste in warm +weather, and almost impossible without ice; for this +reason I think the brioche paste preferable; but if it +is necessary to have it for any purpose, you must take +the following precautions:</p> + +<p>Have your water iced; have your butter as firm as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> +possible by being kept on ice till the last moment; make +the paste in the coolest place you have, and under the +breeze of an open window, if possible; make it the day +before you use it, and put it on the ice between every +"turn," as each rolling out is technically called; then +leave it on the ice, as you use it, taking pieces from it as +you need them, so that the warmth cannot soften the +whole at once, when it would become quite unmanageable. +The condition of the oven is a very important +matter, and I cannot do better than transcribe the rules +given by Gouffé, by which you may test its fitness for +any purpose:</p> + +<p>Put half a sheet of writing paper in the oven; if it +catches fire it is too hot; open the dampers and wait +ten minutes, when put in another piece of paper; if it +blackens it is still too hot. Ten minutes later put in a +third piece; if it <i>gets dark brown</i> the oven is right for +all small pastry. Called "<i>dark brown paper heat</i>." +<i>Light brown paper heat</i> is suitable for <i>vol-au-vents</i> or +fruit pies. <i>Dark yellow paper heat</i> for large pieces of +pastry or meat pies, pound cake, bread, etc. <i>Light yellow +paper heat</i> for sponge cake, meringues, etc.</p> + +<p>To obtain these various degrees of heat, you try paper +every ten minutes till the heat required for your purpose +is attained. But remember that "light yellow" means +the paper only tinged; "dark yellow," the paper the +color of ordinary pine wood; "light brown" is only a +shade darker, about the color of nice pie-crust, and dark +brown a shade darker, by no means coffee color.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">what to have in your store-room.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> great trouble with many young housekeepers is +betrayed by the common remark, "Cookery books always +require so many things that one never has in the +house, and they coolly order you to 'moisten with gravy,' +'take a little gravy,' as if you had only to go to the pump +and get it." It is very true that economy in cooking is +much aided by having a supply of various condiments; +warmed-over meat may then be converted into a delicious +little entrée with little trouble. I would recommend, +therefore, any one who is in earnest about reforming +her dinner table to begin by expending a few dollars in +the following articles:</p> + +<table width="100%" summary="articles" border="0"> + +<tr> +<td class="ar15">1 bottle of</td> +<td class="ar35">capers,</td> +<td class="ar15">1 bottle of</td> +<td class="ar35">claret,</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">olives,</td> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">white wine,</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">gherkins,</td> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">sherry for cooking,</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">soy,</td> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">brandy,</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">anchovies,</td> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">Harvey sauce,</td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">tarragon vinegar,</td> +<td class="ar15c">"</td> +<td class="ar35">walnut ketchup.</td> +</tr> + + +</table> + +<p>And a package of compressed vegetables and a few bay leaves.</p> + +<p>Ten dollars thus spent may seem a good deal of money +to a young housewife trying to make her husband's salary +go as far as it will; but I assure her it is in the end an +economy, especially in a small family, who are so apt to +get tired of seeing the same thing, that it has to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> +thrown or given away. With these condiments and +others I have yet to mention you will have no trouble +in using every scrap; not using it and eating it from a +sense of duty, and wishing it was something better, but +enjoying it. With your store-room well provided, you +can indeed go for gravy "as if to the pump."</p> + +<p>Besides the foregoing list of articles to be bought of +any good grocer, there are others which can be made at +home to advantage, and once made are always ready. +Mushroom powder I prefer for any use to mushroom +catsup; it is easily made and its uses are infinite. +Sprinkled over steak (when it must be sifted) or chops, +it is delicious. For ordinary purposes, such as flavoring +soup or gravy, it need not be sifted. To prepare it, take +a peck of large and very fresh mushrooms, look them over +carefully that they are not wormy, then cleanse them +with a piece of flannel from sand or grit, then peel them +and put them in the sun or a cool oven to dry; they require +long, slow drying, and must become in a state to +crumble. Your peck will have diminished by the process +into half a pint or less of mushroom powder, but +you have the means with it of making a rich gravy at a +few minutes' notice.</p> + +<p>Apropos of gravies—that much-vexed question in +small households—for without gravies on hand you cannot +make good hash, or many other things that are miserable +without, and excellent with it. Yet how difficult +it is to have gravy always on hand every mistress of a +small family knows, in spite of the constant advice to +"save your trimming to make stock." Do by all means +save your bones, gristle, odds and ends of meat of all +kinds, and convert them into broth; but even if you +do, it often happens that the days you have done so no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> +gravy is required, and then it sours quickly in summer, +although it may be arrested by reboiling. In no family +of three or four are there odds and ends enough, unless +there is a very extravagant table kept, to insure stock for +every day. My remedy for this, then, is to make a +stock that will keep for months or years—in other words, +<i>glaze</i>. So very rarely forming part of a housewife's +stores, yet so valuable that the fact is simply astonishing; +with a piece of glaze, you have a dish of soup on +an emergency, rich gravy for any purpose, and all with +the expenditure of less time than would make a pot of +sweetmeats.</p> + +<p>Take six pounds of a knuckle of veal or leg of beef, +cut it in pieces the size of an egg, as also half a pound +of lean ham; then rub a quarter of a pound of butter on +the bottom of your pot, which should hold two gallons; +then put in the meat with half a pint of water, three +middle-sized onions, with two cloves in each, a turnip, a +carrot, and a <i>small</i> head of celery; then place over a +quick fire, occasionally stirring it round, until the bottom +of the pot is covered with a thick glaze, which will +adhere lightly to the spoon; then fill up the pot with +cold water, and when on the boiling point, draw it to the +back of the stove, where it may gently simmer three +hours, if veal, six if beef, carefully skimming it to remove +scum. This stock, as it is, will make a delicious +foundation, with the addition of salt, for all kinds of +clear soup or gravies. To reduce it to glaze proceed as +follows: Pass the stock through a fine hair sieve or +cloth into a pan; then fill up the pot again with <i>hot</i> +water, and let it boil four hours longer to obtain all the +glutinous part from the meat; strain, and pour both +stocks in a large pot or stew-pan together; set it over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> +fire, and let it boil as fast as possible with the lid off, +leaving a large spoon in it to prevent it boiling over, and +to stir occasionally. When reduced to about three pints, +pour it into a small stew-pan or saucepan, set again to +boil, but more slowly, skimming it if necessary; when +it is reduced to a quart, set it where it will again boil +quickly, stirring it well with a wooden spoon until it +begins to get thick and of a fine yellowish-brown color; +at this point be careful it does not burn.</p> + +<p>You may either pour it into a pot for use, or, what is +more convenient for making gravies, get a sausage skin +from your butcher, cut a yard of it, tie one end very +tightly, then pour into it by means of a large funnel the +glaze; from this cut slices for use. A thick slice dissolved +in hot water makes a cup of nutritious soup, into +which you may put any cooked vegetables, or rice, or +barley. A piece is very useful to take on a journey, +especially for an invalid who does not want to depend on +wayside hotel food, or is tired of beef-tea.</p> + +<p>The foregoing is the orthodox recipe for glaze, and if +you have to buy meat for the purpose the very best way +in which you can make it; but if it happen that you +have some strong meat soup or jelly, for which you have +no use while fresh, then boil it down till it is thick and +brown (not burnt); it will be excellent glaze; not so fine +in flavor, perhaps, but it preserves to good use what +would otherwise be lost. Very many people do not +know the value of pork for making jelly. If you live in +the country and kill a pig, use his hocks for making glaze +instead of beef.</p> + +<p>Glaze also adds much to the beauty of many dishes. +If roast beef is not quite brown enough on any one spot +set your jar of glaze—for this purpose it is well to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> +some put in a jar as well as in the skin—in boiling water. +Keep a small stiff brush; such as are sold for the purpose +at house-furnishing stores, called a glazing brush, +are best; but you may manage with any other or even a +stiff feather. When the glaze softens, as glue would do, +brush over your meat with it, it will give the lacking +brown; or, if you have a ham or tongue you wish to +decorate you may "varnish" it, as it were, with the +melted glaze; then when cold beat some fresh butter to +a white cream, and with a kitchen syringe, if you have +one, a stiff paper funnel if you have not, trace any +design you please on the glazed surface; this makes a +very handsome dish, and if your ham has been properly +boiled will be very satisfactory to the palate. Of the +boiling of ham I will speak in another chapter.</p> + +<p>I have a few more articles to recommend for your +store-room, and then I think you will find yourself equal +to the emergency of providing an elegant little meal if +called upon unexpectedly, provided you have any cold +scraps at all in the house, and <i>maître d'hôtel</i> butter.</p> + +<p>To make the latter, take half a pound of fine butter, +one tablespoonful of very fresh parsley, chopped not too +fine, salt, pepper, and a small tablespoonful of lemon +juice; mix together, but do not work more than sufficient +for that purpose, and pack in a jar, keeping it in a +cool place. A tablespoonful of this laid in a hot dish +on which you serve beefsteak, chops, or any kind of fish, +is a great addition, and turns plain boiled potatoes into +<i>pomme de terre à la maître d'hôtel</i>. It is excellent with +stewed potatoes, or added to anything for which parsley +is needed, and not always at hand; a spoonful with half +the quantity of flour stirred into a gill of milk or water +makes the renowned <i>maître d'hôtel</i> sauce (or English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> +parsley butter) for boiled fish, mutton, or veal. In +short, it is one of the most valuable things to have in +the house. Equally valuable, even, and more elegant is +the preparation known as "Ravigotte" or Montpellier +butter.</p> + +<p>Take one pound in equal quantities of chervil, tarragon, +burnet (pimpernel), chives, and garden cress (peppergrass); +scald <i>two</i> minutes, drain quite dry; pound in +a mortar three hard eggs, three anchovies, and one scant +ounce of pickled cucumbers, and same quantity of capers +well pressed to extract the vinegar; add salt, pepper, and +a bit of garlic half as large as a pea, rub all through a +sieve; then put a pound of fine butter into the mortar, +which must be well cleansed from the herbs, add the +herbs, with two tablespoonfuls of oil and one of tarragon +vinegar, mix perfectly, and if not of a fine green, add +the juice of some pounded spinach.</p> + +<p>This is the celebrated "<i>beurre de Montpellier</i>" sold +in Paris in tiny jars at a high price. Ravigotte is the +same thing, only in place of the eggs, anchovies, pickles, +and capers, put half a pound more butter; it is good, but +less piquant.</p> + +<p>Pack in a jar, and keep cool. This butter is excellent +for many purposes. For salad, beaten with oil, +vinegar, and yolks of eggs, as for mayonnaise, it makes +a delicious dressing. For cold meat or fish it is excellent, +and also for chops.</p> + +<p>Two or three other articles serve to simplify the art of +cooking in its especially difficult branches, and in the +branches a lady finds difficult to attend to herself without +remaining in the kitchen until the last minute before +dinner; but with the aid of blanc and roux a fairly +intelligent girl can make excellent sauces.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span>For roux melt slowly half a pound of butter over the +fire, skim it, let it settle, then dredge in eight ounces of +fine flour, stir it till it is of a bright brown, then put +away in a jar for use.</p> + +<p>Blanc is the same thing, only it is not allowed to +brown; it should be stirred only enough to make all hot +through, then put away in a jar.</p> + +<p>If you need thickening for a white sauce and do not +wish to stand over it yourself, having taught your cook +the simple fact that a piece of blanc put into the milk +<i>before it boils</i> (or it will harden instead of melt) and +allowed to dissolve, stirring constantly, will make the +sauce you wish, she will be able at all times to produce +a white sauce that you need not be ashamed of. When +the sauce is nearly ready to serve, stir in a good piece of +butter—a large spoonful to half a pint; when mixed, +the sauce is ready. Brown sauce can always be made +by taking a cup of broth or soup and dissolving in the +same way a piece of the roux; and also, if desired, a +piece of Montpellier butter. If there is no soup of course +you make it with a piece of glaze.</p> + +<p>Brown flour is also a convenient thing to have ready; +it is simply cooking flour in the oven until it is a <i>pale</i> +brown; if it is allowed to get dark it will be bitter, and, +that it may brown evenly, it requires to be laid on a large +flat baking pan and stirred often. Useful for thickening +stews, hash, etc.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">luncheon.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luncheon</span> is usually, in this country, either a forlorn +meal of cold meat or hash, or else a sort of early dinner, +both of which are a mistake. If it is veritably <i>luncheon</i>, +and not early dinner, it should be as unlike that later +meal as possible for variety's sake, and, in any but very +small families, there are so many dishes more suitable +for luncheon than any other meal, that it is easy to +have great variety with very little trouble.</p> + +<p>I wish it were more the fashion here to have many of +the cold dishes which are popular on the other side the +Atlantic; and, in spite of the fact that table prejudices +are very difficult to get over, I will append a few recipes +in the hope that some lady, more progressive than prejudiced, +may give them a trial, convinced that their excellence, +appearance, and convenience will win them +favor.</p> + +<p>By having most dishes cold at luncheon, it makes it a +distinct meal from the hot breakfast and dinner. In +summer, the cold food and a salad is especially refreshing; +in winter, a nice hot soup or purée—thick soup is +preferable at luncheon to clear, which is well fitted to +precede a heavy meal—and some savory <i>entrée</i> are very +desirable, while cold raised pie, galantine, jellied fish, and +potted meats may ever, at that season, find their appropriate +place on the luncheon table. The potatoes, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> +are the only vegetable introduced at strict lunch, should +be prepared in some fancy manner, as croquettes, mashed +and browned, <i>à la maître d'hôtel</i>, or in snow. The latter +mode is pretty and novel; I will, therefore, include it +in my recipes for luncheon dishes. Omelets, too, are +excellent at luncheon.</p> + +<p>In these remarks I am thinking especially of large +families, whose luncheon table might be provided with +a dish of galantine, one of collared fish, and a meat pie, +besides the steak, cutlets, or warmed-over meat, without +anything going to waste. In winter most cold jellied +articles will keep a fortnight, and in summer three or +four days.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Windsor Pie.</span>—Take slices of veal cutlet, half an +inch thick, and very thin slices of lean boiled ham; put +at the bottom of one of these veal-pie dishes or "bakers," +about two to three inches deep, a layer of the veal, +seasoned, then one of ham, then one of force-meat, made +as follows: Take a little veal, or if you have sausage-meat +ready-made, it will do, as much fine dry bread-crumbs, +a dessert-spoonful of <i>finely</i> chopped parsley, in +which is a salt-spoonful of powdered thyme, savory, and +marjoram, if you have them, with salt and pepper, and +mix with enough butter to make it a crumbling paste; +lay a <i>thin</i> layer of this on the ham, then another of veal, +then ham and force-meat again, until the dish is quite +full. Lay something flat upon it, and then a weight for +an hour. You must have prepared, from bones and +scraps of veal, about a pint of stiff veal jelly; pour this +over the meat, and then take strips of rich puff paste +(the <i>brioche</i> paste would be excellent in hot weather), +wet the edge of the dish, and lay the strips round, pressing +them lightly to the dish; roll the cover a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> +larger than the top of the dish, and lay it on, first wetting +the surface, <i>not the edge</i>, of the strips round the +lips of the dish; press the two together, then make a hole +in the center and ornament as you please; but I never +ornament the <i>edge</i> of a pie, as it is apt to prevent the +paste from rising. An appropriate and simple ornament +for meat pies is to roll a piece of paste very thin, cut it +in four diamond-shaped pieces, put one point of each to +the hole in the center so that you have one on each end, +and one each side, then roll another little piece of paste +as thin as possible, flour it and double it, then double it +again, bring all the corners together in your hand, like +a little bundle, then with a sharp knife give a quick cut +over the top of the ball of paste, cutting quite deeply, +then another across; if your cut has been clean and +quick, you will now be able to turn half back the leaves +of paste as if it were a half-blown rose. The ends which +you have gathered together in your hand are to be inserted +in the hole in the center of the pie. Then brush +over with yolk of egg beaten very well in a little milk or +water, and bake an hour and a half.</p> + +<p>This way of covering and ornamenting a pie is appropriate +for all meat pies; pigeon pie should, however, +have the little red feet skinned by dipping in boiling +water, then rubbed in a cloth, when skin and nails peel +off; if allowed to lie in the water, the flesh comes too; +then one pair is put at each end of the pie, a hole being +cut to insert them, or four are put in the center instead +of the rose.</p> + +<p>The Windsor pie is intended to be eaten cold, as are all +veal and ham pies, the beauty of the jelly being lost in +a hot pie. Do not fail to try it on that account, for +cold pies are excellent things.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span><span class="smcap">Another veal and ham pie</span>, more usual, and probably +the "weal and hammer" that "mellered the organ" +of Silas Wegg, was manufactured by Mrs. Boffin from +this recipe; it is as follows:</p> + +<p>Take the thick part of breast of veal, removing all the +bones, which put on for gravy, stewing them long and +slowly; put a layer of veal, pepper and salt, then a thin +sprinkling of ham; if boiled, cut in slices; if raw, cut a +slice in dice, which scald before using, then more veal +and again ham. If force-meat balls are liked, make +some force-meat as for Windsor pie, using if you prefer it +chopped hard-boiled eggs in place of chopped meat, and +binding into a paste with a raw egg; then make into +balls, which drop into the crevices of the pie; boil two +or three eggs quite hard, cut each in four and lay them +round the sides and over the top, pour in about a gill of +gravy, and cover the same as the Windsor pie. In either +of these pies the force-meat may be left out, a sweetbread +cut up, or mushrooms put in.</p> + +<p>A chicken pie to eat cold is very fine made in this way.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Raised pork pies</span> are so familiar to every one who has +visited England, and, in spite of the greasy idea, are so +very good, that I introduce a well-tried recipe, feeling +sure any one who eats pork at all will find it worth while +to give them a trial; they will follow it with many another.</p> + +<p>The paste for them is made as follows:</p> + +<p>Rub into two pounds of flour a liberal half pound of +butter, then melt in half a pint of hot, but not boiling +milk, another half pound—or it may be lard; pour this +into the flour, and knead it into a smooth, firm paste. +Properly raised pies should be molded by hand, and I will +endeavor to describe the method in case any persevering +lady would like to try and have the orthodox thing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> +But pie molds of tin, opening at the side, are to be +bought, and save much trouble; the mold, if used, should +be well buttered, and the pie taken out when done, and +returned to the oven for the sides to brown.</p> + +<p>To "raise" a pie, proceed thus: While the paste is +warm, form a ball of paste into a cone; then with the +fist work inside it, till it forms an oval cup; continue to +knead till you have the walls of an even thickness, then +pinch a fold all around the bottom. If properly done, +you have an oval, flat-bottomed crust, with sides about +two inches high; fill this with pork, fat and lean +together, well peppered and salted; then work an oval +cover, as near the size of the bottom cover as you can, +and wet the edges of the wall, lay the cover on, and +pinch to match the bottom; ornament as directed for +Windsor pie, wash with egg, and bake a pale brown in a +moderate oven; they must be well cooked, or the meat +will not be good. One containing a pound of meat may +be cooked an hour and a quarter. All these pies are +served in slices, cut through to the bottom.</p> + +<p>Galantines are very handsome dishes, not very difficult +to make, and generally popular. I give a recipe for a +very simple and delicious one:</p> + +<p>Take a fine breast of veal, remove all gristle, tendons, +bones, and trim to fifteen inches in length and eight +wide; use the trimmings and bones to help make the +jelly, then put on the meat a layer of force-meat made +thus: Take one pound of sausage meat, or lean veal, to +which add half a pound of bread-crumbs, parsley and +thyme to taste; grate a <i>little</i> nutmeg, pepper, salt, and +the juice of half a lemon; have also some long strips an +inch thick of fat bacon or pork, and lean of veal, and +lean ham, well seasoned with pepper, salt, and finely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> +chopped shallots. Lay on the meat a layer of force-meat +an inch thick, leaving an inch and a half on each +side uncovered; then lay on your strips of ham, veal, +and bacon fat, alternately; then another of force-meat, +but only half an inch thick, as too much force-meat +will spoil the appearance of the dish; if you have any +cold tongue, lay some strips in, also a few blanched +pistachio nuts (to be obtained of a confectioner) will +give the appearance of true French galantine. Roll up +the veal, and sew it with a packing or coarse needle and +fine twine, tie it firmly up in a piece of linen. Observe +that you do not put your pistachio nuts amid the force-meat, +where, being green, their appearance would be lost; +put them in crevices of the meats.</p> + +<p>Cook this in sufficient water to cover, in which you +must have the trimmings of the breast and a knuckle of +veal, or hock of pork, two onions, a carrot, half a head +of celery, two cloves, a blade of mace, and a good bunch +of parsley, thyme and bay leaf, two ounces of salt. Set +the pot on the fire till it is at boiling point, then draw +it to the back and let it simmer three hours, skimming +carefully; then take it from the fire, leaving it in the +stock till nearly cold; then take it out, remove the string +from the napkin, and roll the galantine up tighter—if +too tight at first it will be hard—tying the napkin at +each end only; then place it on a dish, set another dish +on it, on which place a fourteen-pound weight; this will +cause it to cut firm. When quite cold, remove strings +and cloth, and it is ready to be ornamented with jelly. +When the stock in which the galantine was cooked is cold +take off the fat and clarify it, first trying, however, if it +is in right condition, by putting a little on ice. If it is +not stiff enough to cut firm, you must reduce it by boil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span>ing; +if too stiff, that is approaching glaze, add a <i>little</i> +water, then clarify by adding whites of eggs, as directed +to clarify soup (see soups). A glass of sherry and two +spoonfuls of tarragon or common vinegar are a great +improvement. Some people like this jelly cut in dice, +to ornament the galantine, part of it may then also serve +to ornament other dishes at the table. But I prefer to +have the galantine enveloped in jelly, which may be done +by putting it in an oblong soup tureen or other vessel +that will contain it, leaving an inch space all round, +then pouring the jelly over it.</p> + +<p>Jellied fish is a favorite dish with many, and is very +simple to prepare; it is also very ornamental. Take +flounders or almost any flat fish that is cheapest at the +time you require them. Clean and scrape them, cut +them in small pieces, but do not cut off the fins; put +them in a stew-pan with a few small button onions or +one large one, a half teaspoonful of sugar, a glass of +sherry, a dessert-spoonful of lemon juice, and a small +bunch of parsley. To one large flounder put a quart of +water, and if you are going to jelly oysters put in their +liquor and a little salt. Stew long and slowly, skimming +well; then strain, and if not perfectly clear clarify +as elsewhere directed. (See if your stock jellies, by trying +it on ice before you clarify.) Now take a mold, put +in it pieces of cold salmon, eels that have been cooked, +or oysters, the latter only just cooked enough in the +stock to plump them; pour a little of the jelly in the +mold, then three or four half slices of lemon, then oysters +or the cold fish, until the mold is near full, disposing +the lemon so that it will be near the sides and +decorate the jelly; then pour the rest of the jelly over +all and stand in boiling water for a few minutes, then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> +put it in a cold place, on ice is best, for some hours. +When about to serve, dip the mold in hot water, turn +out on a dish, garnish with lettuce leaves or parsley and +hard-boiled eggs. The latter may be introduced into +the jelly cut in quarters if it is desired; very ornamental +force-meat balls made bright green with spinach juice +are also an improvement in appearance.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A New Mayonnaise</span> (Soyer's).—Put a quarter of a +pint of stiff veal jelly (that has been nicely flavored with +vegetables) on ice in a bowl, whisking it till it is a white +froth; then add half a pint of salad oil and six spoonfuls +of tarragon vinegar, <i>by degrees</i>, first oil, then vinegar, +continually whisking till it forms a white, smooth, +sauce-like cream; season with half a teaspoonful of salt, +a quarter ditto of white pepper, and a very little sugar, +whisk it a little more and it is ready. It should be +dressed pyramidically over the article it is served with. +The advantage of this sauce is that (although more delicate +than any other) you may dress it to any height +you like, and it will remain so any length of time; if +the temperature is cool, it will remain hours without +appearing greasy or melting. It is absolutely necessary, +however, that it should be prepared on ice.</p> + +<p>All these dishes, however, are only adapted for large +families, but there are several ways of improving on the +ordinary lunch table of very small ones. And nothing +is more pleasant for the mistress of one of these very +small families than to have a friend drop in to lunch, +and have a <i>recherché</i> lunch to offer with little trouble. +Warming over will aid her in this, and to that chapter +I refer her; but there are one or two ways of having +cold relishes always ready, which help out an impromptu +meal wonderfully.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span>Potted meats are a great resource to English housekeepers; +this side the Atlantic they are chiefly known +through the medium of Cross & Blackwell, though latterly +one or two American firms have introduced some +very admirable articles of the sort. Home-made potted +meats are, however, better and less expensive than those +bought; they should be packed away in jars, Liebig's +extract of meat jars not being too small for the purpose, +as, while covered with the fat they keep well; once +opened, they require eating within a week or ten days, +except in very cold weather.</p> + +<p>Potted bloater is one of the least expensive and appetizing +of all potted meats. To make it, take two or three +or more bloaters, cut off the heads and cleanse them, put +them in the oven long enough to cook them through; +take them out, take off the skin, and remove the meat +from the bones carefully; put the meat of the fish in a +jar with half its weight of butter, leave it to <i>slowly</i> cook +in a cool oven for an hour, then take it out, put the fish +into a mortar or strong dish, pour the butter on it carefully, +but don't let the gravy pass too, unless the fish is +to be eaten very quickly, as it would prevent it keeping. +Beat both butter and fish till they form a paste, add a +little cayenne, and press it into small pots, pouring on +each melted butter, or mutton suet. Either should be +the third of an inch thick on the bloater. This makes +excellent sandwiches.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Potted Ham.</span>—Take any remains of ham you have, +even fried, if of a nice quality, is good for the purpose; +take away all stringy parts, sinew, or gristle, put it in a +slow oven with its weight of butter, let it stay macerating +in the butter till very tender, then beat it in a mortar, +add cayenne, and pack in pots in the same way as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> +the bloater. Thus you may pot odds and ends of any +meat or fish you have, and as a little potted meat goes a +long way, when you have a little lobster, a bit of chicken +breast, or even cold veal, I advise you to use it in this +way; you will then have a little stock of dainties in the +house to fall back on at any time for unexpected calls—a +very important thing in the country.</p> + +<p>Potted chicken or veal requires either a little tongue +or lean ham to give flavor; but failing these, a little +ravigotte butter, beaten in after the meat is well +pounded, is by no means a bad substitute.</p> + +<p>Many people like the flavor of anchovies, but do not +like the idea of eating raw fish; for these anchovy butter +is very acceptable.</p> + +<p>Take the anchovies out of the liquor in which they are +packed, but do not wash them, put them in twice their +weight of butter in a jar, which stand in boiling water; +set all back of the stove for an hour, then pound, add +cayenne, and pack in glasses.</p> + +<p>Unexpected company to luncheon with a lady who has +to eat that meal alone generally, and (as is the unwise +way of such ladies) makes it a very slender meal, is one +of the ordeals of a young housekeeper; company to lunch +and nothing in the house. But there is generally a +dainty luncheon in every house if you know how to prepare +it; there certainly always will be if you keep your +store-room supplied with the things I have named. Let +the table be prettily laid at all times, then if you have +potted meat and preserves, have them put on the table. +Are there cold potatoes? If so cut them up into potato +salad, if they are whole; if broken, warm them in a +wineglass of milk, a teaspoonful of flour, and a piece +as large as an egg of <i>maître d'hôtel</i> butter. Have you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> +such scraps of cold meat as could not come to table? Toss +them up with a half cup of water, a slice of glaze (oh, +blessed ever-ready glaze!) a teaspoonful of ravigotte, or +<i>maître d'hôtel</i>, and a teaspoonful of roux or blanc, according +as your meat is light or dark, season, and serve. +Or you have no meat, then you have eggs, and what better +than an omelet and such an omelet as the following? +Take the crumb of a slice of bread, soak it in hot milk +(cold will do, but hot is better), beat up whites of four +eggs to a high froth; mix the bread with all the milk it +will absorb, <i>no more</i>, into a paste, add the yolks of eggs +with a little salt, set the pan on the fire with an ounce of +butter. Let it get very hot, then mix the whites of eggs +with the yolks and bread lightly, pour in the pan, and +move about for a minute; if the oven is hot, when the +omelet is brown underneath, set the pan in the oven +for five minutes, or until the top is set; then double +half over, and serve. If your guests have a liking for +sweets, and your potted meats supply the savory part of +your luncheon, then have a brown gravy ready to serve +with it. Put into a half cup of boiling water a slice of +glaze, a spoonful of roux, and enough Harvey sauce, or +mushroom powder, to flavor. If your omelet is to be +sweet, before you fold it put in a layer of preserves.</p> + +<p>The advantage of the omelet I have here given is +that it keeps plump and tender till cold, so that five +minutes of waiting does not turn it into leather, the +great objection with omelets generally.</p> + +<p>Potatoes for luncheon, as I have said, should always +be prepared in some fancy way, and snow is a very pretty +one. Have some fine mealy potatoes boiled, carefully +poured off, and set back of the stove with a cloth over +them till they are quite dry and fall apart; then have a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> +colander, or coarse wire sieve made <i>hot</i> and a <i>hot</i> dish in +which to serve them, pass the floury potatoes through +the sieve, taking care not to crush the snow as it falls. +You require a large dish heaping full, and be careful +it is kept hot.</p> + +<p>This mode of preparing potatoes, although very pretty +and novel, must never be attempted with any but the +whitest and mealiest kind.</p> + +<p>The remains of cold potatoes may be prepared thus: +Put three ounces of butter in a frying-pan in which fry +three onions sliced till tender, but not very brown, then +put on the potatoes cut in slices, and shake them till +they are of a nice brown color, put a spoonful of chopped +parsley, salt, pepper, and juice of a lemon, shake well +that all may mix together, dish, and serve very hot.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">a chapter on general management in very +small families.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">A very</span> small family, "a young <i>ménage</i>," for instance, +is very much more difficult to cater for without +waste than a larger one; two people are so apt to get tired +of anything, be it ever so good eating, when it has been +on the table once or twice; therefore it would be useless +to make galantine or the large pies I have indicated, except +for occasions when guests are expected; but, as I +hope to aid young housekeepers to have nice dishes when +alone, I will devote this chapter to their needs.</p> + +<p>The chapter on "Warming Over" will be very useful +also to this large class.</p> + +<p>In the first place it is well to have regard, when part +of a dish leaves the table, as to whether it, or any particular +part of it, will make a nice little cold dish, or a <i>rechauffé</i>; +in that case have it saved, unless it is required +for the servants' dinner (it is well to manage so that it is +not needed for that purpose); for instance, if there is the +wing and a slice or two of the breast of a chicken left, it +will make a dainty little breakfast dish, or cold, in jelly, +be nice for lunch. There is always jelly if you have +roast chicken, if you manage properly, and this is how +you do it:</p> + +<p>Carefully save the feet, throat, gizzard, and liver of +your chickens; scald the feet by pouring boiling water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> +over them; leave them just a minute, and pull off the +outer skin and nails; they come away very readily, leaving +the feet delicately white; put these with the other +giblets, properly cleansed, into a small saucepan with an +onion, a slice of carrot, a sprig of parsley, and a pint of +water (if you have the giblets of one chicken), if of +two, put a quart; let this <i>slowly</i> simmer for two hours +and a half; it will be reduced to about half, and form a +stiff jelly when cold; a glass of sherry, and squeeze of +lemon, or teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar, makes this +into a delicious aspic, and should be added if to be eaten +cold. The jelly must of course be strained.</p> + +<p>In roasting chickens, if you follow the rule for meat, +that is, put no water in the pan, but a piece of butter, and +dredge a <i>very little</i> flour over the chicken, you will have +a nice brown glaze at the bottom of the pan, provided +it has been cooked in a <i>quick oven</i>; if in a cool oven +there will be nothing brown at all; but we will suppose +the bird is browned to a turn; pour your gravy from the +giblets into the pan, take off every bit of the glaze or +osma-zone that adheres, and let it dissolve, rubbing it +with the back of the spoon; then, if you are likely to +have any chicken left cold, pour off a little gravy in a +cup through a fine strainer, leaving in your pan sufficient +for the dinner; in this mash up the liver till it is +a smooth paste which thickens the gravy, and serve. +Some object to liver, therefore the use of it is a matter +of taste. If you dress the chickens English fashion, you +will <i>need</i> the liver and gizzard to tuck under the wings; +in this case, stew only the feet and throat, using a little +meat of any kind, if you have it, to take their place; +but on no account fail to use the feet, as they are as rich +in jelly as calves' feet in proportion to their size.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span>The jelly laid aside will be enough to ornament and +give relish to a little dish of cold chicken, and changes +it from a dry and commonplace thing to a <i>recherché</i> one. +If two chickens are cooked it is more economical than +one; there is, then, double the amount of gravy, generally +sufficient, if you lay some very nice pieces of cold +chicken in a bowl, to pour over it and leave it enveloped +in jelly; you still then, if from dinner for two people, +have perhaps joints enough to make a dish of curry or +fricassee, or any of the many ways in which cold chicken +may be used, for which see chapter on "<i>Warming Over</i>."</p> + +<p>For small households large joints are to be avoided, +but even a small roast is a large joint when there are but +two or three to eat it. For this reason it is a good plan +to buy such joints as divide well. A sirloin of beef is +better made into two fine dishes than into one roast, +and then warmed over twice. Every one knows that +"<i>Filet de bœuf Chateaubriand</i>" is one of the classical +dishes of the French table, that to a Frenchman luxury +can go no further; but every one does not know how +entirely within his power it is to have that dish as often +as he has roast beef; how convenient it would be to so +have it. Here it is: When your sirloin roast comes from +the butcher, take out the tenderloin or fillets, which you +must always choose thick; cut it across into steaks an +inch thick, trim them, cover them with a coat of butter +(or oil, which is much better), and broil them ten minutes, +turning them often; garnish with fried potatoes, +and serve with <i>sauce Chateaubriand</i>, as follows: Put a +gill of white wine (or claret will do if you have no +white) into a saucepan, with a piece of glaze, weighing +an ounce and a half; add three quarters of a pint of +<i>espagnole</i>, and simmer fifteen minutes; when ready to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> +serve, thicken with two ounces of <i>maître d'hôtel</i> butter +in which a dessert-spoonful of flour has been worked. +That is how Jules Gouffé's recipe runs; but, as no small +family will keep <i>espagnole</i> ready made, allow a little more +glaze (of course the recipe as given may be divided to +half or quarter, provided the correct proportions are +retained), and use a tablespoonful of roux and the <i>maître +d'hôtel</i> butter, both of which you have probably in your +store-room; if not, brown a little flour, chop some parsley, +and add to two ounces of butter; work them together, +then let them dissolve in the sauce, for which +purpose let it go off the boil; let the sauce simmer a +minute, skim, and serve.</p> + +<p>The sirloin of beef, denuded of its fillet, is still a good +roast; and as you can't have your cake and eat it too, +and hot fresh roast beef is better than the same warmed +over, warm ye never so wisely, I think this plan may +commend itself to those who like nice <i>little</i> dinners.</p> + +<p>A nice little dinner of a soup, an <i>entrée</i>, or made dish, +salad, and dessert, really costs no more than frequent +roast meat, or even steak and pudding, by following +some such plan as this:</p> + +<p>Sunday.—<i>Pot-au-feu</i> and roast lamb, leg of mutton +or other good joint, etc.</p> + +<p>Monday.—Rice or vermicelli soup made with remains +of the <i>bouillon</i> from <i>pot-au-feu</i>. If the Sunday joint +was a fore or hindquarter of lamb it should have been +divided, say the leg from the loin, thus providing choice +roasts for two days, and yet having enough cold lamb—that +favorite dish with so many—for luncheon with a salad; +and, surprising to say, after hot roast lamb for dinner +Sunday, cold lunch for Monday, another roast Monday, +and cold or warmed up for lunch Tuesday, there will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> +still be (supposing as I do, in preparing this chapter, +that the family consists only of gentleman, lady, and servant) +remains enough from the two cold joints to make +cromesquis of lamb (see recipe), a little dish of mince, or +a delicate <i>sauté</i> of lamb for breakfast. It is surprising +what may be done with odds and ends in a small family; +a tiny plate of pieces, far too small to make an appearance +on the table, and which, if special directions +are not given, will seem to Bridget not worth saving, +will, with each piece dipped into the batter <i>à la Carême</i>, +and fried in hot fat, make a tempting dish for breakfast, +or an <i>entrée</i> for dinner or luncheon. Two tablespoonfuls +only of chopped meat of any kind will make croquettes +for two or three people; hence, 'save the pieces.' But +to return to our bills of fare: I have given the two roasts +of lamb for consecutive days, because the weather in +lamb season is usually too warm to keep it; when this +can be done, however, it is pleasanter to leave the second +joint of lamb till Tuesday. Should a forequarter (abroad +held in greater esteem than the hindquarter) have been +chosen, get the butcher to take out the shoulder in one +round thick joint, English fashion; this crisply roasted +is far more delicious than the leg; you then have the +chops to be breaded, and an excellent dish of the neck +and breast, either broiled, curried, stewed with peas, or +roast.</p> + +<p>Yet how often we see a whole quarter of lamb put in +the oven for two or three people who get tired of the +sight of it cold, yet feel in economy bound to eat it.</p> + +<p>Should sirloin of beef have been the Sunday dinner, +you will know what to do with it, from directions already +given; and as a sirloin of beef, even with the fillet +out, will be more than required for one dinner, it may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> +serve for a third day, dressed in one of the various ways +I shall give in chapter on "Warming Over." You have +still at your disposal the bouilli or beef from which you +have made your <i>pot-au-feu</i>, which, if it has been carefully +boiled, not galloped, nor allowed to fall to rags, is +very good eating. Cut thin with lettuce, or in winter +celery, in about equal quantities, and a good salad dressing, +it is excellent; or, made into hash, fritadella, or even +rissoles, is savory and delicious; only bear in mind with +this, as all cooked meats, the gravy drawn out must be +replaced by stock or glaze; it is very easy to warm over +bouilli satisfactorily, as a cup of the soup made from it +can always be kept for gravy.</p> + +<p>A leg of mutton makes two excellent joints, and is +seldom liked cold—as beef and lamb often are.</p> + +<p>Select a large fine leg, have it cut across, that each +part may weigh about equally; roast the thick or fillet end +and serve with or without onion sauce (<i>à la soubise</i>); +boil the knuckle in a small quantity of water, just +enough to cover it, with a carrot, turnip, onion, and +bunch of parsley, and salt in the water, serve with caper +sauce and mashed turnips. The broth from this is excellent +soup served thus: Skim it carefully, take out +the vegetables, and chop a small quantity of parsley very +fine, then beat up in a bowl two eggs, pour into them a +little of the broth—not boiling—beating all the time, +then draw your soup back till it is off the boil, and pour +in the eggs, stirring continually till it is on the boiling +point again (but it must not boil, or the eggs will curdle +and spoil the soup), and then turn it into a <i>hot</i> tureen +and serve. Use remains of the cold roast and boiled mutton +together, to make made dishes; between the days of +having the roast and boiled mutton you may have had a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> +fowl, and the remains from that will make you a second +dish to go with your joint.</p> + +<p>The remains from the first cooked mutton, in form +of curry, mince, salmi, or <i>sauté</i>, will be a second dish +with your fowl.</p> + +<p>Veal is one of the most convenient things to have for +a small family, as it warms over in a variety of ways, and +in some is actually better than when put on the table as +a joint. By having a little fish one day, instead of soup, +and a little game another, and remembering when you +have an especially dainty thing, to have one with it a +little more substantial and less costly, you may have variety +at little expense.</p> + +<p>For instance, if you find it convenient to have for dinner +fritadella (see "<i>Warming Over</i>") or miroton of beef, +or cold mutton curried, you might have broiled birds, or +roast pigeon, or game. In this consists good management, +to live so that the expenses of one day balance +those of the other—unless you are so happily situated +that expense is a small matter, in which case these remarks +will not apply to you at all. Then, never mind +warming over, or making one joint into two; let your +poor neighbors and Bridget's friends enjoy your superfluity. +To the woman with a moderate income it usually +is a matter of importance, or ought to be, that her +weekly expenditure should not exceed a certain amount, +and for this she must arrange that any extra expense is +balanced by a subsequent economy.</p> + +<p>Salads add much to the health and elegance of a dinner; +it is in early spring an expensive item if lettuce is +used; but no salad can be more delicious or more healthful +than dressed celery; and by buying when cheap, arranging +with a man to lay in your cellar, covered with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> +soil, enough for the winter's use, it need cost but moderately. +Celeriac, or turnip-rooted celery is another salad +that is very popular with our German friends; it is a +bulbous celery, the root being the part eaten; these are +cooked like potatoes, cut in slices, and dressed with oil +and vinegar, or mayonnaise, it is exceedingly good. +Potato salad is always procurable, and in summer at +lunch, instead of the hot vegetable, or in winter when +green salad is dear, is very valuable. It may be varied +by the addition, one day, of a few chopped pickles, another, +a little onion, or celery, or parsley, or tarragon, a +little ravigotte butter beaten to cream with the vinegar, +or with meat, as follows: Boil the potatoes in their skins, +peel them, cut them into pieces twice the thickness +of a fifty-cent piece, and put them into a salad bowl with +cold meat (bouilli from soup is excellent); put to them +a teaspoonful of salt, half that quantity of pepper, two +tablespoonfuls of vinegar, three or even four of oil, and +a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. You can vary this by +putting at different times some chopped celery or pickles, +olives, or anchovies.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">on frying and broiling.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frying</span> is one of the operations in cookery in which +there are more failures than any other, or, at least, there +appear to be more, because the failure is always so very +apparent. Nothing can make a dish of breaded cutlets +on which are bald white spots look inviting, or livid-looking +fish, just flaked here and there with the bread +that has been persuaded to stay on. And, provided you +have enough fat in the pan—there should always be +enough to immerse the article; therefore use a deep iron +or enameled pan—there can be but two reasons why you +fail. Your fat has not been hot enough, or your crumbs +have not been fine and <i>even</i>.</p> + +<p>Many suppose when the fat bubbles and boils in the +pan that it is quite hot; it is far from being so. Others +again are so much nearer the truth that they know it +must become <i>silent</i>, that is, boil and cease to boil, before +it is ready, but even that is not enough; it must be silent +some time, smoke, and appear to be on the point of burning, +then drop a bit of bread in; if it crisps and takes +color directly, quickly put in your articles.</p> + +<p>These articles, whether cutlets or fish, must have been +carefully prepared, or herein may lie the second cause of +failure. Any cookery book will give you directions how +to crumb, follow them; but what some do not tell you +is, that your bread-crumbs should be <i>finely sifted</i>; every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> +coarse crumb is liable to drop off and bring with it a +good deal of the surrounding surface.</p> + +<p>I also follow the French plan in using the egg, and +mix with it oil and water in the proportion of three +eggs, one tablespoonful of oil, one of water, and a little +salt, beat together and use. It is a good plan to keep a +supply of <i>panure</i> or dried bread-crumbs always ready. +Cut any slices of baker's bread, dry them in a cool oven +so that they remain quite colorless, or they will not do +for the purpose. When as dry as crackers, crush under +a rolling-pin, and sift; keep in a jar for use.</p> + +<p>In no branch of cooking is excellence more appreciated +than in that of frying. A dish of <i>filets de sole</i> or +cutlets, crisp and golden brown, is an ornament to any +table, and is seldom disdained by any one. Apropos of +<i>filets de sole</i>; it is very high-sounding yet very attainable, +as I shall show. I was staying with a friend early in +spring, a lady always anxious for table novelties. "Oh, +do tell me what fish to order, I should like something +fried, now that you are here to tell cook how to do it; +she hasn't the wildest idea, although she would be +astounded to hear me say so." "Have you ever +had flounders?" I asked. "Flounders!" My friend's +pretty nose went up the eighth of an inch, and her confidence +in my powers as counselor went down to zero. +"Flounders! but they are a very common fish you +know." "I know they are very delicious," I answered. +"Order them, and trust me; but I must coax the +autocrat of your kitchen to allow me to cook and prepare +them myself."</p> + +<p>An hour before dinner I went into the kitchen, put +at least a pound of lard into a deep frying-pan, and +set it where it would get gradually hot, then I turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> +my attention to the fish; they were thick, firm flounders, +and were ready cleaned, scraped, and the heads +off. I then proceeded to bone one in the following +way: Take a sharp knife and split the flounder right +down the middle of the back, then run the knife carefully +between the flesh and bones going toward the edge. +You have now detached one quarter of the flesh from +the bone, do the other half in the same way, and when +the back is thus entirely loose from the bone, turn the +fish over and do the same with the other part. You will +now find you can remove the bone whole from the fish, +detaching, as you do so, any flesh still retaining the +bone, then you have two halves of the fish; cut away +the fins, and you have four quarters of solid fish. Now +see if the fat is very hot, set it forward while you wipe +your fish dry, and dip each piece in milk, then in flour. +Try if the fat is hot by dropping a crumb into it; if it +browns at once, put in the fish. When they are beautifully +brown, which will be in about ten minutes, take +them up in the colander, and then lay them on a towel +to absorb any fat, lay them on a hot dish, and garnish +with slices of lemon and parsley or celery tops.</p> + +<p>Now when this dish made its appearance, my friend's +husband, a <i>bon vivant</i>, greeted it with, "Aha! <i>Filets +de sole à la Delmonico</i>," and as nothing to the contrary +was said until dinner was over, he ate them under +the impression that they were veritable <i>filets de sole</i>. +Of course I can't pretend to say whether M. Delmonico +imports his soles, or uses the homely flounder; but I do +know that one of his frequenters knew no difference.</p> + +<p>Oysters should be laid on a cloth to drain thoroughly, +then rolled in fine sifted cracker dust, and dropped into +very hot fat; do not put more oysters in the pan than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> +will fry without one overlapping the other. Very few +minutes will brown them beautifully, if your fat was hot +enough, and as a minute too long toughens and shrinks +them, be very careful that it browns a cube of bread almost +directly, before you begin the oysters. Egg and +bread-crumb may be used instead of cracker dust, but it +is not the proper thing, and is a great deal more trouble. +Should you be desirous of using it, however, the oysters +must be carefully wiped <i>dry</i> before dipping them; while +for cracker dust they are not wiped, but only drained +well.</p> + +<p>Fish of any kind, fried in batter <i>à la Carême</i> (see +recipe), is very easy to do, and very nice.</p> + +<p>Carefully save veal, lamb, beef, and pork drippings. +Keep a crock to put it in, and, clarified as I shall direct, +it is much better than lard for many purposes, and for +frying especially; it does not leave the dark look that is +sometimes seen on articles fried in lard. The perfection +of "friture," or frying-fat, according to Gouffé, is equal +parts of lard and beef fat melted together.</p> + +<p>Yet there are families where dripping is never used—is +looked upon as unfit to use—while the truth is that +many persons quite unable to eat articles fried in lard +would find no inconvenience from those fried in beef fat. +It is as wholesome as butter, and far better for the +purpose. Butter, indeed, is only good for frying such +things as omelets or scrambled eggs; things that are +cooked in a very short time, and require no great degree +of heat.</p> + +<p>The same may be said of oil, than which, for fish, +nothing can be better. Yet it can only be used once, +and is unsuitable for things requiring long-sustained +heat, as it soon gets bitter and rank.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span>Do not be afraid to put a pound or two of fat in your +pan for frying; it is quite as economical as to put less +for it can be used over and over again, a pail or crock +being kept for the purpose of receiving it. Always in +returning it to the crock pour it through a fine strainer, +so that no sediment or brown particles may pass which +would spoil the next frying.</p> + +<p>To clarify dripping, when poured from the meat-pan, +it should go into a bowl, instead of the crock in which +you wish to keep it. Then pour into the bowl also some +boiling water, and add a little salt, stir it, and set it +away. Next day, or when cold, run a knife round the +bowl, and (unless it is pork) it will turn out in a solid +cake, leaving the water and impurities at the bottom. +Now scrape the bottom of your dripping, and put it in +more boiling water till it melts, then stir again, another +pinch of salt add, and let it cool again. When you take +off the cake of fat, scrape it as before, and it is ready to +be melted into the general crock, and will now keep for +months in cool weather. If you are having frequent +joints it is as well to do all your dripping together, once +a week; but do not leave it long at any season with water +under it, as that would taint it. Fat skimmed from +boiled meat, <i>pot-au-feu</i>, before the vegetables, etc., go +in, is quite as good as that from roast, treated in the +same way.</p> + +<p>Frying in batter is very easy and excellent for some +things, such as warming over meat, being far better +than eggs and crumbs. Carême gives the following +recipe, which is excellent:</p> + +<p>Three quarters of a pound of sifted flour, mixed with +two ounces of butter melted in warm water; blow the +butter off the water into the flour first, then enough of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> +the water to make a <i>soft</i> paste, which beat smooth, then +more warm water till it is batter thick enough to mask +the back of a spoon dipped into it, and salt to taste; add +the <i>last thing</i> the whites of two eggs well beaten.</p> + +<p>Another batter, called <i>à la Provençale</i>, is also exceedingly +good, especially for articles a little dry in themselves, +such as chickens to be warmed over, slices of cold +veal, etc.</p> + +<p>Take same quantity of flour, two yolks of eggs, four +tablespoonfuls of oil, mix with <i>cold</i> water, and add +whites of eggs and salt as before. Into this batter I +sometimes put a little chopped parsley, and the least bit +of powdered thyme, or grated lemon-peel, or nutmeg; +this is, however, only a matter of taste.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Broiling</span> is the simplest of all forms of cooking, and +is essentially English. To broil well is very easy with +a little attention. A brisk clear fire, not too high in +the stove, is necessary to do it with ease; yet if, as +must sometimes happen, to meet the necessities of other +cooking, your fire is very large, carefully fix the gridiron +on two bricks or in any convenient manner, to prevent +the meat scorching, then have the gridiron <i>very hot</i> before +putting your meat upon it; turn it, if chop or +steak, as soon as the gravy begins to start on the upper +side; if allowed to remain without turning long, the +gravy forms a pool on the top, which, when turned, falls +into the fire and is lost; the action of the heat, if turned +quickly, seals the pores and the gravy remains in the +meat. If the fire is not very clear, put a cover over the +meat on the gridiron, it will prevent its blackening or +burning—if the article is thick I always do so—and it is +an especially good plan with birds or chickens, which +are apt to be raw at the joints unless this is done; in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span>deed, +with the latter, I think it a good way to put them +in a hot oven ten minutes before they go on to broil, +then have a spoonful of <i>maître d'hôtel</i> butter to lay on +the breast of each. Young spring chickens are sometimes +very dry, in which case dip them in melted butter, +or, better still, oil them all over a little while before +cooking. There is nothing more unsightly than a +sprawling dish of broiled chickens; therefore, in preparing +them place them in good form, then, with a gentle +blow of the rolling-pin, break the bones that they may +remain so.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">roasting.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> spite of Brillat-Savarin's maxim that one may become +a cook, but must be born a <i>rotisseur</i>, I am inclined +to think one may also, by remembering one or two +things, become a very good "roaster" (to translate the +untranslatable), especially in our day, when the oven has +taken the place of the spit, although a great deal of +meat is spoiled in roasting; a loin of lamb or piece of +beef, that comes to the table so pale that you can't tell +whether it has been boiled or merely wilted in the oven, +is an aggravation so familiar, that a rich brown, well-roasted +joint is generally a surprise. Perhaps the cook +will tell you she has had the "hottest kind of an oven;" +but then she has probably also had a well of water +underneath it, the vapor from which, arising all the +time, has effectually soddened the meat, and checked +the browning. The surface of roast meat should be +covered with a rich glaze, scientifically called "osma-zone." +That the meat may be thus glazed, it should +always go into a <i>hot</i> oven, so that, as the gravy exudes, +it may congeal on the outside, thus sealing up the pores. +The general plan, however, is to put meat into a warm +oven an hour or two earlier than it should go, with a +quantity of water and flour underneath it. The result in +hot weather I have known to be very disagreeable, the +tepid oven having, in fact, given a stale taste to the joint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> +before it began to cook, and it at all times results in +flavorless, tough meat. There is no time saved, either, +in putting the meat in while the oven is yet cool. Heat +up the oven till it is quite brisk, then put the meat in a +pan, in which, if it is fat, you require <i>no water</i>; if very +lean, you may put half a teacup, just enough to prevent +the pan burning; you may rub a little flour over the +joint or not, as you please, but never more than the surface +moisture absorbs; have no clinging particles of +flour upon the joint, neither put salt nor pepper upon +the meat before it goes into the oven; salt draws out the +gravy, which it is your object to keep in, and the flavor +of pepper is entirely changed by the parching it undergoes +when on the surface of the meat, the odor of scorched +pepper, while cooking, being very offensive to refined +nostrils. This does not occur when pepper is not on +the surface; for the <i>inside</i> of birds, in stuffing, and in +meat pies it is indispensable, and the flavor undergoes +no change. This remark on pepper applies also to +broiling and frying. Always pepper <i>after</i> the article is +cooked, and both for appearance and delicacy of flavor +white pepper should always be used in preference to +black.</p> + +<p>Meat, while in the oven, should be carefully turned +about so that it may brown equally, and when it has +been in half the time you intend to give it, or when the +upper surface is well browned, turn it over. When it +comes out of the oven put it on a hot dish, then carefully +pour off the fat by holding the corner of the meat +pan over your dripping-pan, and very gently allowing +the fat to run off; do not shake it; when you see the +thick brown sediment beginning to run too, check it; if +there is still much fat on the surface, take it off with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> +spoon; then pour into the pan a little boiling water and +salt, in quantity according to the quantity of sediment +or glaze in the pan, and with a spoon rub off every speck +of the dried gravy on the bottom and sides of the pan. +Add no flour, the gravy must be thick enough with its +own richness. If you have added too much water, so +that it looks poor, you may always boil it down by setting +the pan on the stove for a few minutes; but it is +better to put very little water at first, and add as the +richness of the gravy allows. Now you have a rich +brown gravy, instead of the thick whitey-brown broth +so often served with roast meat. Every drop of this +gravy and that from the dish should be carefully saved +if left over.</p> + +<p>Save all dripping, except from mutton or meat with +which onions are cooked, for purposes which I shall +indicate in another place.</p> + +<p>Veal and pork require to be very thoroughly cooked. +For them, therefore, the oven must not be too hot, neither +must it be lukewarm, a good even heat is best; if +likely to get too brown before it is thoroughly cooked, +open the oven door.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">boiling.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boiling</span> is one of the things about which cooks are +most careless; theoretically they almost always know +meat should be slowly boiled, but their idea of "slow " is +ruled by the fire; they never attempt to rule that. There +is a good rule given by Gouffé as to what slow boiling +actually is: the surface of the pot should only show +signs of ebullition at one side, just an occasional bubble. +<i>Simmering</i> is a still slower process, and in this the pot +should have only a sizzling round one part of the edge. +All fresh meat should boil <i>slowly</i>; ham or corn beef +should barely simmer. Yet they must not go off the +boil at all, which would spoil fresh meat entirely; steeping +in water gives a flat, insipid taste.</p> + +<p>All vegetables except potatoes, asparagus, peas, and +cauliflower should boil as fast as possible; these four +only moderately. Most vegetables are boiled far too long. +Cabbage is as delicate as cauliflower in the summer and +fall if boiled in plenty of water, to which a salt spoonful +of soda has been added, <i>as fast as possible</i> for twenty +minutes or half an hour, then drained and dressed. In +winter it should be cut in six or eight pieces, boiled <i>fast</i>, +in plenty of water, for half an hour, <i>no longer</i>. Always +give it plenty of room, let the water boil rapidly when +you put it in the pot, which set on the hottest part of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> +the fire to come to that point again, and you will have no +more strong, rank, yellow stuff on your table, no bad odor +in your house. Peas require no more than twenty minutes' +boiling if young; asparagus the same; the latter should +always be boiled in a saucepan deep enough to let it +stand up in the water when tied up in bunches, for this +saves the heads. Potatoes should be poured off the +minute they are done, and allowed to stand at the back of +the stove with a clean cloth folded over them. They are +the only vegetable that should be put into <i>cold</i> water. +When new, boiling water is proper. When quite ripe +they are more floury if put in cold water.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Soups.</span>—As I have before said, I do not pretend to give +many recipes, only to tell you how to succeed with the +recipes given in other books. I shall, therefore, only +give one recipe which I know is a novelty and one for the +foundation of all soups. In one sense I have done the +latter already. The stock for glaze is an excellent soup +before it is reduced; but I will also give Jules Gouffé's +method of making <i>pot-au-feu</i>, it being a most beautifully +clear soup.</p> + +<p>It often happens, however, that you have sufficient +stock from bones, trimmings of meat, and odds and ends +of gravies, which may always be turned to account; but +the stock from such a source, although excellent, will +not always be clear; therefore, you must proceed with it +in the following manner, unless you wish to use it for +thick soup:</p> + +<p>Make your stock boiling hot and skim well; then have +ready the whites of three eggs (I am supposing you +have three quarts of stock—one egg to a quart), to which +add half a pint of cold water; whisk well together; then +add half a pint of the boiling stock gradually, still whisk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span>ing +the eggs; then stir the boiling stock rapidly, pouring +in the whites of eggs, etc.; as you do it, stir quickly till +nearly boiling again, then take it from the fire, let it remain +till the whites of eggs separate; then strain through +a clean, fine cloth into a basin. This rule once learned +will clear every kind of soup or jelly.</p> + +<p>There are many people who are good cooks, yet fail in +clear soup, which is with them semi-opaque, while it +should be like sherry. The cause of this opacity is generally +quick boiling while the meat is in. This gives it +a milky appearance. After the stock is once made and +clear, quick boiling will do no harm, but of course wastes +the soup, unless resorted to for the purpose of making it +stronger. A word here about coloring soup: Most persons +resort to burnt sugar, and, very carefully used, it is +not at all a bad makeshift. But how often have we a +rich-looking soup put before us, the vermicelli appearing +to repose under a lake of strong russet <i>bouillon</i>, but +which, on tasting, we find suggestive of nothing but +burnt sugar and salt, every bit of flavor destroyed by the +acrid coloring. Sometimes stock made by the recipe for +<i>pot-au-feu</i> (to follow) requires no color; this depends +on the beef; but usually all soup is more appetizing in +appearance for a little browning, and for this purpose I +always use burnt onions in preference to anything else. +If you have none in store when the soup is put on, put +a small onion in the oven (or on the back of the stove; +should you be baking anything the odor would taint); +turn it often till it gets quite black, but not <i>charred</i>. +Then put it to the soup; it adds a fine flavor as well as +color, and you need not fear overdoing it.</p> + +<p>Soup that is to be reduced must be very lightly salted; +for this reason salt is left out altogether for glaze, as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> +reduction causes the water only to evaporate, the salt +remains.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gouffé's Pot-au-Feu.</span>—Four pounds of lean beef, +six quarts of water, six ounces of carrot, six of turnip, +six of onion, half an ounce of celery, one clove, salt.</p> + +<p>Put the meat on in cold water, and just before it +comes to the boil skim it, and throw in a wineglass of +cold water, skim again, and, when it is "on the boil," +again throw in another wineglass of cold water; do this +two or three times. The object of adding the cold water +is to keep it just off the boil until all the scum has risen, +as the boiling point is when it comes to the surface, yet +once having boiled, the scum is broken up, and the soup +is never so clear.</p> + +<p>The meat must simmer slowly, <i>not boil</i>, for three +hours before the vegetables are added, then for a couple +of hours more.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to be very exact in the proportions of +vegetables; but, of course, after having weighed them for +soups once or twice, you will get to know about the size +of a carrot, turnip, etc., that will weigh six ounces. +The exact weight is given until the eye is accustomed +to it.</p> + +<p>This soup strained, and boiled down to one half, becomes +<i>consommé</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Celery Cream</span> is a most delicious and little-known +white soup, and all lovers of good things will thank me +for introducing it.</p> + +<p>Have some nice veal stock, or the water in which +chickens have been boiled, reduced till it is rich enough, +will do, or some very rich mutton broth, but either of +the former are preferable; then put on a half cup of rice +in a pint of rich milk, and grate into it the white part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> +and root of two heads of celery. Let the rice milk cook +very slowly at the back of the stove, adding more milk +before it gets at all stiff; when tender enough to mash +through a coarse sieve or fine colander add it to the +stock, which must have been strained and be quite +free from sediment, season with salt and a little <i>white</i> +pepper or cayenne, boil all together gently a few minutes. +It should look like rich cream, and be strongly +flavored with celery. Of course the quantity of rice, +milk, and celery must depend on the quantity of stock +you have. I have given the proportion for one quart, +which, with the milk, etc., added, would make about +three pints of soup.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">sauces.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Talleyrand</span> said England was a country with twenty-four +religions and only one sauce. He might have +said two sauces, and he would have been literally right +as regards both England and America. Everything is +served with brown sauce or white sauce. And how +often the white sauce is like bookbinder's paste, the +brown, a bitter, tasteless brown mess! Strictly speaking, +perhaps, the French have but two sauces either, +<i>espagnole</i>, or brown sauce, and white sauce, which they +call the mother sauces; but what changes they ring on +these mother sauces! The espagnole once made, with no +two meats is it served alike in flavor, and in this matter +of flavor the artist appears. In making brown sauce for +any purpose, bethink yourself of anything there may be +in your store-room with which to vary its flavor, taking +care that it shall agree with the meat for which it is intended. +The ordinary cook flies at once to Worcestershire +or Harvey sauce, which are excellent at times, but +"<i>toujours perdrix</i>" is not always welcome. A pinch of +mushroom powder, or a few chopped oysters, are excellent +with beef or veal; so will be a spoonful of Montpellier +butter stirred in, or curry, not enough to yellow the +sauce, but enough to give a dash of piquancy. A pickled +walnut chopped, or a gherkin or two, go admirably +with mutton or pork chops. In short, this is just where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> +imagination and brains will tell in cooking, and little +essays of invention may be tried with profit. But beware +of trying too much; make yourself perfect in one +thing before venturing on another.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Espagnole</span>, or brown sauce, is simply a rich stock well +flavored with vegetables and herbs, and thickened with +a piece of <i>roux</i> or with brown flour.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">White Sauce</span> is one of those things we rarely find perfectly +made; bad, it is the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of badness; +good, it is delicious. Those who have tried to have it +good, and failed, I beg to try the following method of +making it: Take an ounce and a half of butter and a +scant tablespoonful of flour, mix both with a spoon into a +paste; when smooth add half a pint of warm milk, a <i>small</i> +teaspoonful of salt, and the sixth part of one of <i>white</i> pepper; +set it on the fire till it boils, and is thick enough +to mask the back of the spoon transparently; then add a +squeeze of lemon juice, and another ounce and a half of +fresh butter; stir this till quite blended. This sauce is +the foundation for many others, and, for some purposes, +the beaten yolk of an egg is introduced when just off +the boil. Capers may be added to it, or chopped mushrooms, +or chopped celery, or oysters, according to the +use for which it is intended. The object of adding the +second butter is because boiling takes away the flavor of +butter; by stirring half of it in, without boiling, you retain +it.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">warming over.</span></h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Hash</span> is a peculiarly American institution. In no +other country is every remnant of cold meat turned into +that one unvarying dish. What do I say? <i>remnants</i> of +cold meat! rather <i>joints</i> of cold meat, a roast of beef +of which the tenderloin had sufficed for the first day's +dinner, the leg of mutton from which a few slices only +have been taken, the fillet of veal, available for so many +delicate dishes, all are ruthlessly turned into the all-pervading +hash. The curious thing is that people are +not fond of it. Men exclaim against it, and its name +stinks in the nostrils of those unhappy ones whose home +is the boarding-house.</p> + +<p>Yet hash in itself is not a bad dish; when I say it is +a peculiarly <i>American</i> institution, I mean, that when +English people speak of hash, they mean something +quite different—meat warmed in slices. Our hash, in +its best form—that is, made with nice gravy, garnished +with sippets of toast and pickles, surrounded with +mashed potatoes or rice—is dignified abroad by the name +of <i>mince</i>, and makes its appearance as an elegant little +<i>entrée</i>. Nor would it be anathematized in the way it +is with us, if it were only occasionally introduced. It +is the familiarity that has led to contempt. "But +what shall I do?" asks the young wife distressfully;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> +"John likes joints, and he and I and Bridget can't possibly +eat a roast at a meal."</p> + +<p>Very true; and it is to just such perplexed young +housekeepers that I hope this chapter will be especially +useful—that is to say, small families with moderate +means and a taste for good things. In this, as in many +other ways, large families are easier to cater for; they +can consume the better part of a roast at a meal, and +the remains it is no great harm to turn into hash, although +even they might, with little trouble and expense, +have agreeable variety introduced into their bill of fare.</p> + +<p>In England and America there is great prejudice +against warmed-over food, but on the continent one eats +it half the time in some of the most delicious-made +dishes without suspecting it. Herein lies the secret. +With us and our transatlantic cousins the warming over +is so artlessly done, that the <i>hard</i> fact too often stares +at us from out the watery expanse in which it reposes.</p> + +<p>One great reason of the failure to make warmed-over +meat satisfactory is the lack of gravy. On the goodness +of this (as well as its presence) depends the success of +your <i>réchauffé</i>.</p> + +<p>The glaze, for which I have given the recipe, renders +you at all times independent in this respect, but at the +same time it should not alone be depended on. Every +drop of what remains in the dish from the roast should +be saved, and great care be taken of all scraps, bones, +and gristle, which should be carefully boiled down to +save the necessity of flying to the glaze for every purpose. +I will here give several recipes, which I think +may be new to many readers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Salmi of Cold Meat</span> is exceedingly good. Melt butter +in a saucepan, if for quite a small dish two ounces will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> +be sufficient; when melted, stir in a little flour to +thicken; let it brown, but not burn, or, if you are preparing +the dish in haste, put in some brown flour; then +add a glass of white or red wine and a cup of broth, or a +cup of water and a slice of glaze, a sprig or two of +thyme, parsley, a small onion, chopped, and one bay +leaf, pepper, and salt. Simmer all thoroughly (all +savory dishes to which wine is added should simmer +long enough for the distinct "winey" flavor to disappear, +only the strength and richness remaining). Strain +this when simmered half an hour and lay in the cold +meat. Squeeze in a little lemon juice and draw the +stew-pan to the back of the stove, but where it will cook +no longer, or the meat will harden. Serve on toast, and +pour the sauce over. A glass of brandy added to this +dish when the meat goes in is a great addition, if an +extra fine salmi is desired. By not allowing the flour +and butter to brown and using white wine, this is a very +fine sauce in which to warm cold chicken, veal, or any +<i>white</i> meat.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bœuf à la Jardinière.</span>—Put in a fireproof dish if +you have it, or a thick saucepan, a pint of beef broth, a +small bunch each of parsley, chervil, tarragon—very little +of this—shallot or onion, capers, pickled gherkins, +of each or any a teaspoonful chopped fine; roll a large +tablespoonful of butter with a dessert-spoonful of brown +flour, stir it in; then take slices of underdone beef, with +a blunt knife hack each slice all over in fine dice, but +not to separate or cut up the slices; then pepper and +salt each one and lay it in with the herbs, sprinkle a +layer of herbs over the beef and cover closely; then stand +the dish in the oven to slowly cook for an hour, or, if +you use a stew-pan, set in a pan of boiling water on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> +stove for an hour where the water will just boil. Serve +on a dish surrounded with young carrots and turnips if +in season, or old ones cut.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beef au Gratin.</span>—Cut a little fat bacon or pork very +thin, sprinkle on it chopped parsley, onion, and mushrooms +(mushroom powder will do) and bread-crumbs; +then put in layers of beef, cut thick, and well and closely +hacked, then another layer of bacon or pork cut thin as +a wafer, and of seasoning, crumbs last; pour over enough +broth or gravy to moisten well, in which a little brandy +or wine may be added if an especially good dish is +desired; bake slowly an hour.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pseudo Beefsteak.</span>—Cut cold boiled or roast beef in +thick slices, broil slowly, lay in a <i>hot</i> dish in which you +have a large spoonful of Montpellier butter melted, +sprinkle a little mushroom powder if you desire, and +garnish with fried potato.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cutlets à la Jardinière.</span>—Trim some thick cutlets +from a cold leg of mutton, or chops from the loin, dip +them in frying batter, <i>à la Carême</i>, fry crisp and quickly, +and serve wreathed round green peas, or a ragout made as +follows: Take young carrots, turnips, green peas, white +beans; stew gently in a little water to which the bones +of the meat and trimmings have been added (and which +must be carefully removed not to disfigure the vegetables). +Encircle this ragout with the fried cutlets, and +crown with a cauliflower.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cromesquis of lamb</span> is a Polish recipe. Cut some +underdone lamb—mutton will of course do—quite small; +also some mushrooms, cut small, or the powder. Put in +a saucepan a piece of glaze the size of a pigeon's egg, with +a <i>little</i> water or broth, warm it and thicken with yolks +of two eggs, just as you would make boiled custard, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> +is, without letting it come to the boil, or it will curdle; +then add the mushrooms and meat, let all get cold, and +divide it into small pieces, roll in bread-crumbs sifted, +then in egg, then in crumbs again, and fry in very hot +fat; or you may, <i>after</i> rolling in bread-crumbs, lay each +piece in a spoon and dip it into frying batter; let the +extra batter run off, and drop the cromesquis into the +hot fat. These will be good made of beef and rolled up +in a bard of fat pork cut thin, and fried; serve with sauce +piquant made thus: Take some chopped parsley, onion, +and pickled cucumbers, simmer till tender, and thicken +with an equal quantity of butter and flour. Of course +your own brightness will tell you that, if you are in +haste, a spoonful of Montpellier butter, the same of flour, +melted in a little water, to which you add a teaspoonful +of vinegar, will make an excellent sauce piquant, and +this same is excellent for anything fried, as breaded +chops, croquettes, etc. I may here say, that where two +or three herbs are mentioned as necessary, for instance, +parsley, tarragon, and chervil, if you have no tarragon +you must leave it out, or chervil the same. It is only a +matter of flavoring, at the same time <i>flavor</i> is a great +deal, and these French herbs give that indescribable +<i>cachet</i> to a dish which is one of the secrets of French +cooking. Therefore if you are a wise matron you will +have a supply on hand, even if only bought dry from the +druggist.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Miroton of Beef.</span>—Peel and cut into thin slices two +large onions, put them in a stew-pan with two ounces of +butter, place it over a slow fire; stir the onions round till +they are rather brown, but not in the least burnt; add a +teaspoonful of brown flour, mix smoothly, then moisten +with half a pint of broth, or water with a little piece of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> +glaze, three salt-spoonfuls of salt unless your broth was +salted, then half the quantity or less, two of sugar, and +one of pepper. Put in the cold beef, cut in thin slices +as lean as possible, let it remain five minutes at the back +of the stove; then serve on a very hot dish garnished +with fried potatoes, or sippets of toast. To vary the +flavor, sometimes put a spoonful of tarragon or plain +vinegar, or a teaspoonful of mushroom powder, or a +pinch of curry, unless objected to, or a few sweet herbs. +In fact, as you may see, variety is as easy to produce as +it is rare to meet with in average cooking, and depends +more on intelligence and thoughtfulness than on anything +else.</p> + +<p>The simplest of all ways of warming a joint that is +not far cut, is to wrap it in thickly buttered paper, and +put it in the oven again, contriving, if possible, to cover +it closely, let it remain long enough to get <i>hot</i> through, +not to cook. By keeping it closely covered it will get +hot through in less time, and the steam will prevent it +getting hard and dry; make some gravy hot and serve +with the meat. If your gravy is good and plentiful, +your meat will be as nice as the first day; without gravy +it would be an unsatisfactory dish. If you cannot +manage to cover the joint in the oven, you may put it in +a pot over the fire <i>without</i> water, but with a dessert +spoonful of vinegar to create steam; let it get hot +through, and serve as before.</p> + +<p>For the third day the meat may be warmed up in +any of the ways I am going to mention, repeating once +more, that you must have gravy of some kind, or else +carefully make some, with cracked bones, gristle, etc., +stewed <i>long</i>, and nicely flavored with any kind of +sauce.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span><span class="smcap">Ragout.</span>—A very nice ragout may be made from cold +meat thus: Slice the meat, put it in a stew-pan in which +an onion, or several if you like them, has been sliced; +squeeze half a lemon into it, or a dessert-spoonful of vinegar, +cover closely without water, and when it begins to +cook, set the stew-pan at the back of the stove for three +quarters of an hour, shaking it occasionally. The onions +should now be brown; take out the meat, dredge in a little +flour, stir it round, and add a cup of gravy, pepper, salt, +and a small quantity of any sauce or flavoring you prefer; +stew gently a minute or two, then put the meat back to +get hot, and serve; garnish with sippets of toast, or +pickles.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A nice little breakfast dish is</span> made thus: Cut +two long slices of cold meat and three of bread, buttered +thickly, about the same shape and size; season the meat +with pepper, salt, and a little finely chopped parsley; or, +if it is veal, a little chopped ham; then lay one slice of +bread between two of meat, and have the other two slices +outside; fasten together with short wooden skewers. If +you have a quick oven, put it in; and take care to baste +with butter thoroughly, that the bread may be all over +crisp and brown. If you can't depend on your oven, fry +it in very hot fat as you would crullers; garnish with +sprigs of parsley, and serve very hot.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To Warm a Good-sized Piece of Beef.</span>—Trim +it as much like a thick fillet as you can; cut it +horizontally half way through, then scoop out as much +as you can of the meat from the inside of each piece. +Chop the meat fine that you have thus scooped out, +season with a little finely chopped parsley and thyme, a +shred of onion, if you like it; or if you have celery boil +a little of the coarser part till tender, chop it and add<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> +as much bread finely crumbled as you have meat, and a +good piece of butter; add pepper and salt, and make all +into a paste with an egg, mixed with an equal quantity +of gravy or milk; fill up the hollow in the meat and tie, +or still better, sew it together. You may either put this +in a pot with a slice of pork or bacon, and a cup of +gravy; or you may brush it over with beaten egg, cover +it with crumbs, and pour over these a cup of butter, +melted, so that it moistens every part; and bake it, taking +care to baste well while baking; serve with nice gravy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beef Olives</span> are no novelty to the ear, but it is a +novel thing to find them satisfactory to the palate.</p> + +<p>Take some stale bread-crumbs, an equal quantity of +beef finely chopped, some parsley, and thyme; a little +scraped ham if you have it, a few chives, or a slice of +onion, all chopped small as possible; put some butter in +a pan, and let this force-meat just simmer, <i>not fry</i>, in it +for ten minutes. While this is cooking, cut some underdone +oblong slices of beef about half an inch thick, +hack it with a sharp knife on <i>both sides</i>; then mix the +cooked force-meat with the yolk of an egg and a tablespoonful +of gravy; put a spoonful of this paste in the +center of each slice of meat and tie it up carefully in the +shape of an egg. Then if you have some nice gravy, +thicken it with a piece of butter rolled in flour, roll each +olive slightly in flour and lay it in the gravy and let it +very gently <i>simmer</i> for half an hour. A few chopped +oysters added to the gravy will be a great addition. Or +you may lay each olive on a thin slice of fat pork, roll it +up, tie it, dip it in flour, and bake in a quick oven until +beautifully brown.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To Warm over Cold Mutton.</span>—An excellent and +simple way is to cut it, if loin, into chops, or leg, into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> +thick collops, and dip each into egg well beaten with a +tablespoonful of milk, then in <i>fine</i> bread-crumbs and fry +in plenty of <i>very hot</i> fat.</p> + +<p>If your crumbs are not very fine and even, the larger +crumbs will fall off, and the appearance be spoilt. +These chops will be almost as nice, if quickly fried, as +fresh cooked ones. They will also be excellent if, instead +of being breaded, they are dipped into thick batter (see +recipe) and fried brown in the same way. This method +answers for any kind of meat, chicken thus warmed over +being especially good. The batter, or egg and bread-crumbs +form a sort of crust which keeps it tender and +juicy. Any attempt to fry cold meat without either results +in a hard, stringy, uneatable dish.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">White Meat of any kind</span> is excellent warmed over +in a little milk, in which you have cut a large +onion, and, if you like it, a slice of salt pork or +ham, and a little sliced cucumber, if it is summer; +thicken with the yolks of one or two eggs, added +after the whole has simmered twenty minutes; take +care the egg thickens in the gravy, but does not <i>boil</i>, +or it will curdle. If it is in winter, chop a teaspoonful of +pickled cucumber or capers and add just on going to +table. In summer when you have the sliced cucumber, +squeeze half a lemon into the gravy, the last thing, to +give the requisite dash of acid. You may vary the above +by adding sometimes a few chopped oysters; at others, +mushrooms, or celery. The last must be put in with +the onion and before the meat.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Deviled Meat.</span>—Our better halves are usually fond +of this, especially for breakfast or lunch.</p> + +<p>For this dish take a pair of turkey or chicken drumsticks +or some nice thick wedges of underdone beef or mutton,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> +score them deeply with a knife and rub them over with +a sauce made thus: A teaspoonful of vinegar, the same +of Harvey or Worcestershire sauce, the same of mustard, +a <i>little</i> cayenne, and a tablespoonful of salad oil, or butter +melted; mix all till like cream, and take care your +meat is thoroughly moistened all over with the mixture, +then rub your gridiron with butter. See that the fire is +clear, and while the gridiron is getting hot, chop a teaspoonful +of parsley very fine, mix it up with a piece of +butter the size of a walnut, and lay this in a dish which +you will put to get hot. Then put the meat to be grilled +on the fire and turn often, so that it will not burn; when +hot through and brown, lay it in the hot dish, lay another +hot dish over it, and serve as quickly as possible +with hot plates.</p> + +<p>Or the grill may be served with what Soyer calls his +<i>Mephistophelian sauce</i>, which he especially designed for +serving with deviled meats. Chop six shallots or small +onions, wash and press them in the corner of a clean +cloth, put them in a stew-pan with half a wineglass of +chili vinegar (pepper sauce), a chopped clove, a tiny bit +of garlic, two bay leaves, an ounce of glaze; boil all together +ten minutes; then add four tablespoonfuls of +tomato sauce, a <i>little</i> sugar, and ten of broth thickened +with roux (or water will do if you have no broth).</p> + +<p>It will be remarked that in many French recipes a +<i>little</i> sugar is ordered. This is not meant to sweeten, or +even be perceptible; but it enriches, softens, tones, as it +were, the other ingredients as salt does.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Soyer's Fritadella</span> (twenty recipes in one).—Put +half a pound of bread-crumb to soak in a pint of cold +water; take the same quantity of any kind of roast, or +boiled meat, with a little fat, chop it fine, press the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> +bread in a clean cloth to extract the water; put in a +stew-pan two ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of chopped +onions; fry two minutes and stir, then add the bread, +stir and fry till rather dry, then the meat; season with a +teaspoonful of salt, half of pepper, and a little grated nutmeg, +and lemon peel; stir continually till very hot, then +add two eggs, one at a time; mix well and pour on a dish +to get cold. Then take a piece, shape it like a small egg, +flatten it a little, egg and bread-crumb it all over, taking +care to keep in good shape. Do all the same way, +then put into a frying-pan a quarter of a pound of lard +or dripping, let it get hot, and put in the pieces, and +sauté (or as we call it "<i>fry</i>") them a fine yellow brown. +Serve very hot with a border of mashed potatoes, or any +garniture you fancy. Sauce piquant, or not, as you +please.</p> + +<p>The above can be made with any kind of meat, poultry, +game, fish, or even vegetables; hard eggs, or potatoes, +may be introduced in small quantities, and they may be +fried instead of sautéed (frying in the French and strict +sense, meaning as I need hardly say, entire immersion in +very hot fat). To <i>fry</i> them you require at least two +pounds of fat in your pan.</p> + +<p>Oysters or lobsters prepared as above are excellent.</p> + +<p>Boileau says, "<i>Un diner réchauffé ne valut jamais +rien</i>." But I think a good French cook of the present +day would make him alter his opinion.</p> + +<p>Indeed Savarin quotes a friend of his own, a notable +gourmand, who considered spinach cooked on Monday +only reached perfection the following Saturday, having +each day of the week been warmed up with butter, and +each day gaining succulence and a more marrowy consistency.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span>The only trouble I find in relation to this part of my +present task is the difficulty of knowing when to leave +off. There are so many ways of warming meats to advantage—and +in every one way there is the suggestion +for another—that I suffer from an <i>embarras de richesse</i>, +and have had difficulty in selecting. Dozens come to my +mind, blanquettes, patties, curries, as I write; but as +this is not, I have said, to be a recipe book, I forbear. Of +one thing I am quite sure: when women once know how to +make nice dishes of cold meat they will live well where +they now live badly, and for less money; and "hash" will +be relegated to its proper place as an occasional and acceptable +dish.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">on friandises.</span></h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Le rôle du gourmand finit avec l'entremets, et celui du friand +commence au dessert."—<i>Grimod de la Reyniere.</i></p></div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">American</span> ladies, in cake making and +preserving, and I feel that on that head I have very little +to teach; indeed, were they as accomplished in all +branches of cooking as in making dainty sweet dishes +this book would be uncalled for.</p> + +<p>Yet, notwithstanding their undoubted taste and ability +in making "<i>friandises</i>," it seems to me a few recipes +borrowed from what the French call <i>la grande cuisine</i>, +and possible of execution at home, will be welcome to +those who wish to vary the eternal ice cream and charlotte +russe, with other sweets more elegant and likely to +be equally popular.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Iced Soufflé à la Byron.</span>—One pint of sugar +syrup of 32 degrees (get this at a druggist's if +you do not understand sugar boiling), three gills of +strained raspberry juice, one lemon, one gill of maraschino, +fifteen yolks of eggs, two ounces of chocolate +drops, half a pint of very thick cream whipped.</p> + +<p>Method of making this and the next recipe is as follows: +Mix the syrup and yolks of eggs, strain into a warm +bowl, add the raspberry and lemon juice and maraschino, +whisk till it creams well, then take the bowl out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> +of the hot water and whisk ten minutes longer; add the +chocolate drops and whipped cream; lightly fill a case +or mold, and set in a freezer for two hours, then cover +the surface with lady-fingers (or sponge cake) dried in +the oven a pale brown, and rolled. Serve at once.</p> + +<p>Another frozen <i>soufflé</i> is as follows:</p> + +<p>One pint of syrup, 32 degrees, half a pint of noyeau, +half a pint of cherry juice, two ounces of bruised +macaroons, half a pint of thick cream whipped, made in +the same way as the last. I may here say that the fruit +juices can be procured now at all good druggists, so that +these <i>soufflés</i> are very attainable in winter, and as noyeau +and maraschino do not form part of the stores in a +family of small means, I will give in this chapter recipes +for the making of very fair imitations of the genuine +<i>liqueurs</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Biscuit Glacé à la Charles Dickens.</span>—One pint +of syrup (32°), fifteen yolks of eggs, three gills of peach +pulp, colored pink with cochineal, one gill of noyeau, +half a pint of thick cream, and a little chocolate water-ice, +made with half a pint of syrup and four ounces of +the best chocolate smoothly mixed and frozen ready.</p> + +<p>Mix syrup, yolks, peach pulps, noyeau, and a few +drops of vanilla, whip high; mix with the whipped +cream, and set in ice for one hour and a half in brick-shaped +molds, then turn out (if very firm), and cut in +slices an inch thick, and coat them all over, or on top +and sides, with the chocolate ice, smoothing with a knife +dipped in cold water; serve in paper cases.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Biscuit Glacé à la Thackeray.</span>—One pint of syrup +(32°), one pint of strawberry pulp, fifteen yolks of eggs, +one ounce of vanilla sugar (flavor a little sugar with vanilla), +half a pint of thick cream.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span>Mix syrup, yolks, strawberry, and vanilla sugar, whipping +as before, then add the whipped cream lightly; fill +paper cases, either round or square; surround each with +a band of stiff paper, to reach half an inch above the +edge of the case, the bands to be pinned together to secure +them; place them in a freezer. When about to send +to table, remove the bands of paper, and cover with +macaroons bruised fine and browned in the oven. The +bands of paper are meant to give the biscuit the appearance +of having risen while supposed to bake.</p> + +<p>These delicious ices were invented by Francatelli, the +Queen of England's chief cook, to do homage to the +different great men whose names they bear, on the occasion +of preparing dinners given in their honor. They +read as if somewhat intricate, but any lady who has ever +had ice cream made at home, and had the patience to +make charlotte russe, need not shrink appalled before +these novelties, or fear for a successful result.</p> + +<p>Baba is a cake many call for at a confectioner's, yet +few, if any one, attempts to make it at home. That +the recipes generally offered do not lead to success may be +one reason, and I offer the following, quite sure, if accurately +followed, such a baba will result as never was +eaten outside of Paris.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baba.</span>—One pound of flour; take one quarter of it, +and make a sponge with half an ounce of compressed +yeast and a little warm water, set it to rise, make a hole +in the rest of the flour, add to it ten ounces of butter, +three eggs, and a dessert-spoonful of sugar, a little salt, +unless your butter salts it enough, which is generally +the case. Beat all together well, then add five more eggs, +one at a time, that is to say, add one egg and beat well, +then another and beat again, and so on until the five are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> +used. When the paste leaves the bowl it is beaten +enough, but not before; then add the sponge to it, and +a large half ounce of citron chopped, the same of currants, +and an ounce and a half of sultana raisins, seedless. +Let it rise to twice its size, then bake it in an oven +of dark yellow paper heat; the small round babas are an +innovation of the pastry-cook to enable him to sell them +uncut. But the baba proper should be baked in a large, +deep, upright tin, such as a large charlotte russe mold, +when they keep for several days fresh, and if they get +stale, make delicious fritters, soaked in sherry and +dipped in frying batter.</p> + +<p>In some cases, however, it may be preferred to make +them as usually seen at French pastry cooks; for this +purpose you require a dozen small-sized <i>round</i> charlotte +russe molds, which fill half full only, as they +rise very much; bake these in a hotter oven, light brown +paper heat; try with a twig as you would any other cake, +if it comes out dry it is done; then prepare a syrup as +follows: Boil half pound of sugar in a pint of water, add +to this the third of a pint of rum, and some apricot +pulp—peach will of course do—and boil all together a +few minutes; pour this half an inch deep in a dish, and +stand the cake or cakes in it; it should drink up all the +syrup, you may also sprinkle some over it. If any syrup +remains, use it to warm over your cake when stale, +instead of the sherry.</p> + +<p>Baba was introduced into France by Stanislas Leczinski, +king of Poland, and the father-in-law of Louis +XIV.; and his Polish royal descendants still use with +it, says Carême, a syrup made of Malaga wine and +one sixth part of <i>eau de tanaisie</i>.</p> + +<p>But, although our forefathers seemed to have relished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> +tansy very much, to judge from old recipe books, I +doubt if such flavoring would be appreciated in our +time.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Savarins</span>—commonly called wine cake by New York +pastry cooks—are made as follows:</p> + +<p>One pound of flour, of which take one quarter to make +a sponge, using half an ounce of German compressed yeast, +and a little warm milk; when it has risen to twice its +bulk, add one gill of hot milk, two eggs, and the rest of +the flour; mix well; then add one more egg and beat, +another, still beating; then add three quarters of a +pound of fresh butter, a quarter of an ounce of salt, half +an ounce of sugar, and half a gill of hot milk, beat well; +then add eggs, one at a time, beating continually, until +you have used five more. Cut in small dice three ounces +of candied orange peel; butter a tin, which should be deep +and straight-sided—a tin pudding boiler is not a bad +thing—and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Fill the +mold half full, and when risen to twice its bulk, bake in +a moderate oven, dark yellow paper heat. When served, +this cake should stand in a dish of syrup, flavored with +rum, as for baba, or with sherry wine.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bouchées des Dames</span>, a very ornamental and delicious +little French cake, is sufficiently novel to deserve a place +here, I think. Make any nice drop cake batter (either +sponge, or sponge with a little butter in it I prefer); drop +one on buttered paper and bake; if it runs, beat in a +<i>little</i> more flour and sugar, but not much, or your cakes +will be brittle; they should be the size, when done, of a +fifty-cent piece, and I find half a teaspoonful of batter +dropped generally makes them about right. Have a +tin cutter or tin box lid, if you have no cutter so small, +about the size, and with it trim each cake when baked;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> +then take half the number and spread some with a very +thin layer of red currant jelly, others with peach or +raspberry; then on each so spread put a cake that is +unspread, thus making a tiny sandwich or jelly cake. +If you have different sorts of jelly, put each separate, as +you must adapt the flavor of your icing to the jelly. +For red currant, ice with chocolate icing. Recipes for +icing are so general that I refer you to your cookery +book. Those with peach may have white icing, flavored +with almond, or with rum, beating in a little more +sugar if the flavoring dilutes your icing too much. Almond +flavoring goes well with raspberry. Cakes with +raspberry jelly or jam should be iced pink, coloring the +icing with prepared cochineal or cranberry juice. Thus +you have your cakes brown, pink, and white, which look +very pretty mixed.</p> + +<p>The process of icing is difficult to do after they are put +together, but they are much handsomer this way, and +keep longer. You require, to accomplish it, a good +quantity of each kind of icing, and a number of little +wooden skewers; stick one into each cake and dip it +in the icing, let it run off, then stand the other end of +the skewer in a box of sand or granulated sugar. The +easiest way is to ice each half cake before putting in +the jelly; when the icing is hard spread with jelly, and +put together.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Curaçoa</span> may be successfully imitated by pouring over +eight ounces of the <i>thinly</i> pared rind of very ripe +oranges a pint of boiling water, cover, and let it cool; +then add two quarts of brandy, or strong French spirit, +cover closely, and let it stand fourteen days, shaking it +every day. Make a clarified syrup of two pounds of +sugar into one pint of water, well boiled; strain the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> +brandy into it, leaving it covered close another day. +Rub up in a mortar one drachm of potash, with a +teaspoonful of the liqueurs; when well blended, put this +into the liqueur, and in the same way pound and add +a drachm of alum, shake well, and in an hour or two +filter through thin muslin. Ready for use in a week or +two.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maraschino.</span>—Bruise slightly a dozen cherry kernels, +put them in a deep jar with the outer rind of three oranges +and two lemons, cover with two quarts of gin, then +add syrup and leave it a fortnight, as for curaçoa. Stir +syrup and spirit together, leave it another day, run it +through a jelly bag, and bottle. Ready to use in ten +days.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Noyeau.</span>—Blanch and pound two pounds of bitter almonds, +or four of peach kernels; put to them a gallon of +spirit or brandy, two pounds of white sugar candy—or +sugar will do—a grated nutmeg, and a pod of vanilla; +leave it three weeks covered close, then filter and bottle; +but do not use it for three months. To be used with +caution.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">french candy at home.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> chapter I shall have to make one of recipes +chiefly, for it treats of a branch of cooking not usually +found in cookery books, or at least there is seldom anything +on the art of confectionery beyond molasses or +cream taffy and nougat. These, therefore, I shall not +touch upon, but rather show you how to make the expensive +French candies.</p> + +<p>The great art of making these exquisite candies is in +boiling the sugar, and it is an art easily acquired with +patience.</p> + +<p>Put into a marbleized saucepan (by long experience in +sugar-boiling I find them less likely to burn even than +brass, and I keep one for the purpose) one pound of +sugar and half a pint of water; when it has boiled ten +minutes begin to try it; have a bowl of water with a +piece of ice near you, and drop it from the end of a +spoon. When it falls to the bottom, and you can take it +up and make it into a softish ball (not at all sticky) between +your thumb and finger, it is at the right point; +remove it from the fire to a cold place; when cool, if +perfectly right, a thin jelly-like film will be over the +surface, <i>not a sugary one</i>; if it is sugary, and you want +your candy very creamy, you must add a few spoonfuls +of water, return to the fire and boil again, going through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> +the same process of trying it. You must be careful that +there is not the least inclination to be brittle in the ball +of candy you take from the water; if so, it is boiled a +degree too high; put a little water to bring it back again, +and try once more. A speck of cream of tartar is useful +in checking a tendency in the syrup to go to sugar. +When you have your sugar boiled just right set it to +cool, and when you can bear your finger in it, begin to +beat it with a spoon; in ten minutes it will be a white +paste resembling lard, which you will find you can work +like bread dough. This, then, is your foundation, +called by French confectioners <i>fondant</i>; with your <i>fondant</i> +you can work marvels. But to begin with the +simplest French candies.</p> + +<p>Take a piece of <i>fondant</i>, flavor part of it with vanilla, +part of it with lemon, color yellow (see coloring candies), +and another part with raspberry, color pink; make +these into balls, grooved cones, or anything that strikes +your fancy, let them stand till they harden, they are +then ready for use.</p> + +<p>Take another part of your <i>fondant</i>, have some English +walnuts chopped, flavor with vanilla and color pink; +work the walnuts into the paste as you would fruit into +a loaf cake; when mixed, make a paper case an inch +wide and deep, and three or four inches long; oil it; +press the paste into it, and when firm turn it out and cut +into cubes. Or, instead of walnuts, use chopped almonds, +flavor with vanilla, and leave the <i>fondant</i> white. +This makes <span class="smcap">Vanilla Almond Cream</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tutti Frutti Candy.</span>—Chop some almonds, citron, +a <i>few</i> currants, and seedless raisins; work into some +<i>fondant</i>, flavor with rum and lemon, thus making Roman +punch, or with vanilla or raspberry; press into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> +paper forms as you did the walnut cream. You see how +you can ring the changes on these bars, varying the +flavoring, inventing new combinations, etc.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fondant Panaché.</span>—Take your <i>fondant</i>, divide it in +three equal parts, color one pink and flavor as you choose, +leave the other white and flavor also as you please; +but it must agree with the pink, and both must agree +with the next, which is chocolate. Melt a little unsweetened +chocolate by setting it in a saucer over the +boiling kettle, then take enough of it to make your third +piece of <i>fondant</i> a fine brown; now divide the white +into two parts; make each an inch and a half wide, and +as long as it will; do the same with the chocolate <i>fondant</i>; +then take the pink, make it the same width and +length, but of course, not being divided, it will be twice +as thick; now butter slightly the back of a plate, or, +better still, get a few sheets of waxed paper from the +confectioner's; lay one strip of the chocolate on it, then +a strip of white on that, then the pink, the other white, +and lastly the chocolate again; then lightly press them +to make them adhere, but not to squeeze them out of +shape. You have now an oblong brick of parti-colored +candy; leave it for a few hours to harden, then trim it +neatly with a knife and cut it crosswise into slices half +an inch think, lay on waxed paper to dry, turning once +in a while, and pack away in boxes.</p> + +<p>If your <i>fondant</i> gets very hard while you work, stand +it over hot water a few minutes.</p> + +<p>Creamed candies are very fashionable just now, and, +your <i>fondant</i> once ready, are very easy to make.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cream Walnuts.</span>—Make ready some almonds, some +walnuts in halves, some hazelnuts, or anything of the +sort you fancy; let them be very dry. Take <i>fondant</i> made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> +from a pound of sugar, set it in a bowl in a saucepan of +boiling water, stirring it till it is like cream. Then having +flavored it with vanilla or lemon, drop in your nuts one +by one, taking them out with the other hand on the end +of a fork, resting it on the edge of your bowl to drain for +a second, then drop the nut on to a waxed or buttered +paper neatly. If the nut shows through the cream it is +too hot; take it out of the boiling water and beat till it +is just thick enough to mask the nut entirely, then return +it to the boiling water, as it cools very rapidly and +becomes unmanageable, when it has to be warmed over +again.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Very fine chocolate creams</span> are made as follows: +Boil half a pound of sugar with three tablespoonfuls of +thick cream till it makes a <i>soft</i> ball in water, then let it +cool. When cool beat it till it is very white, flavor with a +few drops of vanilla and make it into balls the size of a large +pea; then take some unsweetened chocolate warmed, mix +it with a piece of <i>fondant</i> melted—there should be more +chocolate than sugar—and when quite smooth and thick +enough to mask the cream, drop them in from the end +of a fork, take them out, and drop on to wax paper.</p> + +<p>Another very fine candy to be made without heat, +and therefore convenient for hot weather, is made as +follows:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Punch Drops.</span>—Sift some powdered sugar. Have +ready some fine white gum-arabic, put a tablespoonful +with the sugar (say half a pound of sugar), and make it +into a firm paste; if too wet, add more sugar, flavor with +lemon and a tiny speck of tartaric acid or a very little lemon +juice. Make the paste into small balls, then take more +sugar and make it into icing with a spoonful of Santa +Cruz rum and half the white of an egg. Try if it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> +hardens, if not, beat in more sugar and color it a bright +pink, then dip each ball in the pink icing and harden +on wax paper. These are very novel, beautiful to look +at, and the flavors may vary to taste.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To make Cochineal Coloring which is quite +Harmless.</span>—Take one ounce of powdered cochineal, +one ounce of cream of tartar, two drachms of alum, +half a pint of water; boil the cochineal, water, and +cream of tartar till reduced to one half, then add the +alum, and put up in small bottles for use. Yellow is +obtained by the infusion of Spanish saffron in a little +water, or a still better one from the grated rind of a +ripe orange put into muslin, and a little of the juice +squeezed through it.</p> + +<p>Be careful in boiling the sugar for <i>fondant</i>, not to stir +it after it is dissolved; stirring causes it to become rough +instead of creamy.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">a chapter for people of very small means.</span></h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">I am</span> sorry to say in these days this chapter may appeal +to many, who are yet not to be called "poor people," +who may have been well-to-do and only suffering +from the pressure of the times, and for whose cultivated +appetites the coarse, substantial food of the laboring man +(even if they could buy it) would not be eatable, who +must have what they do have good, or starve. But, as +some of the things for which I give recipes will seem +over-economical for people who can afford to buy meat +at least once a day, I advise those who have even fifty +dollars a month income to skip it; reminding them, if +they do not, "that necessity knows no law."</p> + +<p>A bone of soup meat can be got at a good butcher's +for ten or fifteen cents, and is about the best investment, +for that sum I know of, as two nourishing and +savory meals, at least, for four or five persons can be +got from it.</p> + +<p>Carefully make a nice soup, with plenty of vegetables, +rice, or any other thickening you like. Your bone will +weigh from four to six pounds, perhaps; put it on with +water according to size, and let it boil down slowly until +nice and strong. If you have had any scraps of meat or +bones, put them also to your soup.</p> + +<p>When you serve it, keep back a cup of soup and a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +of the vegetables, and save the meat, from which you +can make a very appetizing hash in the following way: +Take the meat from the bone, chop it with some cold +potatoes and the vegetables you saved from the soup. +Cold stewed onions, boiled carrots or turnips, all help to +make the dish savory. Chop an onion very fine, unless +you have cold ones, a little parsley and thyme, if liked, +and sometimes, for variety's sake, if you have it, a pinch +of curry powder, not enough to make it hot or yellow, +yet to impart piquancy. If you have a tiny bit of fried +bacon or cold ham or cold pork, chop it with the other +ingredients, mix all well, moisten with the cold soup, +and, when nicely seasoned, put the hash into an iron +frying-pan, in which you have a little fat made hot; +pack it smoothly in, cover it with a pot-lid, and either +set it in a hot oven, or leave it to brown on the stove. +If there was more soup than enough to moisten the hash, +put it on in a tiny saucepan, with a little brown flour +made into a paste with butter, add a drop of tomato catsup, +or a little stewed tomato, or anything you have for +flavoring, and stir till it boils. Then turn the hash out +whole on a dish, it should be brown and crisp, pour the +gravy you have made round it, and serve. For a change +make a pie of the hash, pouring the gravy in through +a hole in the top when done.</p> + +<p>It is not generally known that a very nice plain paste +can be made with a piece of bread dough, to which you +have added an egg, and some lard, dripping, or butter. +The dripping is particularly nice for the hash pie, and, +as you need only a piece of dough as large as an orange, +you will probably have enough from the soup, if you +skimmed off all the fat before putting the vegetables in +(see <i>pot-au-feu</i>); work your dripping into the dough,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> +and let it rise well, then roll as ordinary pie-crust. Potato +crust is also very good for plain pies of any sort, but +as there are plenty of recipes for it, I will not give one +here.</p> + +<p>One of the very best hashes I ever ate was prepared +by a lady who, in better times, kept a very fine table. +And she told me there were a good many cold beans +in it, well mashed; and often since, when taking "travelers' +hash" in an hotel, I have thought of that savory +dish with regret.</p> + +<p>Instead of making your chopped meat into hash, vary +it, by rolling the same mixture into egg-shaped pieces, +or flat cakes, flouring them, and frying them nicely in +very hot fat; pieces of pork or bacon fried and laid +round will help out the dish, and be an improvement +to what is already very good.</p> + +<p>To return once more to the soup bone. If any one of +your family is fond of marrow, seal up each end of the +bone with a paste made of flour and water. When done, +take off the paste, and remove the marrow. Made very +hot, and spread on toast, with pepper and salt, it will be +a relish for some one's tea or breakfast.</p> + +<p>In this country there is a prejudice against sheep's +liver; while in England, where beef liver is looked upon +as too coarse to eat (and falls to the lot of the "cats-meat +man," or cat butcher), sheep's is esteemed next to +calf's, and it is, in fact, more delicate than beef liver. +The nicest way to cook it is in very <i>thin</i> slices (not the +inch-thick pieces one often sees), each slice dipped in +flour and fried in pork or bacon fat, and pork or bacon +served with it. But the more economical way is to put +it in a pan, dredge it with flour, pin some fat pork over +it, and set it in a hot oven; when very brown take it out;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> +make nice brown gravy by pouring water in the pan and +letting it boil on the stove, stirring it well to dissolve the +glaze; pour into the dish, and serve. The heart should +be stuffed with bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, and a <i>little</i> +onion, and baked separately. Or, for a change, you +may chop the liver up with a few sweet herbs and a little +pork (onion, or not, as you like), and some bread-crumbs. +Put all together in a crock, dredge with flour, +cover, and set in a slow oven for an hour and a half; +then serve, with toasted bread around the dish.</p> + +<p>It is very poor economy to buy inferior meat. One +pound of fine beef has more nourishment than two of +poor quality. But there is a great difference in prices of +different parts of meat, and it is better management to +choose the cheap part of fine beef than to buy the sirloin +of a poor ox even at the same price; and, by good +cooking many parts not usually chosen, and therefore +sold cheaply, can be made very good. Yet you must +remember, that a piece of meat at seven cents a pound, +in which there is at least half fat and bone, such as +brisket, etc., is less economical than solid meat at ten or +twelve.</p> + +<p>Pot roasts are very good for parts of meat not tender +enough for roasting, the "cross-rib," as some butchers +term it, being very good for this purpose; it is all +solid meat, and being very lean, requires a little fat pork, +which may be laid at the bottom of the pot; or better +still, holes made in the meat and pieces of the fat drawn +through, larding in a rough way, so that they cut together. +A pot roast is best put on in an iron pot, without +water, allowed to get finely brown on one side, then +turned, and when thoroughly brown on the other a little +water may be added for gravy; chop parsley or any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> +seasoning that is preferred. Give your roast at least +three hours to cook. Ox cheek, as the head is called, is +very good, and should be very cheap; prepare it thus:</p> + +<p>Clean the cheek, soak it in water six hours, and cut +the meat from the bones, which break up for soup; +then take the meat, cut into neat pieces, put it in an +earthen crock, a layer of beef, some thin pieces of pork +or bacon, some onions, carrots, and turnips, cut <i>thin</i>, or +chopped fine, and sprinkled over the meat; also, some +chopped parsley, a little thyme, and bay leaf, pepper +and salt, and a clove to each layer; then more beef and +a little pork, vegetables, and seasoning, as before. When +all your meat is in pour over it, if you have it, a tumbler +of hard cider and one of water, or else two of water, +in which put a half gill of vinegar. If you have no +tight-fitting cover to your crock, put a paste of flour and +water over it to keep the steam in. Place the crock in a +slow oven five or six hours, and when it is taken out remove +the crust and skim. Any piece of beef cooked in +this way is excellent.</p> + +<p>Ox heart is one of the cheapest of dishes, and really +remarkably nice, and it is much used by economical people +abroad.</p> + +<p>The heart should be soaked in vinegar and water three +or four hours, then cut off the lobes and gristle, and +stuff it with fat pork chopped, bread-crumbs, parsley, +thyme, pepper, and salt; then tie it in a cloth and very +slowly simmer it (large end up) for two hours; take it +up, remove the cloth, and flour it, and roast it a nice +brown. Lay in the pan in which it is to be roasted some +fat pork to baste it. Any of this left over is excellent +hashed, or, warmed in slices with a rich brown gravy, cannot +be told from game. Another way is to stuff it with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> +sage and onions. It must always be served <i>very hot</i> with +hot plates and on a very hot dish.</p> + +<p>Fore quarter of mutton is another very economical part +of meat, if you get your butcher to cut it so that it may +not only be economical, but really afford a choice joint. +Do not then let him hack the shoulder across, but, before +he does a thing to it, get him to take the shoulder out in +a round plate-shaped joint, with knuckle attached; if +he does this well, that is, cuts it close to the bone of the +ribs, you will have a nice joint; then do not have it +chopped at all; this should be roasted in the oven very +nicely, and served with onion sauce or stewed onions. If +onions are not liked, mashed turnips are the appropriate +vegetable. This joint, to be enjoyed, must be +properly carved, and that is, across the middle from the +edge to the bone, the same as a leg of mutton; and like +the leg, you must learn, as I cannot describe it in words, +where the bone lies, then have that side nearest you and +cut from the opposite side.</p> + +<p>You have, besides this joint, another roast from the +ribs, or else cut it up into chops till you come to the +part under the shoulder; from this the breast should be +separated and both either made into a good Irish stew, +or the breast prepared alone in a way I shall describe, +the neck and thin ribs being stewed or boiled.</p> + +<p>The neck of mutton is very tender boiled and served +with parsley or caper sauce; the liquor it is boiled in +served as broth, with vegetables and rice, or prepared as +directed in a former chapter for the broth from leg of +mutton.</p> + +<p>The mode I am about to give of preparing breast of +mutton was told me by a Welsh lady of rank, at whose +table I ate it (it appeared as a side dish), and who said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> +half laughingly, "Will you take some 'fluff'? We are +very fond of it, but breast of mutton is such a despised +dish I never expect any one else to like it." I took it, +on my principle of trying everything, and did find it +very good. This lady told me that, having of course a +good deal of mutton killed on her father's estate, and the +breast being always despised by the servants, she had invented +a way of using it to avoid waste. Her way was this:</p> + +<p>Set the breast of mutton on the fire whole, just covered +with water in which is a little salt. When it comes +to the boil draw it back and let it <i>simmer</i> three hours; +then take it up and draw out the bones, and lay a forc=emeat +of bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, chopped suet, +salt and pepper all over it; double or roll it, skewer it, +and coat it thickly with egg and bread-crumbs; then +bake in a moderate oven, basting it often with nice dripping +or butter; when nicely brown it is done, and eats +like the tenderest lamb. It was, when I saw it, served on +a bed of spinach. I like it better on a bed of stewed +onions.</p> + +<p>I now give some dishes made without meat.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ragout of Cucumber and Onions.</span>—Fry equal +quantities of large cucumbers and onions in slices until +they are a nice brown. The cucumber will brown more +easily if cut up and put to drain some time before using; +then flour each slice. When both are brown, pour on +them a cup of water, and let them stew for half an hour; +then take a good piece of butter in which you have +worked a dessert-spoonful of flour (browned); add pepper, +salt, and a little tomato catsup or stewed tomato. +This is a rich-eating dish if nicely made, and will help +out cold meat or a scant quantity of it very well. A +little cold meat may be added if you have it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Onion Soup.</span>—Fry six large onions cut into slices +with a quarter of a pound of butter till they are of a +bright brown, then well mix in a tablespoonful of flour, +and pour on them rather more than a quart of water. +Stew gently until the onions are quite tender, season +with a spoonful of salt and a little sugar; stir in quickly +a <i>liaison</i> made with the yolks of two eggs mixed with +a gill of milk or cream (do not let it boil afterwards), +put some toast in a tureen, and serve very hot.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pea Soup.</span>—Steep some yellow split peas all night, next +morning set them on to boil with two quarts of water to a +pint of peas; in the water put a tiny bit of soda. In another +pot put a large carrot, a turnip, an onion, and a +large head of celery, all cut small and covered with water. +When both peas and vegetables are tender, put them +together, season with salt, pepper, and a little sugar, +and let them gently stew till thick enough; then strain +through a colander, rubbing the vegetables well, and +return to the pot while you fry some sippets of bread a +crisp brown; then stir into the soup two ounces of butter +in which you have rolled a little flour.</p> + +<p>This soup is simply delicious, and the fact of it being +<i>maigre</i> will not be remembered.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Potato Soup</span> is another of this good kind, for meat is +scarcely required, so good is it without.</p> + +<p>Boil some potatoes, then rub them through a colander +into two quarts of hot milk (skimmed does quite well); +have some fine-chopped parsley and onion, add both +with salt and pepper, stew three quarters of an hour; +then stir in a large piece of butter, and beat two eggs +with a little cold milk, stir in quickly, and serve with +fried bread. There should be potatoes enough to make +the soup as thick as cream.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> +Do not be prejudiced against a dish because there is +no meat in it, and you think it cannot be nourishing. +This chapter is not written for those with whom meat, +or money, is plentiful; and if it be true that man is +nourished "not by what he eats, but by what he assimilates," +and, according to an American medical authority, +"what is eaten with distaste is not assimilated" +(Dr. Hall), it follows that an enjoyable dinner, even +without meat, will be more nourishing than one forced +down because it lacks savor; that potato soup will be +more nourishing than potatoes and butter, with a cup of +milk to drink, because more enjoyable. Yet it costs no +more, for the soup can be made without the eggs if they +are scarce.</p> + +<p>Or say bread and butter and onions. They will not +be very appetizing, especially if they had to be a frequent +meal, yet onion soup is made from the same materials, +and in France is a very favorite dish, even with +those well able to put meat in it if they wished.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">a few things it is well to remember.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Every</span> housekeeper has pet "wrinkles" of her own +which she thinks are especially valuable; some are +known to all the world, others are new to many. So +it may be with mine; but, on the chance that some few +things are as new to my friends as they were to me, I +jot them down without any pretense of order or regularity.</p> + +<p>Lemons will keep fresher and better in water than any +other way. Put them in a crock, cover them with water. +They will in winter keep two or three months, and the +peel be as fresh as the day they were put in. Take care, +of course, that they do not get frosted. In summer +change the water twice a week; they will keep a long +time.</p> + +<p>In grating nutmegs begin at the flower end; if you +commence at the other, there will be a hole all the way +through.</p> + +<p>Tea or coffee made hot (not at all scorched), before +water is added, are more fragrant and stronger. Thus, +by putting three spoonfuls of tea in the pot and setting +in a warm place before infusing, it will be as strong as +if you make tea with four spoonfuls without warming it, +and much more fragrant.</p> + +<p>Vegetables that are strong can be made much milder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +by tying a bit of bread in a clean rag and boiling it with +them.</p> + +<p>Bread dough is just as good made the day before it is +used; thus, a small family can have fresh bread one day, +rolls the next, by putting the dough in a cold place enveloped +in a damp cloth. In winter, kept cold, yet not +in danger of freezing, it will keep a week.</p> + +<p>Celery seed takes the place of celery for soup or stews +when it is scarce; parsley seed of parsley.</p> + +<p>Green beans, gherkins, etc., put down when plentiful +in layers of rock salt, will keep crisp and green for +months, and can be taken out and pickled when convenient.</p> + +<p>Lemon or orange peel grated and mixed with powdered +sugar and a squeeze of its own juice (the sugar making +it into paste) is excellent to keep for flavoring; put it +into a little pot and it will keep for a year.</p> + +<p>Bread that is very stale may be made quite fresh for +an hour or two by dipping it quickly into milk or water, +and putting it in a brisk oven till <i>quite hot through</i>. It +must be eaten at once, or it will be as stale as ever when +cold.</p> + +<p>Meat to be kept in warm weather should be rubbed over +with salad oil, every crevice filled with ginger; meat that +is for roasting or frying is much better preserved in this +way than with salt; take care that every part of the surface +has a coat of oil. Steaks or chops cut off, which +always keep badly, should be dipped into warm butter or +even dripping, if oil is not handy (the object being to +exclude the air), and then hung up till wanted.</p> + +<p>Mutton in cold weather should be hung four or five +weeks in a place not subject to changes of temperature, +and before it is so hung, every crevice filled with ginger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> +and thoroughly dredged with flour, which must be then +rubbed in with the hand till the surface is quite dry. +This is the English fashion of keeping venison.</p> + +<p>It may be useful for those who burn kerosene to know +that when their lamps smell, give a bad light, and smoke, +it is not necessary to buy new burners. Put the old +ones in an old saucepan with water and a tablespoonful +of soda, let them boil half an hour, wipe them, and +your trouble will be over.</p> + +<p>Meat that has become slightly tainted may be quite +restored by washing it in water in which is a teaspoonful +of borax, cutting away every part in the least discolored.</p> + +<p>In summer when meat comes from the butcher's, if it +is not going to be used the same day, it should be washed +over with vinegar.</p> + +<p>Poultry in summer should always have a piece of +charcoal tied in a rag placed in the stomach, to be removed +before cooking. Pieces of charcoal should also +be put in the refrigerator and changed often.</p> + +<p>Oyster shells put one at a time in a stove that is +"clinkered" will clean the bricks entirely. They +should be put in when the fire is burning brightly.</p> + +<p>Salt and soapstone powder (to be bought at the druggist's) +mend fire brick; use equal quantities, make into a +paste with water, and cement the brick; they will be as +strong as new ones.</p> + +<p>Ink spilled on carpets may be entirely removed by +rubbing while wet with blotting paper, using fresh as +it soils.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span></p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">on some table prejudices.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Many</span> people have strong prejudices against certain +things which they have never even tasted, or which they +do frequently take and like as a part of something else, +without knowing it. How common it is to hear and +see untraveled people declare that they dislike garlic, +and could not touch anything with it in. Yet those +very people will take Worcestershire sauce, in which garlic +is actually predominant, with everything they eat; +and think none but English pickles eatable, which +owe much of their excellence to the introduction of a +<i>soupçon</i> of garlic. Therefore I beg those who actually +only know garlic from hearsay abuse of it, or from its +presence on the breath of some inveterate garlic eater, +to give it a fair trial when it appears in a recipe. It is +just one of those things that require the most delicate +handling, for which the French term a "<i>suspicion</i>" is +most appreciated; it should only be a suspicion, its +presence should never be pronounced. As Blot once +begged his readers, "Give garlic a fair trial in a <i>rémolade</i> +sauce." (Montpellier butter beaten into mayonnaise +is a good <i>rémolade</i> for cold meat or fish.)</p> + +<p>Curry is one of those things against which many are +strongly prejudiced, and I am inclined to think it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> +quite an acquired taste, but a taste which is an enviable +one to its possessors; for them there is endless +variety in all they eat. The capabilities of curry are +very little known in this country, and, as the taste for +it is so limited, I will not do more in its defense than +indicate a pleasant use to which it may be put, and in +which form it would be a welcome condiment to many +to whom "a curry," pure and simple, would be obnoxious. +I once knew an Anglo-Indian who used curry as +most people use cayenne; it was put in a pepper-box, +and with it he would at times pepper his fish or kidneys, +even his eggs. Used in this way, it imparts a delightful +piquancy to food, and is neither hot nor "spicy."</p> + +<p>Few people are so prejudiced as the English generally, +and the stay-at-home Americans; but the latter are to +be taught by travel, the Englishman rarely.</p> + +<p>The average Briton leaves his island shores with the +conviction that he will get nothing fit to eat till he gets +back, and that he will have to be uncommonly careful +once across the channel, or he will be having fricasseed +frogs palmed on him for chicken. Poor man! in his +horror of frogs, he does not know that the Paris restaurateur +who should give the costly frog for chicken, +would soon end in the bankruptcy court.</p> + +<p>"If I could only get a decent dinner, a good roast +and plain potato, I would like Paris much better," said +an old Englishman to me once in that gay city.</p> + +<p>"But surely you can."</p> + +<p>"No; I have been to restaurants of every class, and +called for beefsteak and roast beef, but have never got +the real article, although it's my belief," said he, leaning +forward solemnly, "that I have eaten <i>horse</i> three +times this week." Of course the Englishman of rank,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> +who has spent half his life on the continent, is not at all +the <i>average</i> Englishman.</p> + +<p>Americans think the hare and rabbits, of which the +English make such good use, very mean food indeed, +and if they are unprejudiced enough to try them, from +the fact that they are never well cooked, they dislike +them, which prejudice the English reciprocate by looking +on squirrels as being as little fit for food as a rat. +And a familiar instance of prejudice from ignorance +carried even to insanity, is that of the Irish in 1848, +starving rather than eat the "yaller male," sent them +by generous American sympathizers; yet they come here +and soon get over that dislike. Not so the French, who +look on oatmeal and Indian meal as most unwholesome +food. "<i>Ça pêse sur l'estomac, ça creuse l'estomac</i>," I +heard an old Frenchwoman say, trying to dissuade a +mother from giving her children mush.</p> + +<p>The moral of all of which is, that for our comfort's +sake, and the general good we should avoid unreasonable +prejudices against unfamiliar food. We of course +have a right to our honest dislikes; but to condemn +things because we have heard them despised, is prejudice.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> +<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">a chapter of odds and ends—valedictory.</span></h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">I have</span> alluded, in an earlier chapter, to the fact that +many inexperienced cooks are afraid of altering recipes; +a few words on this subject may not be out of place. As +a rule, a recipe should be faithfully followed in all important +points; for instance, in making soup you cannot +because you are short of the given quantity of meat, +put the same amount of water as directed for the full +quantity, without damaging your soup; but you may easily +reduce water and <i>every other ingredient</i> in the same +proportion; and, in mere matters of flavoring, you may +vary to suit circumstances. If you are told to use cloves, +and have none, a bit of mace may be substituted.</p> + +<p>If you read a recipe, and it calls for something you +have not, consider whether that something has anything +to do with the substance of the dish, or whether it is +merely an accessory for which something else can be +substituted. For instance, if you are ordered to use +cream in a sauce, milk with a larger amount of well-washed +butter may take its place; but if you are told to +use cream for charlotte russe or trifles, there is no way in +which you could make milk serve, since it is not an +accessory but the chief part of those dishes. For a +cake in which cream is used, butter whipped to a cream +may take its place. Wine is usually optional in savory +dishes; it gives richness only.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span>Again, in cakes be very careful the exact proportions +of flour, eggs, and milk are observed; of butter you can +generally use more or less, having a more or less rich +cake in proportion. In any but plain cup cakes (which +greatly depend on soda and acid for their lightness) +never lessen the allowance of eggs; never add milk if a +cake is too stiff (but an extra egg may always be used), +unless milk is ordered in the recipe, when more or less +may be used as needed. Flavoring may be always varied.</p> + +<p>In reducing a recipe always reduce <i>every ingredient</i>, +and it can make no difference in the results. Sometimes, +in cookery books, you are told to use articles not +frequently found in ordinary kitchens; for instance, a +larding-needle (although that can be bought for twenty-five +cents at any house-furnishing store, and should always +be in a kitchen); but, in case you have not one for +meat, you may manage by making small cuts and inserting +slips of bacon.</p> + +<p>Another article that is very useful, but seldom, if ever, +to be found in small kitchens, is a salamander; but when +you wish to brown the top of a dish, and putting it in +the oven would not do, or the oven is not quick enough +to serve, an iron shovel, made nearly red, and a few red +cinders in it, is a very good salamander. It must be +held over the article that requires browning near enough +to color it, yet not to burn.</p> + +<p>In the recipes I have given nothing is required that +cannot be obtained, with more or less ease, in New York. +For syrups, fruit juices, etc., apply to your druggist; if +he has not them he will tell you where to obtain them. +We often make up our minds that because a thing is not +commonly used in this country, it is impossible to get it. +Really there are very few things not to be got in New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> +York City to the intelligent seeker. You need an article +of French or Italian or may be English grocery, that +your grocer, a first-class one, perhaps, has not, and you +make up your mind you cannot get it. But go into the +quarters where French people live, and you can get +everything belonging to the French <i>cuisine</i>. So prejudiced +are the French in favor of the productions of <i>la +belle France</i>, that they do not believe in our parsley or +our chives or garlic or shallots; for I know at least one +French grocer who imports them for his customers. On +being asked why he brought them from France to a +country where those very things were plentiful, he answered:</p> + +<p>"Oh, French herbs are much finer."</p> + +<p>Needless to say tarragon is one of the herbs so imported, +and can thus be bought; but, as several New Jersey +truck gardeners grow all kinds of French herbs, they can +be got in Washington Market, and most druggists keep +them dried; but for salads, Montpellier butter, and some +other uses, the dried herb would not do, although for +flavoring it would serve; but the far better way is to +grow them for yourself, as I have done. Any large +seedsman will supply you with burnet, tarragon, and +borage (very useful for salads, punch, etc.) seeds, and if +you live in the country, have an herb bed; if in town, +there are few houses where there is not ground enough +to serve for the purpose; but even in these few houses +one can have a box of earth in the kitchen window, in +which your seeds will flourish.</p> + +<p>Parsley is a thing in almost daily request in winter, +yet it is very expensive to buy it constantly for the sake +of using the small spray that often suffices. It is a good +plan, therefore, in fall, to get a few roots, plant them in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> +a pot or box, and they will flourish all winter, if kept +where they will not freeze, and be ready for garnishing +at any minute.</p> + +<p>Always, as far as your means allow, have every convenience +for cooking. By having utensils proper for +every purpose you save a great deal of work and much +vexation of spirit. Yet it should be no excuse for bad +work that such utensils are not at hand. A willing and +intelligent cook will make the best of what she has. +Apropos of this very thing Gouffé relates that a friend +of his, an "artist" of renown, was sent for to the +chateau of a Baron Argenteuil, who had taken a large +company with him, unexpectedly crowding the chateau +in every part. He was shown into a dark passage in +which a plank was suspended from the ceiling, and told +this was to be his kitchen. He had to fashion his own +utensils, for there was nothing provided, and his pastry +he had to bake in a frying-pan—besides building two +monumental <i>plâts</i> on that board—and prepare a cold <i>entrée</i>. +But he cheerfully set to work to overcome difficulties, +achieved his task, and was rewarded by the plaudits +of the diners. Such difficulties as these our servants +never have to encounter, and a cheerful endeavor to +make the best of everything should be the rule. Yet, +let us spare them all the labor we can, or rather make it +as easy and pleasant as possible; they will be more +proud of their well-furnished kitchen, more cheerful in +it, than they will of one where everything for their convenience +is grudged, and such pride and cheerfulness +will be your gain.</p> + +<p>There is always a great deal of talk about servants in +America, how bad and inefficient they are, how badly +they contrast with those of England. Certainly, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> +are not so efficient as those of the older country; how +could they be? There, girls who are intended for servants +have ever held before their eyes what they may or may +not do in the future calling, and how it is to be done. +But take one of these orderly, efficient girls, put her in +an American family as general servant or as cook, where +two are kept, washing and ironing to do, and a variety +of other work, and see how your English servant would +stare at your requirements. She has been accustomed to +her own line of work at home; if housemaid, she has +been dressed for the day at noon; if cook, she has never +done even her own washing.</p> + +<p>She may, and will no doubt, fall into the way of the +country, after a while, and on account of her early habits +of respect, will make a good servant perhaps. But many +of them would be quite indignant at being asked to do +the average servant's work here. I am speaking now of +the <i>trained</i> servants; but, comparing the London "maid-of-all-work" +or "slavey" with our own general servants, +and considering how much more is expected of the latter, +the comparison seems to me vastly in the favor of our own +Bridgets. We may rest assured, however smoothly the +wheels of household management glide along in wealthy +families across the water, people who can only keep one +or two have all our troubles with servants and a few +added, and their faults are just as general a subject of +conversation among ladies.</p> + +<p>France (out of Paris, from Parisian servants deliver +me!) and Germany seem the favored lands where one +servant does the work of three or four. Yet even they, +are, they say, degenerating. Let us, then, be contented +and make the best of what we have, assured that even +Biddy is not so hopeless as she is painted. Kindness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> +(not weakness), firmness, and patience work wonders, +even with the roughest Emerald that ever crossed the +sea.</p> + +<p>I have said somewhere else that you must beware of attempting +too much at once; perfect yourself in one thing +before you attempt another. Take breaded chops or +fried oysters, make opportunities for having them rather +often, and do not rest satisfied until you have them as +well fried as you have ever seen them anywhere; "practice +makes perfect," and you certainly will achieve perfection +if you are not discouraged by one failure. But +above all things never make experiments for company; +let them be made when it really matters little whether +you succeed or not, and let your experiments be on a +<i>small</i> scale; don't attempt to fry a <i>large</i> dish of oysters +or chops until it is a very easy task, or make more than +half a pound of puff paste at first; for if you fail with a +large task before you, you will be tired and disheartened, +hate the sight of what you are doing, and, as a consequence, +not be likely to return to it very soon. The same +may be said of cooks; some of them are very fond of experiments, +which taste I should always encourage; but do +not let them jump from one experiment to the other; +if they try a dish and fail, they often make up their +minds that the fault is not theirs, that it is not worth +while to "bother" with it. Here your knowledge will be +of service; you will show them that it can be done, how +it should be done, and order the dish cook failed in, frequently, +giving it sufficient surveillance to prevent your +family suffering from her inexperience; for, as a witty +Frenchman said of Mme. du Deffaud's cook, "Between +her and Brinvilliers there is only the difference of intention."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span>Few things add more to a man or woman's social reputation +than the fact that they keep a good table. It +need not be one where</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanxa"> +<span class="i9">"The strong table groans</span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the smoking sirloin stretched immense;"</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>but a table where whatever you do have will be good, +be it pork and beans, or salmi; the pork and beans +would satisfy a Bostonian, the salmi Grimod de la Reynière +himself. I do not admit with Di Walcott that</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanxa"> +<span class="i05">"The turnpike road to people's hearts I find</span> +<span class="i0">Lies through their mouths, or I mistake mankind."</span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>But it is a fact that good living—by this I do not +mean extravagant living—presupposes good breeding. +Well-bred people sometimes live badly; but ill-bred +people seldom or ever live well, in the right sense of +the term.</p> + +<p>Now, by way of valedictory, let me repeat that I do +not think a lady's best or proper place is the kitchen; +but it is quite possible to have a perfectly served table, +yet spend very little time there. Only that one little +hour a day that Talleyrand, the busy man full of intrigue +and statecraft, found time to spend with his cook, would +insure your table being well served. For, after devoting +say a few winter months to perfecting yourself in a few +things, you will be able to teach your cook, who is often +ambitious to excel if put in the right way. A word here +about cooks.</p> + +<p>The knowledge that if they fail to do a thing well +you will do it yourself, will often put them on their +mettle to do their best; while the feeling that you don't +know, will make them careless.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span>Servants have a great deal more <i>amour propre</i> than +people imagine; therefore, stimulate it by judicious +praise and appreciation; let them think that to send in a +dish perfect, is a glory to themselves as well as a pleasure +to you. While careful to remark when alone with them +upon any fault that results from carelessness, be equally +careful to give all the praise you can, and repeat to +them complimentary remarks that may have been made +on their skill. Servants are usually—such is the weakness +of feminine nature, whether in the drawing-room +or the kitchen—very sensitive to the praise or blame of +the gentlemen of the family. Indulge poor humanity a +little when you honestly can.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span></p> +<h3>INDEX</h3> + + +<table width="60%" summary="INDEX" border="0"> + +<tr> +<td class="td80"> </td> +<td class="td20"><span class="smcap"><small>Page</small></span></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Almond creams,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Altering recipes,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Asparagus, to boil,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80x">Baba,</td> +<td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Small,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Syrup for,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Batter for frying à la Carême,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80"><p class="indent2">Batter for frying à la Provençale,</p></td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Beef, Bœuf à la jardinière,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Beef, Bœuf au Gratin,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Filet de bœuf Chateaubriand,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Fritadella,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Little breakfast dish of,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Miroton of,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Olives of,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Pseudo-beefsteak,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Ragout of cold,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Salmi of cold,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Simplest way to warm a joint,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">To warm over a large piece,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Sirloin, to make two dishes,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80"><p class="indent2">Biscuit glacé, à la Charles Dickens,</p></td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Biscuit glacé, à la Thackeray,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Blanc for white sauce,</td> +<td class="td20"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Boiling, asparagus,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Cabbage,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Potatoes,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Peas,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Rules for meat,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Bouchées de dames,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">To ice,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Bread,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Baking,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Cause of failure,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Cause of thick crust,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Compressed yeast,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Kneading,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Oven heating,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Remarks,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Rules of time for rising,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">To set sponge,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Bread-crumbs for frying,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80"><p class="indent2">Bread dough, to keep a day or two,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Bread dough for pie crust,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Soufflée,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Brioche,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Jockey Club, recipe for,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Brioche for summer pastry,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Broiling,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Chickens and birds,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Brown flour,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Sauce,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Butter, maître d'hôtel,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Montpellier,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Ravigotte,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80x">Cabbage, to boil,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Cakes, Baba,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Bouchées de dames,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Savarins,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80">Candies,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Chocolate creams,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Cream almonds,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Cream walnuts,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Fondant,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td class="td80b">Fondant panaché,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Punch drops,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Simple French,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Tutti frutti,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Vanilla almond cream,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Walnut cream,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Celeraic, or turnip-rooted celery,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Celery seed for soup,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Celery cream soup,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Chateaubriand, filet de bœuf,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Chicken,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Broiling,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Cold,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Pie,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Potted,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Roasting,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Use of the feet,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Clinkered fire-bricks,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Cold meat salmi,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Various ways of warming,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Coloring for candy and icing,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"><p class="indent2"> +Company to lunch, and nothing in the house,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Cromesquis of cold lamb,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Crumbs for frying,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Cucumber and onion ragout,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Curaçoa, to make,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Curry,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> +Deviled meats,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Dishes made without meat,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Dripping, to clarify,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> +Feuilletonage,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"><p class="indent2"> +Fire-bricks, to remove clinkers from,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To mend,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Flavoring,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Flounders, to bone,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +As filet de sole,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Forequarter of mutton,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Frangipane tartlets,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +French herbs,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Friandises,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"><p class="indent2"> +Fritadella of cold meat, twenty recipes in one,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Frying,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Batter à la Carême,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Batter à la Provençale,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Crumbing,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Filet de sole,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Flounders,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Oil for,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Oysters,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Remarks on,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To clarify dripping for,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To test the heat of fat for,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Galantine,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Garlic,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Glaze,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To glaze ham, tongue, etc.,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Gouffé's pot-au-feu,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Rules for ovens,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Gravy,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Grating nutmegs,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Ham, to boil,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To glaze,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To pot,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Hash,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Heart, beef,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Sheep's,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Iced soufflée,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +A la Byron,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Icing,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Ink, to remove from carpets,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Jellied fish or oysters,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Jelly for cold chicken,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Jelly from pork,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Kerosene lamps,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Keeping meat,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Poultry,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Dough,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Kitchen conveniences,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Kreuznach horns,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Kringles,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Lamb, cromesquis of,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Lamps,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Larding needle,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Leg of mutton,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +A la Soubise,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Boiled,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Lemons, to keep,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Peels,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Little dinners,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Liver, sheep's,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Luncheons,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Maître d'hôtel butter,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Management in small families,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Maraschino, to make,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Marrow from soup bone,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Mayonnaise, new,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Meat, to keep,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Salad,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Mephistophelian sauce,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Miroton of beef,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Montpellier butter,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Mushroom powder,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Mutton broth,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Forequarter,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Leg,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Neck of mutton,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Noyeau,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Nutmegs, best way to grate,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Omelet, new,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Onion soup, maigre,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Ornamenting meat pies,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Ovens,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Gouffé's rules for heating,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Oysters, to fry,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +In jelly,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Ox cheek,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Panaché fondant,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Parsley seed for soup,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Parsley in winter,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Paste, puff,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To handle,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pastry tablets,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pâte à la Carême for frying,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pâte à la Provençale,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Peas, to boil,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pease soup, maigre,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pie, bread dough for crust,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Chicken, to eat cold,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Fruit,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +English raised,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To "raise" a,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Veal and ham,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Windsor,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pork for jelly,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Potato salad,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Snow,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Soup, maigre,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To warm over,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pot-au-feu,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Pot roasts,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Potted meats,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Punch drops,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Ragout of cold meat,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Of cucumber and onion,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Ravigotte,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Remarks, preliminary,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>-<a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On boiling,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On bread-making,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On frying,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On kitchen and servants,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On little dinners,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On luncheons,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On maigre dishes,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On management in small families,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On sauces and flavoring,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> + +Remarks on soups,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On table prejudices,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"><p class="indent2"> +On true economy in buying meat,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +On roasting,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Rissolettes,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Rolls,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Roux,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Rusks,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Salad, Celeraic,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Potato,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Cold meat,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Salamander, substitute for,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Sauces,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Flavoring,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Brown or espagnole,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Mephistophelian,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +White,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Mayonnaise,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Savarin (cake),</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Soufflée bread,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Iced,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +A la Byron,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Soup bone,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Soup, celery cream,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Consommé,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Pot-au-feu,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Onion,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Pease,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +Potato,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To color,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80b"> +To clear stock,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Sugar boiling for candy,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Tainted meat, to restore,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"><p class="indent2"> +To make strong vegetables milder,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Tutti frutti candy,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Vanilla almond cream,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Veal,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80x"> + +Warming over,</td><td class="td20x"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +What to do with scraps,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"><p class="indent2"> +Where to buy articles not in general use,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"><p class="indent2"> +Why meat does not brown in cooking,</p></td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td> +</tr><tr><td class="td80"> +Windsor pie,</td><td class="td20"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Culture and Cooking + Art in the Kitchen + +Author: Catherine Owen + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29982] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CULTURE AND COOKING *** + + + + +Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's note: | + | | + | In the text [oe] represents an "oe" ligature. | + | | + | Discrepancies between chapter names in | + | CONTENTS and in chapter headings have been | + | retained as shown in the original book. | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + + + + + CULTURE AND COOKING; + + OR, + + ART IN THE KITCHEN. + + BY + + CATHERINE OWEN + + + "Le Createur, en obligeant l'homme a manger pour vivre, l'y invite + par l'appetit et l'en recompense par le plaisir." + + --BRILLAT SAVARIN. + + + CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO., + NEW YORK, LONDON, AND PARIS. + 1881 + + + COPYRIGHT, + 1881, + BY O. M. DUNHAM. + + + + PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO., + NOS. 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +THIS is not a cookery book. It makes no attempt to replace a good one; +it is rather an effort to fill up the gap between you and your household +oracle, whether she be one of those exasperating old friends who +maddened our mother with their vagueness, or the newer and better lights +of our own generation, the latest and best of all being a lady as well +known for her novels as for her works on domestic economy--one more +proof, if proof were needed, of the truth I endeavor to set forth--if +somewhat tediously forgive me--in this little book: that cooking and +cultivation are by no means antagonistic. Who does not remember with +affectionate admiration Charlotte Bronte taking the eyes out of the +potatoes stealthily, for fear of hurting the feelings of her purblind +old servant; or Margaret Fuller shelling peas? + +The chief difficulty, I fancy, with women trying recipes is, that they +fail and know not why they fail, and so become discouraged, and this is +where I hope to step in. But although this is not a cookery book, +insomuch as it does not deal chiefly with recipes, I shall yet give a +few; but only when they are, or I believe them to be, better than those +in general use, or good things little known, or supposed to belong to +the domain of a French _chef_, of which I have introduced a good many. +Should I succeed in making things that were obscure before clear to a +few women, I shall be as proud as was Mme. de Genlis when she boasts in +her Memoirs that she has taught six new dishes to a German housewife. +Six new dishes! When Brillat-Savarin says: "He who has invented _one_ +new dish has done more for the pleasure of mankind than he who has +discovered a star." + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE + + PRELIMINARY REMARKS 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + ON BREAD. + + Sponge for bread.--One cause of failure.--Why home-made + bread often has a hard crust.--On baking.--Ovens.--More + reasons why bread may fail to be good.--Light + rolls.--Rusks.--Kreuznach horns.--Kringles.--Brioche + (Paris Jockey Club recipe).--Soufflee bread.--A novelty 12 + + + CHAPTER III. + + PASTRY. + + Why you fail in making good puff paste.--How to + succeed.--How to handle it.--To put fruit pies together so + that the syrup does not boil out.--Ornamenting fruit + pies.--Rissolettes.--Pastry tablets.--Frangipane + tartlets.--Rules for ascertaining the heat of your oven 22 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + WHAT TO HAVE IN YOUR STORE-ROOM. + + Mushroom powder (recipe).--Stock to keep, or glaze + (recipe).--Uses of glaze.--Glazing meats, hams, tongues, + etc.--Maitre d'hotel butter (recipe).--Uses of + it.--Ravigotte or Montpellier butter (recipe).--Uses of + it.--Roux.--Blanc (recipes).--Uses of both.--Brown flour, + its uses 28 + + + CHAPTER V. + + LUNCHEONS. + + Remarks on what to have for luncheons.--English meat + pies.--Windsor pie.--Veal and ham pie.--Chicken + pie.--Raised pork pie.--(Recipes).--Ornamenting meat + pies.--Galantine (recipe).--Fish in jelly.--Jellied + oysters.--A new mayonnaise luncheon for small + families.--Potted meats (recipes).--Anchovy butter.--A new + omelet.--Potato snow.--Lyonnaise potatoes 35 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A CHAPTER ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN VERY SMALL FAMILIES. + + How to have little dinners.--Hints for bills of fare, + etc.--Filet de b[oe]uf Chateaubriand (recipe).--What to do + with the odds and ends.--Various recipes.--Salads.--Recipes 47 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + FRYING. + + Why you fail.--Panure or bread-crumbs, to prepare.--How to + prepare flounders as filets de sole.--Fried oysters.--To + clarify dripping for frying.--Remarks.--Pate a frire a la + Careme.--Same, a la Provencale.--Broiling 55 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + ROASTING 62 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + BOILING AND SOUPS. + + Boiling meat.--Rules for knowing exactly the degrees of + boiling.--Vegetables.--Remarks on making soup.--To clear + soup.--Why it is not clear.--Coloring + pot-au-feu.--Consomme.--_Creme de celeri_, a little known + soup.--Recipes 65 + + + CHAPTER X. + + SAUCES. + + Remarks on making and flavoring sauces.--Espagnole or + brown sauce as it should be.--How to make fine white sauce 70 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + WARMING OVER. + + Remarks.--Salmi of cold meats.--B[oe]uf a la + jardiniere.--B[oe]uf au gratin.--Pseudo-beefsteak. + --Cutlets a la jardiniere.--Cromesquis of lamb.--Sauce + piquant.--Miroton of beef.--Simple way of warming a + joint.--Breakfast dish.--Stuffed beef.--Beef olives.--Chops + a la poulette.--Devils.--Mephistophelian sauce.--Fritadella, + twenty recipes in one 72 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + ON FRIANDISES. + + Biscuit glacee at home (recipes).--Iced souffles + (recipes).--Baba and syrups for it (recipe).--Savarin and + syrup (recipes).--Bouchees de dames.--How to make + Curacoa.--Maraschino.--Noyeau 84 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + FRENCH CANDIES AT HOME. + + How to make them.--Fondants.--Vanilla.--Almond + cream.--Walnut cream.--Tutti frutti.--Various candies + dipped in cream.--Chocolate creams.--Fondant + panache.--Punch drops 91 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + FOR PEOPLE OF VERY SMALL MEANS. + + Remarks.--What may be made of a soup bone.--Several very + economical dishes.--Pot roasts.--Dishes requiring no meat 96 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + A FEW THINGS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER 105 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + ON SOME TABLE PREJUDICES 108 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS. + + Altering recipes.--How to have tarragon, burnet, + etc.--Remarks on obtaining ingredients not in common + use.--An impromptu salamander.--Larding needle.--How to + have parsley fresh all winter without expense.--On having + kitchen conveniences.--Anecdote related by Jules + Gouffee.--On servants in America.--A little + advice by way of valedictory 111 + + + INDEX 119 + + + + +CULTURE AND COOKING. + + +CHAPTER I. + +A FEW PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + + +ALEXANDRE DUMAS, _pere_, after writing five hundred novels, says, "I +wish to close my literary career with a book on cooking." + +And in the hundred pages or so of preface--or perhaps overture would be +the better word, since in it a group of literary men, while contributing +recondite recipes, flourish trumpets in every key--to his huge volume he +says, "I wish to be read by people of the world, and practiced by people +of the art" (_gens de l'art_); and although _I_ wish, like every one who +writes, to be read by all the world, I wish to aid the practice, not of +the professors of the culinary art, but those whose aspirations point to +an enjoyment of the good things of life, but whose means of attaining +them are limited. + +There is a great deal of talk just now about cooking; in a lesser degree +it takes its place as a popular topic with ceramics, modern antiques, +and household art. The fact of it being in a mild way fashionable may do +a little good to the eating world in general. And it may make it more +easy to convince young women of refined proclivities that the art of +cooking is not beneath their attention, to know that the Queen of +England's daughters--and of course the cream of the London fair--have +attended the lectures on the subject delivered at South Kensington, and +that a young lady of rank, Sir James Coles's daughter, has been +recording angel to the association, is in fact the R. C. C. who edits +the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +But, notwithstanding all that has been done by South Kensington lectures +in London and Miss Corson's Cooking School in New York to popularize the +culinary art, one may go into a dozen houses, and find the ladies of the +family with sticky fingers, scissors, and gum pot, busily porcelainizing +clay jars, and not find one where they are as zealously trying to work +out the problems of the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +I have nothing to say against the artistic distractions of the day. +Anything that will induce love of the beautiful, and remove from us the +possibility of a return to the horrors of hair-cloth and brocatel and +crochet tidies, will be a stride in the right direction. But what I do +protest against, is the fact, that the same refined girls and matrons, +who so love to adorn their houses that they will spend hours improving a +pickle jar, mediaevalizing their furniture, or decorating the dinner +service, will shirk everything that pertains to the preparation of food +as dirty, disagreeable drudgery, and sit down to a commonplace, +ill-prepared meal, served on those artistic plates, as complacently as +if dainty food were not a refinement; as if heavy rolls and poor bread, +burnt or greasy steak, and wilted potatoes did not smack of the shanty, +just as loudly as coarse crockery or rag carpet--indeed far more so; the +carpet and crockery may be due to poverty, but a dainty meal or its +reverse will speak volumes for innate refinement or its lack in the +woman who serves it. You see by my speaking of rag carpets and dainty +meals in one breath, that I do not consider good things to be the +privilege of the rich alone. + +There are a great many dainty things the household of small or moderate +means can have just as easily as the most wealthy. Beautiful +bread--light, white, crisp--costs no more than the tough, thick-crusted +boulder, with cavities like eye-sockets, that one so frequently meets +with as _home-made bread_. As Hood says: + + "Who has not met with home-made bread, + A heavy compound of putty and lead?" + +Delicious coffee is only a matter of care, not expense--and indeed in +America the cause of poor food, even in a boarding-house, is seldom in +the quality of the articles so much as in the preparation and selection +of them--yet an epicure can breakfast well with fine bread and butter +and good coffee. And this leads me to another thing: many people think +that to give too much attention to food shows gluttony. I have heard a +lady say with a tone of virtuous rebuke, when the conversation turned +from fashions to cooking, "I give very little time to cooking, we eat to +live only"--which is exactly what an animal does. Eating to live is mere +feeding. Brillat-Savarin, an abstemious eater himself, among other witty +things on the same topic says, "_L'animal se repait, l'homme mange, +l'homme d'esprit seul sait manger._" + +Nine people out of ten, when they call a man an epicure, mean it as a +sort of reproach, a man who is averse to every-day food, one whom plain +fare would fail to satisfy; but Grimod de la Reyniere, the most +celebrated gourmet of his day, author of "_Almanach des Gourmands_," +and authority on all matters culinary of the last century, said, "A true +epicure can dine well on one dish, provided it is excellent of its +kind." Excellent, that is it. A little care will generally secure to us +the refinement of having only on the table what is excellent of its +kind. If it is but potatoes and salt, let the salt be ground fine, and +the potatoes white and mealy. Thackeray says, an epicure is one who +never tires of brown bread and fresh butter, and in this sense every New +Yorker who has his rolls from the Brevoort House, and uses Darlington +butter, is an epicure. There seems to me, more mere animalism in wading +through a long bill of fare, eating three or four indifferently cooked +vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, each second-rate in quality, or made so +by bad cooking, and declaring that you have dined well, and are easy to +please, than there is in taking pains to have a perfectly broiled chop, +a fine potato, and a salad, on which any true epicure could dine well, +while on the former fare he would leave the table hungry. + +Spenser points a moral for me when he says, speaking of the Irish in +1580, "That wherever they found a plot of shamrocks or water-cresses +they had a feast;" but there were gourmets even among them, for "some +gobbled the green food as it came, and some picked the faultless stalks, +and looked for the bloom on the leaf." + +Thus it is, when I speak of "good living," I do not mean expensive +living or high living, but living so that the table may be as elegant as +the dishes on which it is served. + +I believe there exists a feeling, not often expressed perhaps, but +prevalent among young people, that for a lady to cook with her own +hands is vulgar; to love to do it shows that she is of low intellectual +caliber, a sort of drawing-room Bridget. When or how this idea arose it +would be difficult to say, for in the middle ages cooks were often +noble; a Montmorency was _chef de cuisine_ to Philip of Valois; +Montesquieu descended, and was not ashamed of his descent, from the +second cook of the Connetable de Bourbon, who ennobled him. And from +Lord Bacon, "brightest, greatest, meanest of mankind," who took, it is +said, great interest in cooking, to Talleyrand, the Machiavelli of +France, who spent an hour every day with his cook, we find great men +delighting in the art as a recreation. + +It is surprising that such an essentially artistic people as Americans +should so neglect an art which a great French writer calls the "_science +mignonne_ of all distinguished men of the world." Napoleon the Great so +fully recognized the social value of keeping a good table that, although +no gourmet himself, he wished all his chief functionaries to be so. +"Keep a good table," he told them; "if you get into debt for it I will +pay." And later, one of his most devoted adherents, the Marquis de +Cussy, out of favor with Louis XVIII. on account of that very devotion, +found his reputation as a gourmet very serviceable to him. A friend +applied for a place at court for him, which Louis refused, till he heard +that M. de Cussy had invented the mixture of cream, strawberries, and +champagne, when he granted the petition at once. Nor is this a solitary +instance in history where culinary skill has been a passport to fortune +to its possessor. Savarin relates that the Chevalier d'Aubigny, exiled +from France, was in London, in utter poverty, notwithstanding which, by +chance, he was invited to dine at a tavern frequented by the young +bucks of that day. + +After he had finished his dinner, a party of young gentlemen, who had +been observing him from their table, sent one of their number with many +apologies and excuses to beg of him, as a son of a nation renowned for +their salads, to be kind enough to mix theirs for them. He complied, and +while occupied in making the salad, told them frankly his story, and did +not hide his poverty. One of the gentlemen, as they parted, slipped a +five-pound note into his hand, and his need of it was so great that he +did not obey the prompting of his pride, but accepted it. + +A few days later he was sent for to a great house, and learned on his +arrival that the young gentleman he had obliged at the tavern had spoken +so highly of his salad that they begged him to do the same thing again. +A very handsome sum was tendered him on his departure, and afterwards he +had frequent calls on his skill, until it became the fashion to have +salads prepared by d'Aubigny, who became a well-known character in +London, and was called "_the fashionable salad-maker_." In a few years +he amassed a large fortune by this means, and was in such request that +his carriage would drive from house to house, carrying him and his +various condiments--for he took with him everything that could give +variety to his concoctions--from one place, where his services were +needed, to another. + +The contempt for this art of cooking is confined to this country, and to +the lower middle classes in England. By the "lower middle classes" I +mean, what Carlyle terms the gigocracy--_i.e._, people sufficiently +well-to-do to keep a gig or phaeton--well-to-do tradesmen, small +professional men, the class whose womenkind would call themselves +"genteel," and many absurd stories are told of the determined ignorance +and pretense of these would-be ladies. But in no class above this is a +knowledge of cooking a thing to be ashamed of; in England, indeed, so +far from that being the case, indifference to the subject, or lack of +understanding and taste for certain dishes is looked upon as a sort of +proof of want of breeding. Not to like curry, macaroni, or parmesan, +_pate de foie gras_, mushrooms, and such like, is a sign that you have +not been all your life accustomed to good living. Mr. Hardy, in his +"Pair of Blue Eyes," cleverly hits this prejudice when he makes Mr. +Swancourt say, "I knew the fellow wasn't a gentleman; he had no acquired +tastes, never took Worcestershire sauce." + +Abroad many women of high rank and culture devote a good deal of time to +a thorough understanding of the subject. We have a lady of the "lordly +line of proud St. Clair" writing for us "Dainty Dishes," and doing it +with a zest that shows she enjoys her work, although she does once in a +while forget something she ought to have mentioned, and later still we +have Miss Rose Coles writing the "Official Handbook of Cookery." + +But it is in graceful, refined France that cookery is and has been, a +pet art. Any bill of fare or French cookery book will betray to a +thoughtful reader the attention given to the subject by the wittiest, +gayest, and most beautiful women, and the greatest men. The +high-sounding names attached to French standard dishes are no mere +caprice or homage of a French cook to the great in the land, but +actually point out their inventor. Thus _Bechamel_ was invented by the +Marquis de Bechamel, as a sauce for codfish; while _Filets de Lapereau a +la Berry_ were invented by the Duchess de Berry, daughter of the regent +Orleans, who himself invented _Pain a la d'Orleans_, while to Richelieu +we are indebted for hundreds of dishes besides the renowned mayonnaise. + +_Cailles a la Mirepois_, _Chartreuse a la Mauconseil_, _Poulets a la +Villeroy_, betray the tastes of the three great ladies whose name they +bear. + +But not in courts alone has the art had its devotees. Almost every great +name in French literature brings to mind something its owner said or did +about cooking. Dumas, who was a prince of cooks, and of whom it is +related that in 1860, when living at Varennes, St. Maur, dividing his +time, as usual, between cooking and literature (_Lorsqu'il ne faisait +pas sauter un roman, il faisait sauter des petits oignons_), on +Mountjoye, a young artist friend and neighbor, going to see him, he +cooked dinner for him. Going into the poultry yard, after donning a +white apron, he wrung the neck of a chicken; then to the kitchen garden +for vegetables, which he peeled and washed himself; lit the fire, got +butter and flour ready, put on his saucepans, then cooked, stirred, +tasted, seasoned until dinner time. Then he entered in triumph, and +announced, "_Le diner est servi_." For six months he passed three or +four days a week cooking for Mountjoye. This novelist's book says, in +connection with the fact that great cooks in France have been men of +literary culture, and literary men often fine cooks, "It is not +surprising that literary men have always formed the _entourage_ of a +great chef, for, to appreciate thoroughly all there is in the culinary +art, none are so well able as men of letters; accustomed as they are to +all refinements, they can appreciate better than others those of the +table," thus paying himself and confreres a delicate little compliment +at the expense of the non-literary world; but, notwithstanding the naive +self-glorification, he states a fact that helps to point my moral, that +indifference to cooking does not indicate refinement, intellect, or +social pre-eminence. + +Brillat-Savarin, grave judge as he was, and abstemious eater, yet has +written the book of books on the art of eating. It was he who said, +"Tell me what you eat, I will tell you what you are," as pregnant with +truth as the better-known proverb it paraphrases. + +Malherbe loved to watch his cook at work. I think it was he who said, "A +coarse-minded man could never be a cook," and Charles Baudelaire, the +Poe of France, takes a poet's view of our daily wants, when he says, +"that an ideal cook must have a great deal of the poet's nature, +combining something of the voluptuary with the man of science learned in +the chemical principles of matter;" although he goes further than we +care to follow when he says, that the question of sauces and seasoning +requires "a chapter as grave as a _feuilleton de science_." + +It has been said by foreigners that Americans care nothing for the +refinements of the table, but I think they do care. I have known many a +woman in comfortable circumstances long to have a good table, many a man +aspire to better things, and if he could only get them at home would pay +any money. But the getting them at home is the difficulty; on a table +covered with exquisite linen, glass, and silver, whose presiding queen +is more likely than not a type of the American lady--graceful, refined, +and witty--on such a table, with such surroundings, will come the +plentiful, coarse, commonplace dinner. + +The chief reason for this is lack of knowledge on the part of our +ladies: know how to do a thing yourself, and you will get it well done +by others. But how are many of them to know? The daughters of the +wealthy in this country often marry struggling men, and they know less +about domestic economy than ladies of the higher ranks abroad; not +because English or French ladies take more part in housekeeping, but +because they are at home all their lives. Ladies of the highest rank +never go to a boarding or any other school, and these are the women who, +with some few exceptions, know best how things should be done. They are +at home listening to criticisms from papa, who is an epicure perhaps, on +the shortcomings of his own table, or his neighbors'; from mamma, as to +what the soup lacks, why cook is not a "_cordon bleu_," etc., while our +girls are at school, far away from domestic comments, deep in the +agonies of algebra perhaps; and directly they leave school, in many +cases they marry. As a preparation for the state of matrimony most of +them learn how to make cake and preserves, and the very excellence of +their attainments in that way proves how easy it would be for them, with +their dainty fingers and good taste, to far excel their European cousins +in that art which a French writer says is based on "reason, health, +common sense, and sound taste." + +Here let me say, I do not by any means advocate a woman, who can afford +to pay a first-rate cook, avoiding the expense by cooking herself; on +the contrary, I think no woman is justified in doing work herself that +she has the means given her to get done by employing others. I have no +praise for the economical woman, who, from a desire to save, does her +own work _without necessity for economy_. It is _not_ her work; the +moment she can afford to employ others it is the work of some less +fortunate person. But in this country, it often happens that a good +cook is not to be found for money, although the raw material of which +one might be made is much oftener at hand. And if ladies would only +practice the culinary art with as much, nay, half as much assiduity as +they give to a new pattern in crochet; devote as much time to attaining +perfection in one dish or article of food, be it perfect bread, or some +French dish which father, brother, or husband goes to Delmonico's to +enjoy, as they do to the crochet tidies or embroidered rugs with which +they decorate their drawing-rooms, they could then take the material, in +the shape of any ambitious girl they may meet with, and make her a fine +cook. In the time they take to make a dozen tidies, they would have a +dozen dishes at their fingers' ends; and let me tell you, the woman who +can cook a dozen things, outside of preserves, in a _perfect_ manner is +a rarity here, and a good cook anywhere, for, by the time the dozen are +accomplished, she will have learned so much of the art of cooking that +all else will come easy. One good soup, bouillon, and you have the +foundation of all others; two good sauces, white sauce and brown, "_les +sauces meres_" as the French call them (mothers of all other sauces), +and all others are matters of detail. Learn to make one kind of roll +perfectly, as light, plump, and crisp as Delmonico's, and all varieties +are at your fingers' ends; you can have kringles, Vienna rolls, +Kreuznach horns, Yorkshire tea cakes, English Sally Lunns and Bath buns; +all are then as easy to make as common soda biscuit. In fact, in +cooking, as in many other things, "_ce n'est que le premier pas que +coute_;" failures are almost certain at the beginning, but a failure is +often a step toward success--if we only know the reason of the failure. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON BREAD. + + +OF all articles of food, bread is perhaps the one about which most has +been written, most instruction given, and most failures made. Yet what +adds more to the elegance of a table than exquisite bread or breads, +and--unless you live in a large city and depend on the baker--what so +rare? A lady who is very proud of her table, and justly so, said to me +quite lately, "I cannot understand how it is we never have really fine +home-made bread. I have tried many recipes, following them closely, and +I can't achieve anything but a commonplace loaf with a thick, hard +crust; and as for rolls, they are my despair. I have wasted eggs, +butter, and patience so often that I have determined to give them up, +but a fine loaf I will try for." + +"And when you achieve the fine loaf, you may revel in home-made rolls," +I answered. + +And so I advise every one first to make perfect bread, light, white, +crisp, and _thin-crusted_, that rarest thing in home-made bread. + +I have read over many recipes for bread, and am convinced that when the +time allowed for rising is specified, it is invariably too short. One +standard book directs you to leave your sponge two hours, and the bread +when made up a _quarter of an hour_. This recipe strictly followed must +result in heavy, tough bread. As bread is so important, and so many +fail, I will give my own method from beginning to end; not that there +are not numberless good recipes, but simply because they frequently need +adapting to circumstances, and altering a recipe is one of the things a +tyro fears to do. + +I make a sponge over night, using a dried yeast-cake soaked in a pint of +warm water, to which I add a spoonful of salt, and, if the weather is +warm, as much soda as will lie on a dime; make this into a stiff batter +with flour--it may take a quart or less, flour varies so much, to give a +rule is impossible; but if, after standing, the sponge has a watery +appearance, make it thicker by sprinkling in more flour, beat hard a few +minutes, and cover with a cloth--in winter keep a piece of thick flannel +for the purpose, as a chill is fatal to your sponge--and set in a warm +place free from draughts. + +The next morning, when the sponge is quite light--that is to say, at +least twice the bulk it was, and like a honeycomb--take two quarts of +flour, more or less, as you require, but I recommend at first a small +baking, and this will make three small loaves; in winter, flour should +be dried and warmed; put it in your mixing bowl, and turn the sponge +into a hole in the center. Have ready some water, rather more than +lukewarm, but not _hot_. Add it gradually, stirring your flour into the +sponge at the same time. The great fault in making bread is getting the +dough too stiff; it should be as soft as possible, without being at all +sticky or wet. Now knead it with both hands from all sides into the +center; keep this motion, occasionally dipping your hands into the flour +if the dough sticks, but do not add more flour unless the paste sticks +very much; if you have the right consistency it will be a smooth mass, +very soft to the touch, _yet not sticky_, but this may not be attained +at a first mixing without adding flour by degrees. When you have kneaded +the dough until it leaves the bowl all round, set it in a warm place to +rise. When it is well risen, feels very soft and warm to the touch, and +is twice its bulk, knead it once more thoroughly, then put it in tins +either floured, and the flour not adhering shaken out, or buttered, +putting in each a piece of dough half the size you intend your loaf to +be. Now everything depends on your oven. Many people bake their bread +slowly, leaving it in the oven a long time, and this causes a thick, +hard crust. When baked in the modern iron oven, quick baking is +necessary. Let the oven be quite hot, then put a little ball of paste +in, and if it browns palely in seven to ten minutes it is about right; +if it burns, it is too hot; open the damper ten minutes. Your bread, +after it is in the tins, will rise much more quickly than the first +time. Let it get light, but not too light--_twice its bulk_ is a good +rule; but if it is light before your oven is ready, and thus in danger +of getting too porous, work it down with your hand, it will not harm it, +although it is better so to manage that the oven waits for the bread +rather than the bread for the oven. A small loaf--and by all means make +them small until you have gained experience--will not take more than +three quarters of an hour to bake; when a nice yellow brown, take it +out, turn it out of the tin into a cloth, and tap the bottom; if it is +crisp and smells cooked, the loaf is done. Once the bottom is brown it +need remain no longer. Should that, however, from fault of your oven, be +not brown, but soft and white, you must put it back in the oven, the +bottom upwards. An oven that does not bake at the bottom will, however, +be likely to spoil your bread. It is sometimes caused by a careless +servant leaving a collection of ashes underneath it; satisfy yourself +that all the flues are perfectly clean and clear before beginning to +bake, and if it still refuses to do its duty, change it, for you will +have nothing but loss and vexation of spirit while you have it in use. I +think you will find this bread white, evenly porous (not with small +holes in one part and caverns in another; if it is so you have made your +dough too stiff, and it is not sufficiently kneaded), and with a thin, +crisp crust. Bread will surely fail to rise at all if you have scalded +the yeast; the water must never be too hot. In winter, if it gets +chilled, it will only rise slowly, or not at all, and in using baker's +or German yeast take care that it is not stale, which will cause heavy, +irregular bread. + +In making bread with compressed yeast proceed in exactly the same way, +excepting that the sponge will not need to be set over night, unless you +want to bake very early. + +If you have once produced bread to your satisfaction you will find no +difficulty in making rolls. Proceed as follows: + +Take a piece of the dough from your baking after it has risen once. To a +piece as large as a man's fist take a large tablespoonful of butter and +a little powdered sugar; work them into the dough, put it in a bowl, +cover it, and set it in a warm place to rise--a shelf behind the stove +is best; if you make this at the same time as your bread, you will find +it takes longer to rise; the butter causes that difference; when very +light, much lighter than your bread should be, take your hand and push +it down till it is not larger than when you put it in the bowl; let it +rise again, and again push it down, but not so thoroughly; do this once +or twice more, and you have the secret of light rolls. You will find +them rise very quickly, after once or twice pushing down. When they have +risen the third or fourth time, take a little butter on your hands, and +break off small pieces about the size of a walnut and roll them round. +Either put them on a tin close together, to be broken apart, or an inch +or two from each other, in which case work in a little more flour, and +cut a cleft on the top, and once more set to rise; half an hour will be +long enough generally, but in this case you must judge for yourself, +they sometimes take an hour; if they look swelled very much and smooth +they will be ready. Have a nice hot oven, and bake for twelve to fifteen +minutes. + +Add a little more sugar to your dough and an egg, go through the same +process, brush them over with sugar dissolved in milk, and you will have +delicious rusks. + +The above is my own method of making rolls, and the simplest I know of; +but there are numbers of other recipes given in cookery books which +would be just as good if the exact directions for letting them rise were +given. As a test--and every experiment you try will be so much gained in +your experience--follow the recipe given for rolls in any good cookery +book, take part of the dough and let it rise as therein directed, and +bake, set the other part to rise as _I_ direct, and notice the +difference. + +KREUZNACH HORNS.--Either take a third of the dough made for bread with +three quarts of flour, or set a sponge with a pint of flour and a +yeast-cake soaked in half a pint of warm water or milk, making it into a +stiffish dough with another pint of flour; then add four ounces of +butter, a _little_ sugar, and two eggs; work well. If you use the bread +dough, you will need to dredge in a little more flour on account of the +eggs, but not _very much_; then set to rise as for rolls, work it down +twice or thrice, then turn the dough out on the molding board lightly +floured, roll it as you would pie-crust into pieces six inches square, +and quarter of an inch thick, make two sharp, quick cuts across it from +corner to corner, and you will have from each square four three-cornered +pieces of paste; spread each _thinly_ with soft butter, flour lightly, +and roll up very lightly from the wide side, taking care that it is not +squeezed together in any way; lay them on a tin with the side on which +the point comes uppermost, and bend round in the form of a horseshoe; +these will take some time to rise; when they have swollen much and look +light, brush them over with white of egg (not beaten) or milk and +butter, and bake in a good oven. + +KRINGLES are made from the same recipe, but with another egg and two +ounces of sugar (powdered) added to the dough when first set to rise; +then, when well risen two or three times, instead of rolling with a pin +as for horns, break off pieces, roll between your hands as thick as your +finger, and form into figure eights, rings, fingers; or take three +strips, flour and roll them as thick as your finger, tapering at each +end; lay them on the board, fasten the three together at one end, and +then lay one over the other in a plait, fasten the other end, and set to +rise, bake; when done, brush over with sugar dissolved in milk, and +sprinkle with sugar. + +All these breads are delicious for breakfast, and may easily be had +without excessive early rising if the sponge is set in the _morning_, +dough made in the afternoon, and the rising and working done in the +evening; when, instead of making up into rolls, horns, or kringles, +push the dough down thoroughly, cover with a damp folded cloth, and put +in a _very_ cold place if in summer--not on ice of course--then next +morning, as soon as the fire is alight, mold, but do not push down any +more, put in a very warm spot, and when light, bake. + +In summer, as I have said, I think it safest, to prevent danger of +souring, to put a little soda in the sponge for bread; and for rolls, or +anything requiring to rise several times, it is an essential precaution. + +BRIOCHE.--I suppose the very name of this delectable French dainty will +call up in the mind's eye of many who read this book that great "little" +shop, _Au Grand Brioche_, on the Boulevarde Poissoniere, where, on +Sunday afternoons, scores of boys from the Lycees form _en queue_ with +the general public, waiting the hour when the piles of golden brioche +shall be ready to exchange for their eager sous. But I venture to say, a +really fine brioche is rarely eaten on this side the Atlantic. They +being a luxury welcome to all, and especially aromatic of Paris, I tried +many times to make them, obtaining for that purpose recipes from French +friends, and from standard French books, but never succeeded in +producing the ideal brioche until I met with Gouffe's great book, the +"_Livre de Cuisine_," after reading which, I may here say, all secrets +of the French kitchen are laid bare; no effort is spared to make +everything plain, from the humble _pot-au-feu_ to the most gorgeous +monumental _plat_. And I would refer any one who wants to become +proficient in any French dish, to that book, feeling sure that, in +following strictly the directions, there will be no failure. It is the +one book I have met with on the subject in which no margin is left for +your own knowledge, if you have it, to fill up. But to the brioche. + + +PARIS JOCKEY-CLUB RECIPE FOR BRIOCHE. + +Sift one pound of flour, take one fourth of it, and add rather more than +half a cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in half a gill of warm water, +make into a sponge with a _very little_ more water, put it in a warm +place; when it is double its volume take the rest of the flour, make a +hole in the center, and put in it an equal quantity of salt and sugar, +about a teaspoonful, and two tablespoonfuls of water to dissolve them. +Three quarters of a pound of butter and four eggs, beat well, then add +another egg, beat again, and add another, and so on until seven have +been used; the paste must be soft, but not spread; if too firm, add +another egg. Now mix this paste with the sponge thoroughly, beating +until the paste leaves the sides of the bowl, then put it in a crock and +cover; let it stand four hours in a warm place, then turn it out on a +board, _spread it and double it four times_, return it to the crock, and +let it rise again two hours; repeat the former process of doubling and +spreading, and put it in a very cold place for two hours, or until you +want to use it. Mold in any form you like, but the true brioche is two +pieces, one as large again as the other; form the large one into a ball, +make a deep depression in the center, on which place the smaller ball, +pressing it gently in; cut two or three gashes round it with a sharp +knife, and bake a beautiful golden brown. These brioche are such a +luxury, and so sure to come out right, that the trouble of making them +is well worth the taking, and for another reason: every one knows the +great difficulty of making puff paste in summer, and a short paste is +never handsome; but take a piece of brioche paste, roll it out thin, +dredge with flour, fold and roll again, then use as you would puff +paste; if for sweet pastry, a little powdered sugar may be sprinkled +through it instead of dredging with flour. This makes a very handsome +and delicious crust. Or, another use to which it may be put is to roll +it out, cut it in rounds, lay on them mince-meat, orange marmalade, jam, +or merely sprinkle with currants, chopped citron, and spices, fold, +press the edges, and bake. + +Before quitting the subject of breads I must introduce a novelty which I +will call "soufflee bread." It is quickly made, possible even when the +fire is poor, and so delicious that I know you will thank me for making +you acquainted with it. + +Use two or three eggs according to size you wish, and to each egg a +tablespoonful of flour. Mix the yolks with the flour and with them a +dessert-spoonful of butter melted, and enough milk to make a very +_thick_ batter, work, add a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar, +work till quite smooth, then add the whites of the eggs in a firm froth, +stir them in gently, and add a _quarter_ teaspoonful of soda and half a +one of cream of tartar. Have ready an iron frying-pan (or an earthen one +that will stand heat is better), made hot with a tablespoonful of butter +in it, also hot, but not so hot as for frying. Pour the batter (which +should be of the consistency of sponge cake batter) into the pan, cover +it with a lid or tin plate, and set it back of the stove if the fire is +hot--if very slow it may be forward; when well risen and near done, put +it in the oven, or if the oven is cold you may turn it gently, not to +deaden it. Serve when done (try with a twig), the under side uppermost; +it should be of a fine golden brown and look like an omelet. This +soufflee bread is equally good _baked_ in a tin in which is rather more +butter than enough to grease it; the oven must be _very hot indeed_. +Cover it for the few minutes with a tin plate or lid, to prevent it +scorching before it has risen; when it has puffed up remove the lid, and +allow it to brown, ten to fifteen minutes should bake it; turn it out as +you would sponge cake--very carefully, not to deaden it. To succeed with +bread you must use the very best flour. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PASTRY. + + +TO MAKE good puff paste is a thing many ladies are anxious to do, and in +which they generally fail, and this not so much because they do not make +it properly, as because they handle it badly. A lady who was very +anxious to excel in pastry once asked me to allow her to watch me make +paste. I did so, and explained that there was more in the manner of +using than in the making up. I then gave her a piece of my paste when +completed, and asked her to cover some patty pans while I covered +others, cautioning her as to the way she must cover them; yet, when +those covered by her came out of the oven they had not risen at all, +they were like rich short paste; while my own, made from the same paste, +were toppling over with lightness. I had, without saying anything, +pressed my thumb slightly on one spot of one of mine; in that spot the +paste had not risen at all, and I think this practical demonstration of +what I had tried to explain was more useful than an hour's talk would +have been. + +I will first give my method of making, which is the usual French way of +making "_feuilletonage_." Take one pound of butter, or half of it lard; +press all the water out by squeezing it in a cloth; this is important, +as the liquid in it would wet your paste; take a third of the butter, or +butter and lard, and rub it into one pound of _fine_ flour; add no salt +if your butter is salted; then take enough water (to which you may add +the well-beaten white of an egg, but it is not absolutely necessary) to +make the flour into a smooth, firm dough; it must not be too stiff, or +it will be hard to roll out, or too soft, or it will never make good +paste; it should roll easily, yet not stick; work it till it is very +smooth, then roll it out till it is half an inch thick; now lay the +whole of the butter in the center, fold one-third the paste over, then +the other third; it is now folded in three, with the butter completely +hidden; now turn the ends toward you, and roll it till it is half an +inch thick, taking care, by rolling very evenly, that the butter is not +pressed out at the other end; now you have a piece of paste about two +feet long, and not half that width; flour it lightly, and fold _over_ +one third and under one third, which will almost bring it to a square +again; turn it round so that what was the side is now the end, and roll. +Most likely now the butter will begin to break through, in which case +fold it, after flouring lightly, in three, as before, and put it on a +dish on the ice, covering it with a damp cloth. You may now either leave +it for an hour or two, or till next day. Paste made the day before it is +used is much better and easier to manage, and in winter it may be kept +for four or five days in a cold place, using from it as required. + +When ready to use your paste finish the making by rolling it out, +dredging a _little_ flour, and doubling it in three as before, and roll +it out thin; do this until from first to last it has been so doubled and +rolled seven times. + +Great cooks differ on one or two points in making pastry; for instance, +Soyer directs you to put the yolk of an egg instead of the white, and a +squeeze of lemon juice into the flour, and expressly forbids you to +work it before adding the mass of butter, while Jules Gouffe says, "work +it until smooth and shining." I cannot pretend to decide between these +differing doctors, but I pursue the method I have given and always have +light pastry. And now to the handling of it: It must only be touched by +the lightest fingers, every cut must be made with a sharp knife, and +done with one quick stroke so that the paste is not dragged at all; in +covering a pie dish or patty pan, you are commonly directed to mold the +paste over it as thin as possible, which conveys the idea that the paste +is to be pressed over and so made thin; this would destroy the finest +paste in the world; roll it thin, say for small tartlets, less than a +quarter of an inch thick, for a pie a trifle thicker, then lay the dish +or tin to be covered on the paste, and cut out with a knife, dipped in +_hot_ water or flour, a piece a little larger than the mold, then line +with the piece you have cut, touching it as little as possible; press +only enough to make the paste adhere to the bottom, but on no account +press the border; to test the necessity of avoiding this, gently press +one spot on a tart, before putting it in the oven, only so much as many +people always do in making pie, and watch the result. When your tartlets +or pies are made, take each up on your left hand, and with a sharp knife +dipped in flour trim it round quickly. To make the cover of a pie adhere +to the under crust, lay the forefinger of your right hand lengthwise +round the border, but as far from the edge as you can, thus forming a +groove for the syrups, and pressing the cover on at the same time. A +word here about fruit pies: Pile the fruit high in the center, leaving a +space all round the sides almost bare of fruit, when the cover is on +press gently the paste, as I have explained, into this groove, then +make two or three deep holes in the groove; the juice will boil out of +these holes and run round this groove, instead of boiling out through +the edges and wasting. + +This is the pastry-cook's way of making pies, and makes a much handsomer +one than the usual flat method, besides saving your syrup. To ornament +fruit pies or tartlets, whip the white of an egg, and stir in as much +powdered sugar as will make a thin meringue--a large tablespoonful is +usually enough--then when your pies or tartlets are baked, take them +from the oven, glaze with the egg and sugar, and return to the oven, +leaving the door open; when it has set into a frosty icing they are +ready to serve. + +It is worth while to accomplish puff paste, for so many dainty trifles +may be made with it, which, attempted with the ordinary short paste, +would be unsightly. Some of these that seem to me novel I will describe. + +Rissolettes are made with trimmings of puff paste; if you have about a +quarter of a pound left, roll it out very thin, about as thick as a +fifty-cent piece; put about half a spoonful of marmalade or jam on it, +in places about an inch apart, wet lightly round each, and place a piece +of paste over all; take a small round cutter as large as a dollar, and +press round the part where the marmalade or jam is with the thick part +of the cutter; then cut them out with a cutter a size larger, lay them +on a baking tin, brush over with white of egg; then cut some little +rings the size of a quarter dollar, put one on each, egg over again, and +bake twenty minutes in a nice hot oven; then sift white sugar all over, +put them back in the oven to glaze; a little red currant jelly in each +ring looks pretty; serve in the form of a pyramid. + +PASTRY TABLETS.--Cut strips of paste three inches and a half long, and +an inch and a half wide, and as thick as a twenty-five cent piece; lay +on half of them a thin filmy layer of jam or marmalade, not jelly; then +on each lay a strip without jam, and bake in a quick oven. When the +paste is well risen and brown, take them out, glaze them with white of +egg and sugar, and sprinkle chopped almonds over them; return to the +oven till the glazing is set and the almonds just colored; serve them +hot or cold on a napkin piled log-cabin fashion. + +FRANGIPANE TARTLETS.--One quarter pint of cream, four yolks of eggs, two +ounces of flour, three macaroons, four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, +the peel of a grated lemon, and a little citron cut very fine, a little +brandy and orange-flower water. Put all the ingredients, except the +eggs, in a saucepan--of course you will mix the flour smooth in the +cream first--let them come to a boil slowly, stirring to prevent lumps; +when the flour smells cooked, take it off the fire for a minute, then +stir the beaten yolks of eggs into it. Stand the saucepan in another of +boiling water and return to the stove, stirring till the eggs seem +done--about five minutes, if the water boils all the time. Line patty +pans with puff paste, and fill with frangipane and bake. Ornament with +chopped almonds and meringue, or not, as you please. + +It is very difficult to make fine puff paste in warm weather, and almost +impossible without ice; for this reason I think the brioche paste +preferable; but if it is necessary to have it for any purpose, you must +take the following precautions: + +Have your water iced; have your butter as firm as possible by being +kept on ice till the last moment; make the paste in the coolest place +you have, and under the breeze of an open window, if possible; make it +the day before you use it, and put it on the ice between every "turn," +as each rolling out is technically called; then leave it on the ice, as +you use it, taking pieces from it as you need them, so that the warmth +cannot soften the whole at once, when it would become quite +unmanageable. The condition of the oven is a very important matter, and +I cannot do better than transcribe the rules given by Gouffe, by which +you may test its fitness for any purpose: + +Put half a sheet of writing paper in the oven; if it catches fire it is +too hot; open the dampers and wait ten minutes, when put in another +piece of paper; if it blackens it is still too hot. Ten minutes later +put in a third piece; if it _gets dark brown_ the oven is right for all +small pastry. Called "_dark brown paper heat_." _Light brown paper heat_ +is suitable for _vol-au-vents_ or fruit pies. _Dark yellow paper heat_ +for large pieces of pastry or meat pies, pound cake, bread, etc. _Light +yellow paper heat_ for sponge cake, meringues, etc. + +To obtain these various degrees of heat, you try paper every ten minutes +till the heat required for your purpose is attained. But remember that +"light yellow" means the paper only tinged; "dark yellow," the paper the +color of ordinary pine wood; "light brown" is only a shade darker, about +the color of nice pie-crust, and dark brown a shade darker, by no means +coffee color. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHAT TO HAVE IN YOUR STORE-ROOM. + + +ONE great trouble with many young housekeepers is betrayed by the common +remark, "Cookery books always require so many things that one never has +in the house, and they coolly order you to 'moisten with gravy,' 'take a +little gravy,' as if you had only to go to the pump and get it." It is +very true that economy in cooking is much aided by having a supply of +various condiments; warmed-over meat may then be converted into a +delicious little entree with little trouble. I would recommend, +therefore, any one who is in earnest about reforming her dinner table to +begin by expending a few dollars in the following articles: + + + 1 bottle of capers, + 1 " olives, + 1 " gherkins, + 1 " soy, + 1 " anchovies, + 1 " tarragon vinegar, + 1 " claret, + 1 " white wine, + 1 " sherry for cooking, + 1 " brandy, + 1 " Harvey sauce, + 1 " walnut ketchup. + +And a package of compressed vegetables and a few bay leaves. + + +Ten dollars thus spent may seem a good deal of money to a young +housewife trying to make her husband's salary go as far as it will; but +I assure her it is in the end an economy, especially in a small family, +who are so apt to get tired of seeing the same thing, that it has to be +thrown or given away. With these condiments and others I have yet to +mention you will have no trouble in using every scrap; not using it and +eating it from a sense of duty, and wishing it was something better, but +enjoying it. With your store-room well provided, you can indeed go for +gravy "as if to the pump." + +Besides the foregoing list of articles to be bought of any good grocer, +there are others which can be made at home to advantage, and once made +are always ready. Mushroom powder I prefer for any use to mushroom +catsup; it is easily made and its uses are infinite. Sprinkled over +steak (when it must be sifted) or chops, it is delicious. For ordinary +purposes, such as flavoring soup or gravy, it need not be sifted. To +prepare it, take a peck of large and very fresh mushrooms, look them +over carefully that they are not wormy, then cleanse them with a piece +of flannel from sand or grit, then peel them and put them in the sun or +a cool oven to dry; they require long, slow drying, and must become in a +state to crumble. Your peck will have diminished by the process into +half a pint or less of mushroom powder, but you have the means with it +of making a rich gravy at a few minutes' notice. + +Apropos of gravies--that much-vexed question in small households--for +without gravies on hand you cannot make good hash, or many other things +that are miserable without, and excellent with it. Yet how difficult it +is to have gravy always on hand every mistress of a small family knows, +in spite of the constant advice to "save your trimming to make stock." +Do by all means save your bones, gristle, odds and ends of meat of all +kinds, and convert them into broth; but even if you do, it often happens +that the days you have done so no gravy is required, and then it sours +quickly in summer, although it may be arrested by reboiling. In no +family of three or four are there odds and ends enough, unless there is +a very extravagant table kept, to insure stock for every day. My remedy +for this, then, is to make a stock that will keep for months or +years--in other words, _glaze_. So very rarely forming part of a +housewife's stores, yet so valuable that the fact is simply astonishing; +with a piece of glaze, you have a dish of soup on an emergency, rich +gravy for any purpose, and all with the expenditure of less time than +would make a pot of sweetmeats. + +Take six pounds of a knuckle of veal or leg of beef, cut it in pieces +the size of an egg, as also half a pound of lean ham; then rub a quarter +of a pound of butter on the bottom of your pot, which should hold two +gallons; then put in the meat with half a pint of water, three +middle-sized onions, with two cloves in each, a turnip, a carrot, and a +_small_ head of celery; then place over a quick fire, occasionally +stirring it round, until the bottom of the pot is covered with a thick +glaze, which will adhere lightly to the spoon; then fill up the pot with +cold water, and when on the boiling point, draw it to the back of the +stove, where it may gently simmer three hours, if veal, six if beef, +carefully skimming it to remove scum. This stock, as it is, will make a +delicious foundation, with the addition of salt, for all kinds of clear +soup or gravies. To reduce it to glaze proceed as follows: Pass the +stock through a fine hair sieve or cloth into a pan; then fill up the +pot again with _hot_ water, and let it boil four hours longer to obtain +all the glutinous part from the meat; strain, and pour both stocks in a +large pot or stew-pan together; set it over the fire, and let it boil +as fast as possible with the lid off, leaving a large spoon in it to +prevent it boiling over, and to stir occasionally. When reduced to about +three pints, pour it into a small stew-pan or saucepan, set again to +boil, but more slowly, skimming it if necessary; when it is reduced to a +quart, set it where it will again boil quickly, stirring it well with a +wooden spoon until it begins to get thick and of a fine yellowish-brown +color; at this point be careful it does not burn. + +You may either pour it into a pot for use, or, what is more convenient +for making gravies, get a sausage skin from your butcher, cut a yard of +it, tie one end very tightly, then pour into it by means of a large +funnel the glaze; from this cut slices for use. A thick slice dissolved +in hot water makes a cup of nutritious soup, into which you may put any +cooked vegetables, or rice, or barley. A piece is very useful to take on +a journey, especially for an invalid who does not want to depend on +wayside hotel food, or is tired of beef-tea. + +The foregoing is the orthodox recipe for glaze, and if you have to buy +meat for the purpose the very best way in which you can make it; but if +it happen that you have some strong meat soup or jelly, for which you +have no use while fresh, then boil it down till it is thick and brown +(not burnt); it will be excellent glaze; not so fine in flavor, perhaps, +but it preserves to good use what would otherwise be lost. Very many +people do not know the value of pork for making jelly. If you live in +the country and kill a pig, use his hocks for making glaze instead of +beef. + +Glaze also adds much to the beauty of many dishes. If roast beef is not +quite brown enough on any one spot set your jar of glaze--for this +purpose it is well to have some put in a jar as well as in the skin--in +boiling water. Keep a small stiff brush; such as are sold for the +purpose at house-furnishing stores, called a glazing brush, are best; +but you may manage with any other or even a stiff feather. When the +glaze softens, as glue would do, brush over your meat with it, it will +give the lacking brown; or, if you have a ham or tongue you wish to +decorate you may "varnish" it, as it were, with the melted glaze; then +when cold beat some fresh butter to a white cream, and with a kitchen +syringe, if you have one, a stiff paper funnel if you have not, trace +any design you please on the glazed surface; this makes a very handsome +dish, and if your ham has been properly boiled will be very satisfactory +to the palate. Of the boiling of ham I will speak in another chapter. + +I have a few more articles to recommend for your store-room, and then I +think you will find yourself equal to the emergency of providing an +elegant little meal if called upon unexpectedly, provided you have any +cold scraps at all in the house, and _maitre d'hotel_ butter. + +To make the latter, take half a pound of fine butter, one tablespoonful +of very fresh parsley, chopped not too fine, salt, pepper, and a small +tablespoonful of lemon juice; mix together, but do not work more than +sufficient for that purpose, and pack in a jar, keeping it in a cool +place. A tablespoonful of this laid in a hot dish on which you serve +beefsteak, chops, or any kind of fish, is a great addition, and turns +plain boiled potatoes into _pomme de terre a la maitre d'hotel_. It is +excellent with stewed potatoes, or added to anything for which parsley +is needed, and not always at hand; a spoonful with half the quantity of +flour stirred into a gill of milk or water makes the renowned _maitre +d'hotel_ sauce (or English parsley butter) for boiled fish, mutton, or +veal. In short, it is one of the most valuable things to have in the +house. Equally valuable, even, and more elegant is the preparation known +as "Ravigotte" or Montpellier butter. + +Take one pound in equal quantities of chervil, tarragon, burnet +(pimpernel), chives, and garden cress (peppergrass); scald _two_ +minutes, drain quite dry; pound in a mortar three hard eggs, three +anchovies, and one scant ounce of pickled cucumbers, and same quantity +of capers well pressed to extract the vinegar; add salt, pepper, and a +bit of garlic half as large as a pea, rub all through a sieve; then put +a pound of fine butter into the mortar, which must be well cleansed from +the herbs, add the herbs, with two tablespoonfuls of oil and one of +tarragon vinegar, mix perfectly, and if not of a fine green, add the +juice of some pounded spinach. + +This is the celebrated "_beurre de Montpellier_" sold in Paris in tiny +jars at a high price. Ravigotte is the same thing, only in place of the +eggs, anchovies, pickles, and capers, put half a pound more butter; it +is good, but less piquant. + +Pack in a jar, and keep cool. This butter is excellent for many +purposes. For salad, beaten with oil, vinegar, and yolks of eggs, as for +mayonnaise, it makes a delicious dressing. For cold meat or fish it is +excellent, and also for chops. + +Two or three other articles serve to simplify the art of cooking in its +especially difficult branches, and in the branches a lady finds +difficult to attend to herself without remaining in the kitchen until +the last minute before dinner; but with the aid of blanc and roux a +fairly intelligent girl can make excellent sauces. + +For roux melt slowly half a pound of butter over the fire, skim it, let +it settle, then dredge in eight ounces of fine flour, stir it till it is +of a bright brown, then put away in a jar for use. + +Blanc is the same thing, only it is not allowed to brown; it should be +stirred only enough to make all hot through, then put away in a jar. + +If you need thickening for a white sauce and do not wish to stand over +it yourself, having taught your cook the simple fact that a piece of +blanc put into the milk _before it boils_ (or it will harden instead of +melt) and allowed to dissolve, stirring constantly, will make the sauce +you wish, she will be able at all times to produce a white sauce that +you need not be ashamed of. When the sauce is nearly ready to serve, +stir in a good piece of butter--a large spoonful to half a pint; when +mixed, the sauce is ready. Brown sauce can always be made by taking a +cup of broth or soup and dissolving in the same way a piece of the roux; +and also, if desired, a piece of Montpellier butter. If there is no soup +of course you make it with a piece of glaze. + +Brown flour is also a convenient thing to have ready; it is simply +cooking flour in the oven until it is a _pale_ brown; if it is allowed +to get dark it will be bitter, and, that it may brown evenly, it +requires to be laid on a large flat baking pan and stirred often. Useful +for thickening stews, hash, etc. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LUNCHEON. + + +LUNCHEON is usually, in this country, either a forlorn meal of cold meat +or hash, or else a sort of early dinner, both of which are a mistake. If +it is veritably _luncheon_, and not early dinner, it should be as unlike +that later meal as possible for variety's sake, and, in any but very +small families, there are so many dishes more suitable for luncheon than +any other meal, that it is easy to have great variety with very little +trouble. + +I wish it were more the fashion here to have many of the cold dishes +which are popular on the other side the Atlantic; and, in spite of the +fact that table prejudices are very difficult to get over, I will append +a few recipes in the hope that some lady, more progressive than +prejudiced, may give them a trial, convinced that their excellence, +appearance, and convenience will win them favor. + +By having most dishes cold at luncheon, it makes it a distinct meal from +the hot breakfast and dinner. In summer, the cold food and a salad is +especially refreshing; in winter, a nice hot soup or puree--thick soup +is preferable at luncheon to clear, which is well fitted to precede a +heavy meal--and some savory _entree_ are very desirable, while cold +raised pie, galantine, jellied fish, and potted meats may ever, at that +season, find their appropriate place on the luncheon table. The +potatoes, which are the only vegetable introduced at strict lunch, +should be prepared in some fancy manner, as croquettes, mashed and +browned, _a la maitre d'hotel_, or in snow. The latter mode is pretty +and novel; I will, therefore, include it in my recipes for luncheon +dishes. Omelets, too, are excellent at luncheon. + +In these remarks I am thinking especially of large families, whose +luncheon table might be provided with a dish of galantine, one of +collared fish, and a meat pie, besides the steak, cutlets, or +warmed-over meat, without anything going to waste. In winter most cold +jellied articles will keep a fortnight, and in summer three or four +days. + +WINDSOR PIE.--Take slices of veal cutlet, half an inch thick, and very +thin slices of lean boiled ham; put at the bottom of one of these +veal-pie dishes or "bakers," about two to three inches deep, a layer of +the veal, seasoned, then one of ham, then one of force-meat, made as +follows: Take a little veal, or if you have sausage-meat ready-made, it +will do, as much fine dry bread-crumbs, a dessert-spoonful of _finely_ +chopped parsley, in which is a salt-spoonful of powdered thyme, savory, +and marjoram, if you have them, with salt and pepper, and mix with +enough butter to make it a crumbling paste; lay a _thin_ layer of this +on the ham, then another of veal, then ham and force-meat again, until +the dish is quite full. Lay something flat upon it, and then a weight +for an hour. You must have prepared, from bones and scraps of veal, +about a pint of stiff veal jelly; pour this over the meat, and then take +strips of rich puff paste (the _brioche_ paste would be excellent in hot +weather), wet the edge of the dish, and lay the strips round, pressing +them lightly to the dish; roll the cover a little larger than the top +of the dish, and lay it on, first wetting the surface, _not the edge_, +of the strips round the lips of the dish; press the two together, then +make a hole in the center and ornament as you please; but I never +ornament the _edge_ of a pie, as it is apt to prevent the paste from +rising. An appropriate and simple ornament for meat pies is to roll a +piece of paste very thin, cut it in four diamond-shaped pieces, put one +point of each to the hole in the center so that you have one on each +end, and one each side, then roll another little piece of paste as thin +as possible, flour it and double it, then double it again, bring all the +corners together in your hand, like a little bundle, then with a sharp +knife give a quick cut over the top of the ball of paste, cutting quite +deeply, then another across; if your cut has been clean and quick, you +will now be able to turn half back the leaves of paste as if it were a +half-blown rose. The ends which you have gathered together in your hand +are to be inserted in the hole in the center of the pie. Then brush over +with yolk of egg beaten very well in a little milk or water, and bake an +hour and a half. + +This way of covering and ornamenting a pie is appropriate for all meat +pies; pigeon pie should, however, have the little red feet skinned by +dipping in boiling water, then rubbed in a cloth, when skin and nails +peel off; if allowed to lie in the water, the flesh comes too; then one +pair is put at each end of the pie, a hole being cut to insert them, or +four are put in the center instead of the rose. + +The Windsor pie is intended to be eaten cold, as are all veal and ham +pies, the beauty of the jelly being lost in a hot pie. Do not fail to +try it on that account, for cold pies are excellent things. + +ANOTHER VEAL AND HAM PIE, more usual, and probably the "weal and hammer" +that "mellered the organ" of Silas Wegg, was manufactured by Mrs. Boffin +from this recipe; it is as follows: + +Take the thick part of breast of veal, removing all the bones, which put +on for gravy, stewing them long and slowly; put a layer of veal, pepper +and salt, then a thin sprinkling of ham; if boiled, cut in slices; if +raw, cut a slice in dice, which scald before using, then more veal and +again ham. If force-meat balls are liked, make some force-meat as for +Windsor pie, using if you prefer it chopped hard-boiled eggs in place of +chopped meat, and binding into a paste with a raw egg; then make into +balls, which drop into the crevices of the pie; boil two or three eggs +quite hard, cut each in four and lay them round the sides and over the +top, pour in about a gill of gravy, and cover the same as the Windsor +pie. In either of these pies the force-meat may be left out, a +sweetbread cut up, or mushrooms put in. + +A chicken pie to eat cold is very fine made in this way. + +RAISED PORK PIES are so familiar to every one who has visited England, +and, in spite of the greasy idea, are so very good, that I introduce a +well-tried recipe, feeling sure any one who eats pork at all will find +it worth while to give them a trial; they will follow it with many +another. + +The paste for them is made as follows: + +Rub into two pounds of flour a liberal half pound of butter, then melt +in half a pint of hot, but not boiling milk, another half pound--or it +may be lard; pour this into the flour, and knead it into a smooth, firm +paste. Properly raised pies should be molded by hand, and I will +endeavor to describe the method in case any persevering lady would like +to try and have the orthodox thing. But pie molds of tin, opening at +the side, are to be bought, and save much trouble; the mold, if used, +should be well buttered, and the pie taken out when done, and returned +to the oven for the sides to brown. + +To "raise" a pie, proceed thus: While the paste is warm, form a ball of +paste into a cone; then with the fist work inside it, till it forms an +oval cup; continue to knead till you have the walls of an even +thickness, then pinch a fold all around the bottom. If properly done, +you have an oval, flat-bottomed crust, with sides about two inches high; +fill this with pork, fat and lean together, well peppered and salted; +then work an oval cover, as near the size of the bottom cover as you +can, and wet the edges of the wall, lay the cover on, and pinch to match +the bottom; ornament as directed for Windsor pie, wash with egg, and +bake a pale brown in a moderate oven; they must be well cooked, or the +meat will not be good. One containing a pound of meat may be cooked an +hour and a quarter. All these pies are served in slices, cut through to +the bottom. + +Galantines are very handsome dishes, not very difficult to make, and +generally popular. I give a recipe for a very simple and delicious one: + +Take a fine breast of veal, remove all gristle, tendons, bones, and trim +to fifteen inches in length and eight wide; use the trimmings and bones +to help make the jelly, then put on the meat a layer of force-meat made +thus: Take one pound of sausage meat, or lean veal, to which add half a +pound of bread-crumbs, parsley and thyme to taste; grate a _little_ +nutmeg, pepper, salt, and the juice of half a lemon; have also some long +strips an inch thick of fat bacon or pork, and lean of veal, and lean +ham, well seasoned with pepper, salt, and finely chopped shallots. Lay +on the meat a layer of force-meat an inch thick, leaving an inch and a +half on each side uncovered; then lay on your strips of ham, veal, and +bacon fat, alternately; then another of force-meat, but only half an +inch thick, as too much force-meat will spoil the appearance of the +dish; if you have any cold tongue, lay some strips in, also a few +blanched pistachio nuts (to be obtained of a confectioner) will give the +appearance of true French galantine. Roll up the veal, and sew it with a +packing or coarse needle and fine twine, tie it firmly up in a piece of +linen. Observe that you do not put your pistachio nuts amid the +force-meat, where, being green, their appearance would be lost; put them +in crevices of the meats. + +Cook this in sufficient water to cover, in which you must have the +trimmings of the breast and a knuckle of veal, or hock of pork, two +onions, a carrot, half a head of celery, two cloves, a blade of mace, +and a good bunch of parsley, thyme and bay leaf, two ounces of salt. Set +the pot on the fire till it is at boiling point, then draw it to the +back and let it simmer three hours, skimming carefully; then take it +from the fire, leaving it in the stock till nearly cold; then take it +out, remove the string from the napkin, and roll the galantine up +tighter--if too tight at first it will be hard--tying the napkin at each +end only; then place it on a dish, set another dish on it, on which +place a fourteen-pound weight; this will cause it to cut firm. When +quite cold, remove strings and cloth, and it is ready to be ornamented +with jelly. When the stock in which the galantine was cooked is cold +take off the fat and clarify it, first trying, however, if it is in +right condition, by putting a little on ice. If it is not stiff enough +to cut firm, you must reduce it by boiling; if too stiff, that is +approaching glaze, add a _little_ water, then clarify by adding whites +of eggs, as directed to clarify soup (see soups). A glass of sherry and +two spoonfuls of tarragon or common vinegar are a great improvement. +Some people like this jelly cut in dice, to ornament the galantine, part +of it may then also serve to ornament other dishes at the table. But I +prefer to have the galantine enveloped in jelly, which may be done by +putting it in an oblong soup tureen or other vessel that will contain +it, leaving an inch space all round, then pouring the jelly over it. + +Jellied fish is a favorite dish with many, and is very simple to +prepare; it is also very ornamental. Take flounders or almost any flat +fish that is cheapest at the time you require them. Clean and scrape +them, cut them in small pieces, but do not cut off the fins; put them in +a stew-pan with a few small button onions or one large one, a half +teaspoonful of sugar, a glass of sherry, a dessert-spoonful of lemon +juice, and a small bunch of parsley. To one large flounder put a quart +of water, and if you are going to jelly oysters put in their liquor and +a little salt. Stew long and slowly, skimming well; then strain, and if +not perfectly clear clarify as elsewhere directed. (See if your stock +jellies, by trying it on ice before you clarify.) Now take a mold, put +in it pieces of cold salmon, eels that have been cooked, or oysters, the +latter only just cooked enough in the stock to plump them; pour a little +of the jelly in the mold, then three or four half slices of lemon, then +oysters or the cold fish, until the mold is near full, disposing the +lemon so that it will be near the sides and decorate the jelly; then +pour the rest of the jelly over all and stand in boiling water for a few +minutes, then put it in a cold place, on ice is best, for some hours. +When about to serve, dip the mold in hot water, turn out on a dish, +garnish with lettuce leaves or parsley and hard-boiled eggs. The latter +may be introduced into the jelly cut in quarters if it is desired; very +ornamental force-meat balls made bright green with spinach juice are +also an improvement in appearance. + +A NEW MAYONNAISE (Soyer's).--Put a quarter of a pint of stiff veal jelly +(that has been nicely flavored with vegetables) on ice in a bowl, +whisking it till it is a white froth; then add half a pint of salad oil +and six spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, _by degrees_, first oil, then +vinegar, continually whisking till it forms a white, smooth, sauce-like +cream; season with half a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter ditto of white +pepper, and a very little sugar, whisk it a little more and it is ready. +It should be dressed pyramidically over the article it is served with. +The advantage of this sauce is that (although more delicate than any +other) you may dress it to any height you like, and it will remain so +any length of time; if the temperature is cool, it will remain hours +without appearing greasy or melting. It is absolutely necessary, +however, that it should be prepared on ice. + +All these dishes, however, are only adapted for large families, but +there are several ways of improving on the ordinary lunch table of very +small ones. And nothing is more pleasant for the mistress of one of +these very small families than to have a friend drop in to lunch, and +have a _recherche_ lunch to offer with little trouble. Warming over will +aid her in this, and to that chapter I refer her; but there are one or +two ways of having cold relishes always ready, which help out an +impromptu meal wonderfully. + +Potted meats are a great resource to English housekeepers; this side +the Atlantic they are chiefly known through the medium of Cross & +Blackwell, though latterly one or two American firms have introduced +some very admirable articles of the sort. Home-made potted meats are, +however, better and less expensive than those bought; they should be +packed away in jars, Liebig's extract of meat jars not being too small +for the purpose, as, while covered with the fat they keep well; once +opened, they require eating within a week or ten days, except in very +cold weather. + +Potted bloater is one of the least expensive and appetizing of all +potted meats. To make it, take two or three or more bloaters, cut off +the heads and cleanse them, put them in the oven long enough to cook +them through; take them out, take off the skin, and remove the meat from +the bones carefully; put the meat of the fish in a jar with half its +weight of butter, leave it to _slowly_ cook in a cool oven for an hour, +then take it out, put the fish into a mortar or strong dish, pour the +butter on it carefully, but don't let the gravy pass too, unless the +fish is to be eaten very quickly, as it would prevent it keeping. Beat +both butter and fish till they form a paste, add a little cayenne, and +press it into small pots, pouring on each melted butter, or mutton suet. +Either should be the third of an inch thick on the bloater. This makes +excellent sandwiches. + +POTTED HAM.--Take any remains of ham you have, even fried, if of a nice +quality, is good for the purpose; take away all stringy parts, sinew, or +gristle, put it in a slow oven with its weight of butter, let it stay +macerating in the butter till very tender, then beat it in a mortar, add +cayenne, and pack in pots in the same way as the bloater. Thus you may +pot odds and ends of any meat or fish you have, and as a little potted +meat goes a long way, when you have a little lobster, a bit of chicken +breast, or even cold veal, I advise you to use it in this way; you will +then have a little stock of dainties in the house to fall back on at any +time for unexpected calls--a very important thing in the country. + +Potted chicken or veal requires either a little tongue or lean ham to +give flavor; but failing these, a little ravigotte butter, beaten in +after the meat is well pounded, is by no means a bad substitute. + +Many people like the flavor of anchovies, but do not like the idea of +eating raw fish; for these anchovy butter is very acceptable. + +Take the anchovies out of the liquor in which they are packed, but do +not wash them, put them in twice their weight of butter in a jar, which +stand in boiling water; set all back of the stove for an hour, then +pound, add cayenne, and pack in glasses. + +Unexpected company to luncheon with a lady who has to eat that meal +alone generally, and (as is the unwise way of such ladies) makes it a +very slender meal, is one of the ordeals of a young housekeeper; company +to lunch and nothing in the house. But there is generally a dainty +luncheon in every house if you know how to prepare it; there certainly +always will be if you keep your store-room supplied with the things I +have named. Let the table be prettily laid at all times, then if you +have potted meat and preserves, have them put on the table. Are there +cold potatoes? If so cut them up into potato salad, if they are whole; +if broken, warm them in a wineglass of milk, a teaspoonful of flour, +and a piece as large as an egg of _maitre d'hotel_ butter. Have you +such scraps of cold meat as could not come to table? Toss them up with a +half cup of water, a slice of glaze (oh, blessed ever-ready glaze!) a +teaspoonful of ravigotte, or _maitre d'hotel_, and a teaspoonful of roux +or blanc, according as your meat is light or dark, season, and serve. Or +you have no meat, then you have eggs, and what better than an omelet and +such an omelet as the following? Take the crumb of a slice of bread, +soak it in hot milk (cold will do, but hot is better), beat up whites of +four eggs to a high froth; mix the bread with all the milk it will +absorb, _no more_, into a paste, add the yolks of eggs with a little +salt, set the pan on the fire with an ounce of butter. Let it get very +hot, then mix the whites of eggs with the yolks and bread lightly, pour +in the pan, and move about for a minute; if the oven is hot, when the +omelet is brown underneath, set the pan in the oven for five minutes, or +until the top is set; then double half over, and serve. If your guests +have a liking for sweets, and your potted meats supply the savory part +of your luncheon, then have a brown gravy ready to serve with it. Put +into a half cup of boiling water a slice of glaze, a spoonful of roux, +and enough Harvey sauce, or mushroom powder, to flavor. If your omelet +is to be sweet, before you fold it put in a layer of preserves. + +The advantage of the omelet I have here given is that it keeps plump and +tender till cold, so that five minutes of waiting does not turn it into +leather, the great objection with omelets generally. + +Potatoes for luncheon, as I have said, should always be prepared in some +fancy way, and snow is a very pretty one. Have some fine mealy potatoes +boiled, carefully poured off, and set back of the stove with a cloth +over them till they are quite dry and fall apart; then have a colander, +or coarse wire sieve made _hot_ and a _hot_ dish in which to serve them, +pass the floury potatoes through the sieve, taking care not to crush the +snow as it falls. You require a large dish heaping full, and be +careful it is kept hot. + +This mode of preparing potatoes, although very pretty and novel, must +never be attempted with any but the whitest and mealiest kind. + +The remains of cold potatoes may be prepared thus: Put three ounces of +butter in a frying-pan in which fry three onions sliced till tender, but +not very brown, then put on the potatoes cut in slices, and shake them +till they are of a nice brown color, put a spoonful of chopped parsley, +salt, pepper, and juice of a lemon, shake well that all may mix +together, dish, and serve very hot. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A CHAPTER ON GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN VERY SMALL FAMILIES. + + +A VERY small family, "a young _menage_," for instance, is very much more +difficult to cater for without waste than a larger one; two people are +so apt to get tired of anything, be it ever so good eating, when it has +been on the table once or twice; therefore it would be useless to make +galantine or the large pies I have indicated, except for occasions when +guests are expected; but, as I hope to aid young housekeepers to have +nice dishes when alone, I will devote this chapter to their needs. + +The chapter on "Warming Over" will be very useful also to this large +class. + +In the first place it is well to have regard, when part of a dish leaves +the table, as to whether it, or any particular part of it, will make a +nice little cold dish, or a _rechauffe_; in that case have it saved, +unless it is required for the servants' dinner (it is well to manage so +that it is not needed for that purpose); for instance, if there is the +wing and a slice or two of the breast of a chicken left, it will make a +dainty little breakfast dish, or cold, in jelly, be nice for lunch. +There is always jelly if you have roast chicken, if you manage properly, +and this is how you do it: + +Carefully save the feet, throat, gizzard, and liver of your chickens; +scald the feet by pouring boiling water over them; leave them just a +minute, and pull off the outer skin and nails; they come away very +readily, leaving the feet delicately white; put these with the other +giblets, properly cleansed, into a small saucepan with an onion, a slice +of carrot, a sprig of parsley, and a pint of water (if you have the +giblets of one chicken), if of two, put a quart; let this _slowly_ +simmer for two hours and a half; it will be reduced to about half, and +form a stiff jelly when cold; a glass of sherry, and squeeze of lemon, +or teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar, makes this into a delicious aspic, +and should be added if to be eaten cold. The jelly must of course be +strained. + +In roasting chickens, if you follow the rule for meat, that is, put no +water in the pan, but a piece of butter, and dredge a _very little_ +flour over the chicken, you will have a nice brown glaze at the bottom +of the pan, provided it has been cooked in a _quick oven_; if in a cool +oven there will be nothing brown at all; but we will suppose the bird is +browned to a turn; pour your gravy from the giblets into the pan, take +off every bit of the glaze or osma-zone that adheres, and let it +dissolve, rubbing it with the back of the spoon; then, if you are likely +to have any chicken left cold, pour off a little gravy in a cup through +a fine strainer, leaving in your pan sufficient for the dinner; in this +mash up the liver till it is a smooth paste which thickens the gravy, +and serve. Some object to liver, therefore the use of it is a matter of +taste. If you dress the chickens English fashion, you will _need_ the +liver and gizzard to tuck under the wings; in this case, stew only the +feet and throat, using a little meat of any kind, if you have it, to +take their place; but on no account fail to use the feet, as they are as +rich in jelly as calves' feet in proportion to their size. + +The jelly laid aside will be enough to ornament and give relish to a +little dish of cold chicken, and changes it from a dry and commonplace +thing to a _recherche_ one. If two chickens are cooked it is more +economical than one; there is, then, double the amount of gravy, +generally sufficient, if you lay some very nice pieces of cold chicken +in a bowl, to pour over it and leave it enveloped in jelly; you still +then, if from dinner for two people, have perhaps joints enough to make +a dish of curry or fricassee, or any of the many ways in which cold +chicken may be used, for which see chapter on "_Warming Over_." + +For small households large joints are to be avoided, but even a small +roast is a large joint when there are but two or three to eat it. For +this reason it is a good plan to buy such joints as divide well. A +sirloin of beef is better made into two fine dishes than into one roast, +and then warmed over twice. Every one knows that "_Filet de b[oe]uf +Chateaubriand_" is one of the classical dishes of the French table, that +to a Frenchman luxury can go no further; but every one does not know how +entirely within his power it is to have that dish as often as he has +roast beef; how convenient it would be to so have it. Here it is: When +your sirloin roast comes from the butcher, take out the tenderloin or +fillets, which you must always choose thick; cut it across into steaks +an inch thick, trim them, cover them with a coat of butter (or oil, +which is much better), and broil them ten minutes, turning them often; +garnish with fried potatoes, and serve with _sauce Chateaubriand_, as +follows: Put a gill of white wine (or claret will do if you have no +white) into a saucepan, with a piece of glaze, weighing an ounce and a +half; add three quarters of a pint of _espagnole_, and simmer fifteen +minutes; when ready to serve, thicken with two ounces of _maitre +d'hotel_ butter in which a dessert-spoonful of flour has been worked. +That is how Jules Gouffe's recipe runs; but, as no small family will +keep _espagnole_ ready made, allow a little more glaze (of course the +recipe as given may be divided to half or quarter, provided the correct +proportions are retained), and use a tablespoonful of roux and the +_maitre d'hotel_ butter, both of which you have probably in your +store-room; if not, brown a little flour, chop some parsley, and add to +two ounces of butter; work them together, then let them dissolve in the +sauce, for which purpose let it go off the boil; let the sauce simmer a +minute, skim, and serve. + +The sirloin of beef, denuded of its fillet, is still a good roast; and +as you can't have your cake and eat it too, and hot fresh roast beef is +better than the same warmed over, warm ye never so wisely, I think this +plan may commend itself to those who like nice _little_ dinners. + +A nice little dinner of a soup, an _entree_, or made dish, salad, and +dessert, really costs no more than frequent roast meat, or even steak +and pudding, by following some such plan as this: + +Sunday.--_Pot-au-feu_ and roast lamb, leg of mutton or other good joint, +etc. + +Monday.--Rice or vermicelli soup made with remains of the _bouillon_ +from _pot-au-feu_. If the Sunday joint was a fore or hindquarter of lamb +it should have been divided, say the leg from the loin, thus providing +choice roasts for two days, and yet having enough cold lamb--that +favorite dish with so many--for luncheon with a salad; and, surprising +to say, after hot roast lamb for dinner Sunday, cold lunch for Monday, +another roast Monday, and cold or warmed up for lunch Tuesday, there +will still be (supposing as I do, in preparing this chapter, that the +family consists only of gentleman, lady, and servant) remains enough +from the two cold joints to make cromesquis of lamb (see recipe), a +little dish of mince, or a delicate _saute_ of lamb for breakfast. It is +surprising what may be done with odds and ends in a small family; a tiny +plate of pieces, far too small to make an appearance on the table, and +which, if special directions are not given, will seem to Bridget not +worth saving, will, with each piece dipped into the batter _a la +Careme_, and fried in hot fat, make a tempting dish for breakfast, or an +_entree_ for dinner or luncheon. Two tablespoonfuls only of chopped meat +of any kind will make croquettes for two or three people; hence, 'save +the pieces.' But to return to our bills of fare: I have given the two +roasts of lamb for consecutive days, because the weather in lamb season +is usually too warm to keep it; when this can be done, however, it is +pleasanter to leave the second joint of lamb till Tuesday. Should a +forequarter (abroad held in greater esteem than the hindquarter) have +been chosen, get the butcher to take out the shoulder in one round thick +joint, English fashion; this crisply roasted is far more delicious than +the leg; you then have the chops to be breaded, and an excellent dish of +the neck and breast, either broiled, curried, stewed with peas, or +roast. + +Yet how often we see a whole quarter of lamb put in the oven for two or +three people who get tired of the sight of it cold, yet feel in economy +bound to eat it. + +Should sirloin of beef have been the Sunday dinner, you will know what +to do with it, from directions already given; and as a sirloin of beef, +even with the fillet out, will be more than required for one dinner, it +may serve for a third day, dressed in one of the various ways I shall +give in chapter on "Warming Over." You have still at your disposal the +bouilli or beef from which you have made your _pot-au-feu_, which, if it +has been carefully boiled, not galloped, nor allowed to fall to rags, is +very good eating. Cut thin with lettuce, or in winter celery, in about +equal quantities, and a good salad dressing, it is excellent; or, made +into hash, fritadella, or even rissoles, is savory and delicious; only +bear in mind with this, as all cooked meats, the gravy drawn out must be +replaced by stock or glaze; it is very easy to warm over bouilli +satisfactorily, as a cup of the soup made from it can always be kept for +gravy. + +A leg of mutton makes two excellent joints, and is seldom liked cold--as +beef and lamb often are. + +Select a large fine leg, have it cut across, that each part may weigh +about equally; roast the thick or fillet end and serve with or without +onion sauce (_a la soubise_); boil the knuckle in a small quantity of +water, just enough to cover it, with a carrot, turnip, onion, and bunch +of parsley, and salt in the water, serve with caper sauce and mashed +turnips. The broth from this is excellent soup served thus: Skim it +carefully, take out the vegetables, and chop a small quantity of parsley +very fine, then beat up in a bowl two eggs, pour into them a little of +the broth--not boiling--beating all the time, then draw your soup back +till it is off the boil, and pour in the eggs, stirring continually till +it is on the boiling point again (but it must not boil, or the eggs will +curdle and spoil the soup), and then turn it into a _hot_ tureen and +serve. Use remains of the cold roast and boiled mutton together, to make +made dishes; between the days of having the roast and boiled mutton you +may have had a fowl, and the remains from that will make you a second +dish to go with your joint. + +The remains from the first cooked mutton, in form of curry, mince, +salmi, or _saute_, will be a second dish with your fowl. + +Veal is one of the most convenient things to have for a small family, as +it warms over in a variety of ways, and in some is actually better than +when put on the table as a joint. By having a little fish one day, +instead of soup, and a little game another, and remembering when you +have an especially dainty thing, to have one with it a little more +substantial and less costly, you may have variety at little expense. + +For instance, if you find it convenient to have for dinner fritadella +(see "_Warming Over_") or miroton of beef, or cold mutton curried, you +might have broiled birds, or roast pigeon, or game. In this consists +good management, to live so that the expenses of one day balance those +of the other--unless you are so happily situated that expense is a small +matter, in which case these remarks will not apply to you at all. Then, +never mind warming over, or making one joint into two; let your poor +neighbors and Bridget's friends enjoy your superfluity. To the woman +with a moderate income it usually is a matter of importance, or ought to +be, that her weekly expenditure should not exceed a certain amount, and +for this she must arrange that any extra expense is balanced by a +subsequent economy. + +Salads add much to the health and elegance of a dinner; it is in early +spring an expensive item if lettuce is used; but no salad can be more +delicious or more healthful than dressed celery; and by buying when +cheap, arranging with a man to lay in your cellar, covered with soil, +enough for the winter's use, it need cost but moderately. Celeriac, or +turnip-rooted celery is another salad that is very popular with our +German friends; it is a bulbous celery, the root being the part eaten; +these are cooked like potatoes, cut in slices, and dressed with oil and +vinegar, or mayonnaise, it is exceedingly good. Potato salad is always +procurable, and in summer at lunch, instead of the hot vegetable, or in +winter when green salad is dear, is very valuable. It may be varied by +the addition, one day, of a few chopped pickles, another, a little +onion, or celery, or parsley, or tarragon, a little ravigotte butter +beaten to cream with the vinegar, or with meat, as follows: Boil the +potatoes in their skins, peel them, cut them into pieces twice the +thickness of a fifty-cent piece, and put them into a salad bowl with +cold meat (bouilli from soup is excellent); put to them a teaspoonful of +salt, half that quantity of pepper, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, three +or even four of oil, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. You can vary +this by putting at different times some chopped celery or pickles, +olives, or anchovies. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ON FRYING AND BROILING. + + +FRYING is one of the operations in cookery in which there are more +failures than any other, or, at least, there appear to be more, because +the failure is always so very apparent. Nothing can make a dish of +breaded cutlets on which are bald white spots look inviting, or +livid-looking fish, just flaked here and there with the bread that has +been persuaded to stay on. And, provided you have enough fat in the +pan--there should always be enough to immerse the article; therefore use +a deep iron or enameled pan--there can be but two reasons why you fail. +Your fat has not been hot enough, or your crumbs have not been fine and +_even_. + +Many suppose when the fat bubbles and boils in the pan that it is quite +hot; it is far from being so. Others again are so much nearer the truth +that they know it must become _silent_, that is, boil and cease to boil, +before it is ready, but even that is not enough; it must be silent some +time, smoke, and appear to be on the point of burning, then drop a bit +of bread in; if it crisps and takes color directly, quickly put in your +articles. + +These articles, whether cutlets or fish, must have been carefully +prepared, or herein may lie the second cause of failure. Any cookery +book will give you directions how to crumb, follow them; but what some +do not tell you is, that your bread-crumbs should be _finely sifted_; +every coarse crumb is liable to drop off and bring with it a good deal +of the surrounding surface. + +I also follow the French plan in using the egg, and mix with it oil and +water in the proportion of three eggs, one tablespoonful of oil, one of +water, and a little salt, beat together and use. It is a good plan to +keep a supply of _panure_ or dried bread-crumbs always ready. Cut any +slices of baker's bread, dry them in a cool oven so that they remain +quite colorless, or they will not do for the purpose. When as dry as +crackers, crush under a rolling-pin, and sift; keep in a jar for use. + +In no branch of cooking is excellence more appreciated than in that of +frying. A dish of _filets de sole_ or cutlets, crisp and golden brown, +is an ornament to any table, and is seldom disdained by any one. Apropos +of _filets de sole_; it is very high-sounding yet very attainable, as I +shall show. I was staying with a friend early in spring, a lady always +anxious for table novelties. "Oh, do tell me what fish to order, I +should like something fried, now that you are here to tell cook how to +do it; she hasn't the wildest idea, although she would be astounded to +hear me say so." "Have you ever had flounders?" I asked. "Flounders!" My +friend's pretty nose went up the eighth of an inch, and her confidence +in my powers as counselor went down to zero. "Flounders! but they are a +very common fish you know." "I know they are very delicious," I +answered. "Order them, and trust me; but I must coax the autocrat of +your kitchen to allow me to cook and prepare them myself." + +An hour before dinner I went into the kitchen, put at least a pound of +lard into a deep frying-pan, and set it where it would get gradually +hot, then I turned my attention to the fish; they were thick, firm +flounders, and were ready cleaned, scraped, and the heads off. I then +proceeded to bone one in the following way: Take a sharp knife and split +the flounder right down the middle of the back, then run the knife +carefully between the flesh and bones going toward the edge. You have +now detached one quarter of the flesh from the bone, do the other half +in the same way, and when the back is thus entirely loose from the bone, +turn the fish over and do the same with the other part. You will now +find you can remove the bone whole from the fish, detaching, as you do +so, any flesh still retaining the bone, then you have two halves of the +fish; cut away the fins, and you have four quarters of solid fish. Now +see if the fat is very hot, set it forward while you wipe your fish dry, +and dip each piece in milk, then in flour. Try if the fat is hot by +dropping a crumb into it; if it browns at once, put in the fish. When +they are beautifully brown, which will be in about ten minutes, take +them up in the colander, and then lay them on a towel to absorb any fat, +lay them on a hot dish, and garnish with slices of lemon and parsley or +celery tops. + +Now when this dish made its appearance, my friend's husband, a _bon +vivant_, greeted it with, "Aha! _Filets de sole a la Delmonico_," and as +nothing to the contrary was said until dinner was over, he ate them +under the impression that they were veritable _filets de sole_. Of +course I can't pretend to say whether M. Delmonico imports his soles, or +uses the homely flounder; but I do know that one of his frequenters knew +no difference. + +Oysters should be laid on a cloth to drain thoroughly, then rolled in +fine sifted cracker dust, and dropped into very hot fat; do not put more +oysters in the pan than will fry without one overlapping the other. +Very few minutes will brown them beautifully, if your fat was hot +enough, and as a minute too long toughens and shrinks them, be very +careful that it browns a cube of bread almost directly, before you begin +the oysters. Egg and bread-crumb may be used instead of cracker dust, +but it is not the proper thing, and is a great deal more trouble. Should +you be desirous of using it, however, the oysters must be carefully +wiped _dry_ before dipping them; while for cracker dust they are not +wiped, but only drained well. + +Fish of any kind, fried in batter _a la Careme_ (see recipe), is very +easy to do, and very nice. + +Carefully save veal, lamb, beef, and pork drippings. Keep a crock to put +it in, and, clarified as I shall direct, it is much better than lard for +many purposes, and for frying especially; it does not leave the dark +look that is sometimes seen on articles fried in lard. The perfection of +"friture," or frying-fat, according to Gouffe, is equal parts of lard +and beef fat melted together. + +Yet there are families where dripping is never used--is looked upon as +unfit to use--while the truth is that many persons quite unable to eat +articles fried in lard would find no inconvenience from those fried in +beef fat. It is as wholesome as butter, and far better for the purpose. +Butter, indeed, is only good for frying such things as omelets or +scrambled eggs; things that are cooked in a very short time, and require +no great degree of heat. + +The same may be said of oil, than which, for fish, nothing can be +better. Yet it can only be used once, and is unsuitable for things +requiring long-sustained heat, as it soon gets bitter and rank. + +Do not be afraid to put a pound or two of fat in your pan for frying; it +is quite as economical as to put less for it can be used over and over +again, a pail or crock being kept for the purpose of receiving it. +Always in returning it to the crock pour it through a fine strainer, so +that no sediment or brown particles may pass which would spoil the next +frying. + +To clarify dripping, when poured from the meat-pan, it should go into a +bowl, instead of the crock in which you wish to keep it. Then pour into +the bowl also some boiling water, and add a little salt, stir it, and +set it away. Next day, or when cold, run a knife round the bowl, and +(unless it is pork) it will turn out in a solid cake, leaving the water +and impurities at the bottom. Now scrape the bottom of your dripping, +and put it in more boiling water till it melts, then stir again, another +pinch of salt add, and let it cool again. When you take off the cake of +fat, scrape it as before, and it is ready to be melted into the general +crock, and will now keep for months in cool weather. If you are having +frequent joints it is as well to do all your dripping together, once a +week; but do not leave it long at any season with water under it, as +that would taint it. Fat skimmed from boiled meat, _pot-au-feu_, before +the vegetables, etc., go in, is quite as good as that from roast, +treated in the same way. + +Frying in batter is very easy and excellent for some things, such as +warming over meat, being far better than eggs and crumbs. Careme gives +the following recipe, which is excellent: + +Three quarters of a pound of sifted flour, mixed with two ounces of +butter melted in warm water; blow the butter off the water into the +flour first, then enough of the water to make a _soft_ paste, which +beat smooth, then more warm water till it is batter thick enough to mask +the back of a spoon dipped into it, and salt to taste; add the _last +thing_ the whites of two eggs well beaten. + +Another batter, called _a la Provencale_, is also exceedingly good, +especially for articles a little dry in themselves, such as chickens to +be warmed over, slices of cold veal, etc. + +Take same quantity of flour, two yolks of eggs, four tablespoonfuls of +oil, mix with _cold_ water, and add whites of eggs and salt as before. +Into this batter I sometimes put a little chopped parsley, and the least +bit of powdered thyme, or grated lemon-peel, or nutmeg; this is, +however, only a matter of taste. + +BROILING is the simplest of all forms of cooking, and is essentially +English. To broil well is very easy with a little attention. A brisk +clear fire, not too high in the stove, is necessary to do it with ease; +yet if, as must sometimes happen, to meet the necessities of other +cooking, your fire is very large, carefully fix the gridiron on two +bricks or in any convenient manner, to prevent the meat scorching, then +have the gridiron _very hot_ before putting your meat upon it; turn it, +if chop or steak, as soon as the gravy begins to start on the upper +side; if allowed to remain without turning long, the gravy forms a pool +on the top, which, when turned, falls into the fire and is lost; the +action of the heat, if turned quickly, seals the pores and the gravy +remains in the meat. If the fire is not very clear, put a cover over the +meat on the gridiron, it will prevent its blackening or burning--if the +article is thick I always do so--and it is an especially good plan with +birds or chickens, which are apt to be raw at the joints unless this is +done; indeed, with the latter, I think it a good way to put them in a +hot oven ten minutes before they go on to broil, then have a spoonful of +_maitre d'hotel_ butter to lay on the breast of each. Young spring +chickens are sometimes very dry, in which case dip them in melted +butter, or, better still, oil them all over a little while before +cooking. There is nothing more unsightly than a sprawling dish of +broiled chickens; therefore, in preparing them place them in good form, +then, with a gentle blow of the rolling-pin, break the bones that they +may remain so. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +ROASTING. + + +IN spite of Brillat-Savarin's maxim that one may become a cook, but must +be born a _rotisseur_, I am inclined to think one may also, by +remembering one or two things, become a very good "roaster" (to +translate the untranslatable), especially in our day, when the oven has +taken the place of the spit, although a great deal of meat is spoiled in +roasting; a loin of lamb or piece of beef, that comes to the table so +pale that you can't tell whether it has been boiled or merely wilted in +the oven, is an aggravation so familiar, that a rich brown, well-roasted +joint is generally a surprise. Perhaps the cook will tell you she has +had the "hottest kind of an oven;" but then she has probably also had a +well of water underneath it, the vapor from which, arising all the time, +has effectually soddened the meat, and checked the browning. The surface +of roast meat should be covered with a rich glaze, scientifically called +"osma-zone." That the meat may be thus glazed, it should always go into +a _hot_ oven, so that, as the gravy exudes, it may congeal on the +outside, thus sealing up the pores. The general plan, however, is to put +meat into a warm oven an hour or two earlier than it should go, with a +quantity of water and flour underneath it. The result in hot weather I +have known to be very disagreeable, the tepid oven having, in fact, +given a stale taste to the joint before it began to cook, and it at all +times results in flavorless, tough meat. There is no time saved, either, +in putting the meat in while the oven is yet cool. Heat up the oven till +it is quite brisk, then put the meat in a pan, in which, if it is fat, +you require _no water_; if very lean, you may put half a teacup, just +enough to prevent the pan burning; you may rub a little flour over the +joint or not, as you please, but never more than the surface moisture +absorbs; have no clinging particles of flour upon the joint, neither put +salt nor pepper upon the meat before it goes into the oven; salt draws +out the gravy, which it is your object to keep in, and the flavor of +pepper is entirely changed by the parching it undergoes when on the +surface of the meat, the odor of scorched pepper, while cooking, being +very offensive to refined nostrils. This does not occur when pepper is +not on the surface; for the _inside_ of birds, in stuffing, and in meat +pies it is indispensable, and the flavor undergoes no change. This +remark on pepper applies also to broiling and frying. Always pepper +_after_ the article is cooked, and both for appearance and delicacy of +flavor white pepper should always be used in preference to black. + +Meat, while in the oven, should be carefully turned about so that it may +brown equally, and when it has been in half the time you intend to give +it, or when the upper surface is well browned, turn it over. When it +comes out of the oven put it on a hot dish, then carefully pour off the +fat by holding the corner of the meat pan over your dripping-pan, and +very gently allowing the fat to run off; do not shake it; when you see +the thick brown sediment beginning to run too, check it; if there is +still much fat on the surface, take it off with a spoon; then pour into +the pan a little boiling water and salt, in quantity according to the +quantity of sediment or glaze in the pan, and with a spoon rub off every +speck of the dried gravy on the bottom and sides of the pan. Add no +flour, the gravy must be thick enough with its own richness. If you have +added too much water, so that it looks poor, you may always boil it down +by setting the pan on the stove for a few minutes; but it is better to +put very little water at first, and add as the richness of the gravy +allows. Now you have a rich brown gravy, instead of the thick +whitey-brown broth so often served with roast meat. Every drop of this +gravy and that from the dish should be carefully saved if left over. + +Save all dripping, except from mutton or meat with which onions are +cooked, for purposes which I shall indicate in another place. + +Veal and pork require to be very thoroughly cooked. For them, therefore, +the oven must not be too hot, neither must it be lukewarm, a good even +heat is best; if likely to get too brown before it is thoroughly cooked, +open the oven door. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BOILING. + + +BOILING is one of the things about which cooks are most careless; +theoretically they almost always know meat should be slowly boiled, but +their idea of "slow" is ruled by the fire; they never attempt to rule +that. There is a good rule given by Gouffe as to what slow boiling +actually is: the surface of the pot should only show signs of ebullition +at one side, just an occasional bubble. _Simmering_ is a still slower +process, and in this the pot should have only a sizzling round one part +of the edge. All fresh meat should boil _slowly_; ham or corn beef +should barely simmer. Yet they must not go off the boil at all, which +would spoil fresh meat entirely; steeping in water gives a flat, insipid +taste. + +All vegetables except potatoes, asparagus, peas, and cauliflower should +boil as fast as possible; these four only moderately. Most vegetables +are boiled far too long. Cabbage is as delicate as cauliflower in the +summer and fall if boiled in plenty of water, to which a salt spoonful +of soda has been added, _as fast as possible_ for twenty minutes or half +an hour, then drained and dressed. In winter it should be cut in six or +eight pieces, boiled _fast_, in plenty of water, for half an hour, _no +longer_. Always give it plenty of room, let the water boil rapidly when +you put it in the pot, which set on the hottest part of the fire to +come to that point again, and you will have no more strong, rank, yellow +stuff on your table, no bad odor in your house. Peas require no more +than twenty minutes' boiling if young; asparagus the same; the latter +should always be boiled in a saucepan deep enough to let it stand up in +the water when tied up in bunches, for this saves the heads. Potatoes +should be poured off the minute they are done, and allowed to stand at +the back of the stove with a clean cloth folded over them. They are the +only vegetable that should be put into _cold_ water. When new, boiling +water is proper. When quite ripe they are more floury if put in cold +water. + +SOUPS.--As I have before said, I do not pretend to give many recipes, +only to tell you how to succeed with the recipes given in other books. I +shall, therefore, only give one recipe which I know is a novelty and one +for the foundation of all soups. In one sense I have done the latter +already. The stock for glaze is an excellent soup before it is reduced; +but I will also give Jules Gouffe's method of making _pot-au-feu_, it +being a most beautifully clear soup. + +It often happens, however, that you have sufficient stock from bones, +trimmings of meat, and odds and ends of gravies, which may always be +turned to account; but the stock from such a source, although excellent, +will not always be clear; therefore, you must proceed with it in the +following manner, unless you wish to use it for thick soup: + +Make your stock boiling hot and skim well; then have ready the whites of +three eggs (I am supposing you have three quarts of stock--one egg to a +quart), to which add half a pint of cold water; whisk well together; +then add half a pint of the boiling stock gradually, still whisking the +eggs; then stir the boiling stock rapidly, pouring in the whites of +eggs, etc.; as you do it, stir quickly till nearly boiling again, then +take it from the fire, let it remain till the whites of eggs separate; +then strain through a clean, fine cloth into a basin. This rule once +learned will clear every kind of soup or jelly. + +There are many people who are good cooks, yet fail in clear soup, which +is with them semi-opaque, while it should be like sherry. The cause of +this opacity is generally quick boiling while the meat is in. This gives +it a milky appearance. After the stock is once made and clear, quick +boiling will do no harm, but of course wastes the soup, unless resorted +to for the purpose of making it stronger. A word here about coloring +soup: Most persons resort to burnt sugar, and, very carefully used, it +is not at all a bad makeshift. But how often have we a rich-looking soup +put before us, the vermicelli appearing to repose under a lake of strong +russet _bouillon_, but which, on tasting, we find suggestive of nothing +but burnt sugar and salt, every bit of flavor destroyed by the acrid +coloring. Sometimes stock made by the recipe for _pot-au-feu_ (to +follow) requires no color; this depends on the beef; but usually all +soup is more appetizing in appearance for a little browning, and for +this purpose I always use burnt onions in preference to anything else. +If you have none in store when the soup is put on, put a small onion in +the oven (or on the back of the stove; should you be baking anything the +odor would taint); turn it often till it gets quite black, but not +_charred_. Then put it to the soup; it adds a fine flavor as well as +color, and you need not fear overdoing it. + +Soup that is to be reduced must be very lightly salted; for this reason +salt is left out altogether for glaze, as the reduction causes the +water only to evaporate, the salt remains. + +GOUFFE'S POT-AU-FEU.--Four pounds of lean beef, six quarts of water, six +ounces of carrot, six of turnip, six of onion, half an ounce of celery, +one clove, salt. + +Put the meat on in cold water, and just before it comes to the boil skim +it, and throw in a wineglass of cold water, skim again, and, when it is +"on the boil," again throw in another wineglass of cold water; do this +two or three times. The object of adding the cold water is to keep it +just off the boil until all the scum has risen, as the boiling point is +when it comes to the surface, yet once having boiled, the scum is broken +up, and the soup is never so clear. + +The meat must simmer slowly, _not boil_, for three hours before the +vegetables are added, then for a couple of hours more. + +It is necessary to be very exact in the proportions of vegetables; but, +of course, after having weighed them for soups once or twice, you will +get to know about the size of a carrot, turnip, etc., that will weigh +six ounces. The exact weight is given until the eye is accustomed to it. + +This soup strained, and boiled down to one half, becomes _consomme_. + +CELERY CREAM is a most delicious and little-known white soup, and all +lovers of good things will thank me for introducing it. + +Have some nice veal stock, or the water in which chickens have been +boiled, reduced till it is rich enough, will do, or some very rich +mutton broth, but either of the former are preferable; then put on a +half cup of rice in a pint of rich milk, and grate into it the white +part and root of two heads of celery. Let the rice milk cook very +slowly at the back of the stove, adding more milk before it gets at all +stiff; when tender enough to mash through a coarse sieve or fine +colander add it to the stock, which must have been strained and be quite +free from sediment, season with salt and a little _white_ pepper or +cayenne, boil all together gently a few minutes. It should look like +rich cream, and be strongly flavored with celery. Of course the quantity +of rice, milk, and celery must depend on the quantity of stock you have. +I have given the proportion for one quart, which, with the milk, etc., +added, would make about three pints of soup. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SAUCES. + + +TALLEYRAND said England was a country with twenty-four religions and +only one sauce. He might have said two sauces, and he would have been +literally right as regards both England and America. Everything is +served with brown sauce or white sauce. And how often the white sauce is +like bookbinder's paste, the brown, a bitter, tasteless brown mess! +Strictly speaking, perhaps, the French have but two sauces either, +_espagnole_, or brown sauce, and white sauce, which they call the mother +sauces; but what changes they ring on these mother sauces! The espagnole +once made, with no two meats is it served alike in flavor, and in this +matter of flavor the artist appears. In making brown sauce for any +purpose, bethink yourself of anything there may be in your store-room +with which to vary its flavor, taking care that it shall agree with the +meat for which it is intended. The ordinary cook flies at once to +Worcestershire or Harvey sauce, which are excellent at times, but +"_toujours perdrix_" is not always welcome. A pinch of mushroom powder, +or a few chopped oysters, are excellent with beef or veal; so will be a +spoonful of Montpellier butter stirred in, or curry, not enough to +yellow the sauce, but enough to give a dash of piquancy. A pickled +walnut chopped, or a gherkin or two, go admirably with mutton or pork +chops. In short, this is just where imagination and brains will tell in +cooking, and little essays of invention may be tried with profit. But +beware of trying too much; make yourself perfect in one thing before +venturing on another. + +ESPAGNOLE, or brown sauce, is simply a rich stock well flavored with +vegetables and herbs, and thickened with a piece of _roux_ or with brown +flour. + +WHITE SAUCE is one of those things we rarely find perfectly made; bad, +it is the _ne plus ultra_ of badness; good, it is delicious. Those who +have tried to have it good, and failed, I beg to try the following +method of making it: Take an ounce and a half of butter and a scant +tablespoonful of flour, mix both with a spoon into a paste; when smooth +add half a pint of warm milk, a _small_ teaspoonful of salt, and the +sixth part of one of _white_ pepper; set it on the fire till it boils, +and is thick enough to mask the back of the spoon transparently; then +add a squeeze of lemon juice, and another ounce and a half of fresh +butter; stir this till quite blended. This sauce is the foundation for +many others, and, for some purposes, the beaten yolk of an egg is +introduced when just off the boil. Capers may be added to it, or chopped +mushrooms, or chopped celery, or oysters, according to the use for which +it is intended. The object of adding the second butter is because +boiling takes away the flavor of butter; by stirring half of it in, +without boiling, you retain it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +WARMING OVER. + + +HASH is a peculiarly American institution. In no other country is every +remnant of cold meat turned into that one unvarying dish. What do I say? +_remnants_ of cold meat! rather _joints_ of cold meat, a roast of beef +of which the tenderloin had sufficed for the first day's dinner, the leg +of mutton from which a few slices only have been taken, the fillet of +veal, available for so many delicate dishes, all are ruthlessly turned +into the all-pervading hash. The curious thing is that people are not +fond of it. Men exclaim against it, and its name stinks in the nostrils +of those unhappy ones whose home is the boarding-house. + +Yet hash in itself is not a bad dish; when I say it is a peculiarly +_American_ institution, I mean, that when English people speak of hash, +they mean something quite different--meat warmed in slices. Our hash, in +its best form--that is, made with nice gravy, garnished with sippets of +toast and pickles, surrounded with mashed potatoes or rice--is dignified +abroad by the name of _mince_, and makes its appearance as an elegant +little _entree_. Nor would it be anathematized in the way it is with us, +if it were only occasionally introduced. It is the familiarity that has +led to contempt. "But what shall I do?" asks the young wife +distressfully; "John likes joints, and he and I and Bridget can't +possibly eat a roast at a meal." + +Very true; and it is to just such perplexed young housekeepers that I +hope this chapter will be especially useful--that is to say, small +families with moderate means and a taste for good things. In this, as in +many other ways, large families are easier to cater for; they can +consume the better part of a roast at a meal, and the remains it is no +great harm to turn into hash, although even they might, with little +trouble and expense, have agreeable variety introduced into their bill +of fare. + +In England and America there is great prejudice against warmed-over +food, but on the continent one eats it half the time in some of the most +delicious-made dishes without suspecting it. Herein lies the secret. +With us and our transatlantic cousins the warming over is so artlessly +done, that the _hard_ fact too often stares at us from out the watery +expanse in which it reposes. + +One great reason of the failure to make warmed-over meat satisfactory is +the lack of gravy. On the goodness of this (as well as its presence) +depends the success of your _rechauffe_. + +The glaze, for which I have given the recipe, renders you at all times +independent in this respect, but at the same time it should not alone be +depended on. Every drop of what remains in the dish from the roast +should be saved, and great care be taken of all scraps, bones, and +gristle, which should be carefully boiled down to save the necessity of +flying to the glaze for every purpose. I will here give several recipes, +which I think may be new to many readers. + +SALMI OF COLD MEAT is exceedingly good. Melt butter in a saucepan, if +for quite a small dish two ounces will be sufficient; when melted, stir +in a little flour to thicken; let it brown, but not burn, or, if you are +preparing the dish in haste, put in some brown flour; then add a glass +of white or red wine and a cup of broth, or a cup of water and a slice +of glaze, a sprig or two of thyme, parsley, a small onion, chopped, and +one bay leaf, pepper, and salt. Simmer all thoroughly (all savory dishes +to which wine is added should simmer long enough for the distinct +"winey" flavor to disappear, only the strength and richness remaining). +Strain this when simmered half an hour and lay in the cold meat. Squeeze +in a little lemon juice and draw the stew-pan to the back of the stove, +but where it will cook no longer, or the meat will harden. Serve on +toast, and pour the sauce over. A glass of brandy added to this dish +when the meat goes in is a great addition, if an extra fine salmi is +desired. By not allowing the flour and butter to brown and using white +wine, this is a very fine sauce in which to warm cold chicken, veal, or +any _white_ meat. + +B[OE]UF A LA JARDINIERE.--Put in a fireproof dish if you have it, or a +thick saucepan, a pint of beef broth, a small bunch each of parsley, +chervil, tarragon--very little of this--shallot or onion, capers, +pickled gherkins, of each or any a teaspoonful chopped fine; roll a +large tablespoonful of butter with a dessert-spoonful of brown flour, +stir it in; then take slices of underdone beef, with a blunt knife hack +each slice all over in fine dice, but not to separate or cut up the +slices; then pepper and salt each one and lay it in with the herbs, +sprinkle a layer of herbs over the beef and cover closely; then stand +the dish in the oven to slowly cook for an hour, or, if you use a +stew-pan, set in a pan of boiling water on the stove for an hour where +the water will just boil. Serve on a dish surrounded with young carrots +and turnips if in season, or old ones cut. + +BEEF AU GRATIN.--Cut a little fat bacon or pork very thin, sprinkle on +it chopped parsley, onion, and mushrooms (mushroom powder will do) and +bread-crumbs; then put in layers of beef, cut thick, and well and +closely hacked, then another layer of bacon or pork cut thin as a wafer, +and of seasoning, crumbs last; pour over enough broth or gravy to +moisten well, in which a little brandy or wine may be added if an +especially good dish is desired; bake slowly an hour. + +PSEUDO BEEFSTEAK.--Cut cold boiled or roast beef in thick slices, broil +slowly, lay in a _hot_ dish in which you have a large spoonful of +Montpellier butter melted, sprinkle a little mushroom powder if you +desire, and garnish with fried potato. + +CUTLETS A LA JARDINIERE.--Trim some thick cutlets from a cold leg of +mutton, or chops from the loin, dip them in frying batter, _a la +Careme_, fry crisp and quickly, and serve wreathed round green peas, or +a ragout made as follows: Take young carrots, turnips, green peas, white +beans; stew gently in a little water to which the bones of the meat and +trimmings have been added (and which must be carefully removed not to +disfigure the vegetables). Encircle this ragout with the fried cutlets, +and crown with a cauliflower. + +CROMESQUIS OF LAMB is a Polish recipe. Cut some underdone lamb--mutton +will of course do--quite small; also some mushrooms, cut small, or the +powder. Put in a saucepan a piece of glaze the size of a pigeon's egg, +with a _little_ water or broth, warm it and thicken with yolks of two +eggs, just as you would make boiled custard, that is, without letting +it come to the boil, or it will curdle; then add the mushrooms and meat, +let all get cold, and divide it into small pieces, roll in bread-crumbs +sifted, then in egg, then in crumbs again, and fry in very hot fat; or +you may, _after_ rolling in bread-crumbs, lay each piece in a spoon and +dip it into frying batter; let the extra batter run off, and drop the +cromesquis into the hot fat. These will be good made of beef and rolled +up in a bard of fat pork cut thin, and fried; serve with sauce piquant +made thus: Take some chopped parsley, onion, and pickled cucumbers, +simmer till tender, and thicken with an equal quantity of butter and +flour. Of course your own brightness will tell you that, if you are in +haste, a spoonful of Montpellier butter, the same of flour, melted in a +little water, to which you add a teaspoonful of vinegar, will make an +excellent sauce piquant, and this same is excellent for anything fried, +as breaded chops, croquettes, etc. I may here say, that where two or +three herbs are mentioned as necessary, for instance, parsley, tarragon, +and chervil, if you have no tarragon you must leave it out, or chervil +the same. It is only a matter of flavoring, at the same time _flavor_ is +a great deal, and these French herbs give that indescribable _cachet_ to +a dish which is one of the secrets of French cooking. Therefore if you +are a wise matron you will have a supply on hand, even if only bought +dry from the druggist. + +MIROTON OF BEEF.--Peel and cut into thin slices two large onions, put +them in a stew-pan with two ounces of butter, place it over a slow fire; +stir the onions round till they are rather brown, but not in the least +burnt; add a teaspoonful of brown flour, mix smoothly, then moisten with +half a pint of broth, or water with a little piece of glaze, three +salt-spoonfuls of salt unless your broth was salted, then half the +quantity or less, two of sugar, and one of pepper. Put in the cold beef, +cut in thin slices as lean as possible, let it remain five minutes at +the back of the stove; then serve on a very hot dish garnished with +fried potatoes, or sippets of toast. To vary the flavor, sometimes put a +spoonful of tarragon or plain vinegar, or a teaspoonful of mushroom +powder, or a pinch of curry, unless objected to, or a few sweet herbs. +In fact, as you may see, variety is as easy to produce as it is rare to +meet with in average cooking, and depends more on intelligence and +thoughtfulness than on anything else. + +The simplest of all ways of warming a joint that is not far cut, is to +wrap it in thickly buttered paper, and put it in the oven again, +contriving, if possible, to cover it closely, let it remain long enough +to get _hot_ through, not to cook. By keeping it closely covered it will +get hot through in less time, and the steam will prevent it getting hard +and dry; make some gravy hot and serve with the meat. If your gravy is +good and plentiful, your meat will be as nice as the first day; without +gravy it would be an unsatisfactory dish. If you cannot manage to cover +the joint in the oven, you may put it in a pot over the fire _without_ +water, but with a dessert spoonful of vinegar to create steam; let it +get hot through, and serve as before. + +For the third day the meat may be warmed up in any of the ways I am +going to mention, repeating once more, that you must have gravy of some +kind, or else carefully make some, with cracked bones, gristle, etc., +stewed _long_, and nicely flavored with any kind of sauce. + +RAGOUT.--A very nice ragout may be made from cold meat thus: Slice the +meat, put it in a stew-pan in which an onion, or several if you like +them, has been sliced; squeeze half a lemon into it, or a +dessert-spoonful of vinegar, cover closely without water, and when it +begins to cook, set the stew-pan at the back of the stove for three +quarters of an hour, shaking it occasionally. The onions should now be +brown; take out the meat, dredge in a little flour, stir it round, and +add a cup of gravy, pepper, salt, and a small quantity of any sauce or +flavoring you prefer; stew gently a minute or two, then put the meat +back to get hot, and serve; garnish with sippets of toast, or pickles. + +A NICE LITTLE BREAKFAST DISH IS made thus: Cut two long slices of cold +meat and three of bread, buttered thickly, about the same shape and +size; season the meat with pepper, salt, and a little finely chopped +parsley; or, if it is veal, a little chopped ham; then lay one slice of +bread between two of meat, and have the other two slices outside; fasten +together with short wooden skewers. If you have a quick oven, put it in; +and take care to baste with butter thoroughly, that the bread may be all +over crisp and brown. If you can't depend on your oven, fry it in very +hot fat as you would crullers; garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve +very hot. + +TO WARM A GOOD-SIZED PIECE OF BEEF.--Trim it as much like a thick fillet +as you can; cut it horizontally half way through, then scoop out as much +as you can of the meat from the inside of each piece. Chop the meat fine +that you have thus scooped out, season with a little finely chopped +parsley and thyme, a shred of onion, if you like it; or if you have +celery boil a little of the coarser part till tender, chop it and add +as much bread finely crumbled as you have meat, and a good piece of +butter; add pepper and salt, and make all into a paste with an egg, +mixed with an equal quantity of gravy or milk; fill up the hollow in the +meat and tie, or still better, sew it together. You may either put this +in a pot with a slice of pork or bacon, and a cup of gravy; or you may +brush it over with beaten egg, cover it with crumbs, and pour over these +a cup of butter, melted, so that it moistens every part; and bake it, +taking care to baste well while baking; serve with nice gravy. + +BEEF OLIVES are no novelty to the ear, but it is a novel thing to find +them satisfactory to the palate. + +Take some stale bread-crumbs, an equal quantity of beef finely chopped, +some parsley, and thyme; a little scraped ham if you have it, a few +chives, or a slice of onion, all chopped small as possible; put some +butter in a pan, and let this force-meat just simmer, _not fry_, in it +for ten minutes. While this is cooking, cut some underdone oblong slices +of beef about half an inch thick, hack it with a sharp knife on _both +sides_; then mix the cooked force-meat with the yolk of an egg and a +tablespoonful of gravy; put a spoonful of this paste in the center of +each slice of meat and tie it up carefully in the shape of an egg. Then +if you have some nice gravy, thicken it with a piece of butter rolled in +flour, roll each olive slightly in flour and lay it in the gravy and let +it very gently _simmer_ for half an hour. A few chopped oysters added to +the gravy will be a great addition. Or you may lay each olive on a thin +slice of fat pork, roll it up, tie it, dip it in flour, and bake in a +quick oven until beautifully brown. + +TO WARM OVER COLD MUTTON.--An excellent and simple way is to cut it, if +loin, into chops, or leg, into thick collops, and dip each into egg +well beaten with a tablespoonful of milk, then in _fine_ bread-crumbs +and fry in plenty of _very hot_ fat. + +If your crumbs are not very fine and even, the larger crumbs will fall +off, and the appearance be spoilt. These chops will be almost as nice, +if quickly fried, as fresh cooked ones. They will also be excellent if, +instead of being breaded, they are dipped into thick batter (see recipe) +and fried brown in the same way. This method answers for any kind of +meat, chicken thus warmed over being especially good. The batter, or egg +and bread-crumbs form a sort of crust which keeps it tender and juicy. +Any attempt to fry cold meat without either results in a hard, stringy, +uneatable dish. + +WHITE MEAT OF ANY KIND is excellent warmed over in a little milk, in +which you have cut a large onion, and, if you like it, a slice of salt +pork or ham, and a little sliced cucumber, if it is summer; thicken with +the yolks of one or two eggs, added after the whole has simmered twenty +minutes; take care the egg thickens in the gravy, but does not _boil_, +or it will curdle. If it is in winter, chop a teaspoonful of pickled +cucumber or capers and add just on going to table. In summer when you +have the sliced cucumber, squeeze half a lemon into the gravy, the last +thing, to give the requisite dash of acid. You may vary the above by +adding sometimes a few chopped oysters; at others, mushrooms, or celery. +The last must be put in with the onion and before the meat. + +DEVILED MEAT.--Our better halves are usually fond of this, especially +for breakfast or lunch. + +For this dish take a pair of turkey or chicken drumsticks or some nice +thick wedges of underdone beef or mutton, score them deeply with a +knife and rub them over with a sauce made thus: A teaspoonful of +vinegar, the same of Harvey or Worcestershire sauce, the same of +mustard, a _little_ cayenne, and a tablespoonful of salad oil, or butter +melted; mix all till like cream, and take care your meat is thoroughly +moistened all over with the mixture, then rub your gridiron with butter. +See that the fire is clear, and while the gridiron is getting hot, chop +a teaspoonful of parsley very fine, mix it up with a piece of butter the +size of a walnut, and lay this in a dish which you will put to get hot. +Then put the meat to be grilled on the fire and turn often, so that it +will not burn; when hot through and brown, lay it in the hot dish, lay +another hot dish over it, and serve as quickly as possible with hot +plates. + +Or the grill may be served with what Soyer calls his _Mephistophelian +sauce_, which he especially designed for serving with deviled meats. +Chop six shallots or small onions, wash and press them in the corner of +a clean cloth, put them in a stew-pan with half a wineglass of chili +vinegar (pepper sauce), a chopped clove, a tiny bit of garlic, two bay +leaves, an ounce of glaze; boil all together ten minutes; then add four +tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce, a _little_ sugar, and ten of broth +thickened with roux (or water will do if you have no broth). + +It will be remarked that in many French recipes a _little_ sugar is +ordered. This is not meant to sweeten, or even be perceptible; but it +enriches, softens, tones, as it were, the other ingredients as salt +does. + +SOYER'S FRITADELLA (twenty recipes in one).--Put half a pound of +bread-crumb to soak in a pint of cold water; take the same quantity of +any kind of roast, or boiled meat, with a little fat, chop it fine, +press the bread in a clean cloth to extract the water; put in a +stew-pan two ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of chopped onions; fry +two minutes and stir, then add the bread, stir and fry till rather dry, +then the meat; season with a teaspoonful of salt, half of pepper, and a +little grated nutmeg, and lemon peel; stir continually till very hot, +then add two eggs, one at a time; mix well and pour on a dish to get +cold. Then take a piece, shape it like a small egg, flatten it a little, +egg and bread-crumb it all over, taking care to keep in good shape. Do +all the same way, then put into a frying-pan a quarter of a pound of +lard or dripping, let it get hot, and put in the pieces, and saute (or +as we call it "_fry_") them a fine yellow brown. Serve very hot with a +border of mashed potatoes, or any garniture you fancy. Sauce piquant, or +not, as you please. + +The above can be made with any kind of meat, poultry, game, fish, or +even vegetables; hard eggs, or potatoes, may be introduced in small +quantities, and they may be fried instead of sauteed (frying in the +French and strict sense, meaning as I need hardly say, entire immersion +in very hot fat). To _fry_ them you require at least two pounds of fat +in your pan. + +Oysters or lobsters prepared as above are excellent. + +Boileau says, "_Un diner rechauffe ne valut jamais rien_." But I think a +good French cook of the present day would make him alter his opinion. + +Indeed Savarin quotes a friend of his own, a notable gourmand, who +considered spinach cooked on Monday only reached perfection the +following Saturday, having each day of the week been warmed up with +butter, and each day gaining succulence and a more marrowy consistency. + +The only trouble I find in relation to this part of my present task is +the difficulty of knowing when to leave off. There are so many ways of +warming meats to advantage--and in every one way there is the suggestion +for another--that I suffer from an _embarras de richesse_, and have had +difficulty in selecting. Dozens come to my mind, blanquettes, patties, +curries, as I write; but as this is not, I have said, to be a recipe +book, I forbear. Of one thing I am quite sure: when women once know how +to make nice dishes of cold meat they will live well where they now live +badly, and for less money; and "hash" will be relegated to its proper +place as an occasional and acceptable dish. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ON FRIANDISES. + + + "Le role du gourmand finit avec l'entremets, et celui du friand + commence au dessert."--_Grimod de la Reyniere._ + + +AMERICAN ladies, as a rule, excel in cake making and preserving, and I +feel that on that head I have very little to teach; indeed, were they as +accomplished in all branches of cooking as in making dainty sweet dishes +this book would be uncalled for. + +Yet, notwithstanding their undoubted taste and ability in making +"_friandises_," it seems to me a few recipes borrowed from what the +French call _la grande cuisine_, and possible of execution at home, will +be welcome to those who wish to vary the eternal ice cream and charlotte +russe, with other sweets more elegant and likely to be equally popular. + +ICED SOUFFLE A LA BYRON.--One pint of sugar syrup of 32 degrees (get +this at a druggist's if you do not understand sugar boiling), three +gills of strained raspberry juice, one lemon, one gill of maraschino, +fifteen yolks of eggs, two ounces of chocolate drops, half a pint of +very thick cream whipped. + +Method of making this and the next recipe is as follows: Mix the syrup +and yolks of eggs, strain into a warm bowl, add the raspberry and lemon +juice and maraschino, whisk till it creams well, then take the bowl out +of the hot water and whisk ten minutes longer; add the chocolate drops +and whipped cream; lightly fill a case or mold, and set in a freezer for +two hours, then cover the surface with lady-fingers (or sponge cake) +dried in the oven a pale brown, and rolled. Serve at once. + +Another frozen _souffle_ is as follows: + +One pint of syrup, 32 degrees, half a pint of noyeau, half a pint of +cherry juice, two ounces of bruised macaroons, half a pint of thick +cream whipped, made in the same way as the last. I may here say that the +fruit juices can be procured now at all good druggists, so that these +_souffles_ are very attainable in winter, and as noyeau and maraschino +do not form part of the stores in a family of small means, I will give +in this chapter recipes for the making of very fair imitations of the +genuine _liqueurs_. + +BISCUIT GLACE A LA CHARLES DICKENS.--One pint of syrup (32 deg.), fifteen +yolks of eggs, three gills of peach pulp, colored pink with cochineal, +one gill of noyeau, half a pint of thick cream, and a little chocolate +water-ice, made with half a pint of syrup and four ounces of the best +chocolate smoothly mixed and frozen ready. + +Mix syrup, yolks, peach pulps, noyeau, and a few drops of vanilla, whip +high; mix with the whipped cream, and set in ice for one hour and a half +in brick-shaped molds, then turn out (if very firm), and cut in slices +an inch thick, and coat them all over, or on top and sides, with the +chocolate ice, smoothing with a knife dipped in cold water; serve in +paper cases. + +BISCUIT GLACE A LA THACKERAY.--One pint of syrup (32 deg.), one pint of +strawberry pulp, fifteen yolks of eggs, one ounce of vanilla sugar +(flavor a little sugar with vanilla), half a pint of thick cream. + +Mix syrup, yolks, strawberry, and vanilla sugar, whipping as before, +then add the whipped cream lightly; fill paper cases, either round or +square; surround each with a band of stiff paper, to reach half an inch +above the edge of the case, the bands to be pinned together to secure +them; place them in a freezer. When about to send to table, remove the +bands of paper, and cover with macaroons bruised fine and browned in the +oven. The bands of paper are meant to give the biscuit the appearance of +having risen while supposed to bake. + +These delicious ices were invented by Francatelli, the Queen of +England's chief cook, to do homage to the different great men whose +names they bear, on the occasion of preparing dinners given in their +honor. They read as if somewhat intricate, but any lady who has ever had +ice cream made at home, and had the patience to make charlotte russe, +need not shrink appalled before these novelties, or fear for a +successful result. + +Baba is a cake many call for at a confectioner's, yet few, if any one, +attempts to make it at home. That the recipes generally offered do not +lead to success may be one reason, and I offer the following, quite +sure, if accurately followed, such a baba will result as never was eaten +outside of Paris. + +BABA.--One pound of flour; take one quarter of it, and make a sponge +with half an ounce of compressed yeast and a little warm water, set it +to rise, make a hole in the rest of the flour, add to it ten ounces of +butter, three eggs, and a dessert-spoonful of sugar, a little salt, +unless your butter salts it enough, which is generally the case. Beat +all together well, then add five more eggs, one at a time, that is to +say, add one egg and beat well, then another and beat again, and so on +until the five are used. When the paste leaves the bowl it is beaten +enough, but not before; then add the sponge to it, and a large half +ounce of citron chopped, the same of currants, and an ounce and a half +of sultana raisins, seedless. Let it rise to twice its size, then bake +it in an oven of dark yellow paper heat; the small round babas are an +innovation of the pastry-cook to enable him to sell them uncut. But the +baba proper should be baked in a large, deep, upright tin, such as a +large charlotte russe mold, when they keep for several days fresh, and +if they get stale, make delicious fritters, soaked in sherry and dipped +in frying batter. + +In some cases, however, it may be preferred to make them as usually seen +at French pastry cooks; for this purpose you require a dozen small-sized +_round_ charlotte russe molds, which fill half full only, as they rise +very much; bake these in a hotter oven, light brown paper heat; try with +a twig as you would any other cake, if it comes out dry it is done; then +prepare a syrup as follows: Boil half pound of sugar in a pint of water, +add to this the third of a pint of rum, and some apricot pulp--peach +will of course do--and boil all together a few minutes; pour this half +an inch deep in a dish, and stand the cake or cakes in it; it should +drink up all the syrup, you may also sprinkle some over it. If any syrup +remains, use it to warm over your cake when stale, instead of the +sherry. + +Baba was introduced into France by Stanislas Leczinski, king of Poland, +and the father-in-law of Louis XIV.; and his Polish royal descendants +still use with it, says Careme, a syrup made of Malaga wine and one +sixth part of _eau de tanaisie_. + +But, although our forefathers seemed to have relished tansy very much, +to judge from old recipe books, I doubt if such flavoring would be +appreciated in our time. + +SAVARINS--commonly called wine cake by New York pastry cooks--are made +as follows: + +One pound of flour, of which take one quarter to make a sponge, using +half an ounce of German compressed yeast, and a little warm milk; when +it has risen to twice its bulk, add one gill of hot milk, two eggs, and +the rest of the flour; mix well; then add one more egg and beat, +another, still beating; then add three quarters of a pound of fresh +butter, a quarter of an ounce of salt, half an ounce of sugar, and half +a gill of hot milk, beat well; then add eggs, one at a time, beating +continually, until you have used five more. Cut in small dice three +ounces of candied orange peel; butter a tin, which should be deep and +straight-sided--a tin pudding boiler is not a bad thing--and sprinkle +with chopped almonds. Fill the mold half full, and when risen to twice +its bulk, bake in a moderate oven, dark yellow paper heat. When served, +this cake should stand in a dish of syrup, flavored with rum, as for +baba, or with sherry wine. + +BOUCHEES DES DAMES, a very ornamental and delicious little French cake, +is sufficiently novel to deserve a place here, I think. Make any nice +drop cake batter (either sponge, or sponge with a little butter in it I +prefer); drop one on buttered paper and bake; if it runs, beat in a +_little_ more flour and sugar, but not much, or your cakes will be +brittle; they should be the size, when done, of a fifty-cent piece, and +I find half a teaspoonful of batter dropped generally makes them about +right. Have a tin cutter or tin box lid, if you have no cutter so small, +about the size, and with it trim each cake when baked; then take half +the number and spread some with a very thin layer of red currant jelly, +others with peach or raspberry; then on each so spread put a cake that +is unspread, thus making a tiny sandwich or jelly cake. If you have +different sorts of jelly, put each separate, as you must adapt the +flavor of your icing to the jelly. For red currant, ice with chocolate +icing. Recipes for icing are so general that I refer you to your cookery +book. Those with peach may have white icing, flavored with almond, or +with rum, beating in a little more sugar if the flavoring dilutes your +icing too much. Almond flavoring goes well with raspberry. Cakes with +raspberry jelly or jam should be iced pink, coloring the icing with +prepared cochineal or cranberry juice. Thus you have your cakes brown, +pink, and white, which look very pretty mixed. + +The process of icing is difficult to do after they are put together, but +they are much handsomer this way, and keep longer. You require, to +accomplish it, a good quantity of each kind of icing, and a number of +little wooden skewers; stick one into each cake and dip it in the icing, +let it run off, then stand the other end of the skewer in a box of sand +or granulated sugar. The easiest way is to ice each half cake before +putting in the jelly; when the icing is hard spread with jelly, and put +together. + +CURACOA may be successfully imitated by pouring over eight ounces of the +_thinly_ pared rind of very ripe oranges a pint of boiling water, cover, +and let it cool; then add two quarts of brandy, or strong French spirit, +cover closely, and let it stand fourteen days, shaking it every day. +Make a clarified syrup of two pounds of sugar into one pint of water, +well boiled; strain the brandy into it, leaving it covered close +another day. Rub up in a mortar one drachm of potash, with a teaspoonful +of the liqueurs; when well blended, put this into the liqueur, and in +the same way pound and add a drachm of alum, shake well, and in an hour +or two filter through thin muslin. Ready for use in a week or two. + +MARASCHINO.--Bruise slightly a dozen cherry kernels, put them in a deep +jar with the outer rind of three oranges and two lemons, cover with two +quarts of gin, then add syrup and leave it a fortnight, as for curacoa. +Stir syrup and spirit together, leave it another day, run it through a +jelly bag, and bottle. Ready to use in ten days. + +NOYEAU.--Blanch and pound two pounds of bitter almonds, or four of peach +kernels; put to them a gallon of spirit or brandy, two pounds of white +sugar candy--or sugar will do--a grated nutmeg, and a pod of vanilla; +leave it three weeks covered close, then filter and bottle; but do not +use it for three months. To be used with caution. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FRENCH CANDY AT HOME. + + +THIS chapter I shall have to make one of recipes chiefly, for it treats +of a branch of cooking not usually found in cookery books, or at least +there is seldom anything on the art of confectionery beyond molasses or +cream taffy and nougat. These, therefore, I shall not touch upon, but +rather show you how to make the expensive French candies. + +The great art of making these exquisite candies is in boiling the sugar, +and it is an art easily acquired with patience. + +Put into a marbleized saucepan (by long experience in sugar-boiling I +find them less likely to burn even than brass, and I keep one for the +purpose) one pound of sugar and half a pint of water; when it has boiled +ten minutes begin to try it; have a bowl of water with a piece of ice +near you, and drop it from the end of a spoon. When it falls to the +bottom, and you can take it up and make it into a softish ball (not at +all sticky) between your thumb and finger, it is at the right point; +remove it from the fire to a cold place; when cool, if perfectly right, +a thin jelly-like film will be over the surface, _not a sugary one_; if +it is sugary, and you want your candy very creamy, you must add a few +spoonfuls of water, return to the fire and boil again, going through +the same process of trying it. You must be careful that there is not the +least inclination to be brittle in the ball of candy you take from the +water; if so, it is boiled a degree too high; put a little water to +bring it back again, and try once more. A speck of cream of tartar is +useful in checking a tendency in the syrup to go to sugar. When you have +your sugar boiled just right set it to cool, and when you can bear your +finger in it, begin to beat it with a spoon; in ten minutes it will be a +white paste resembling lard, which you will find you can work like bread +dough. This, then, is your foundation, called by French confectioners +_fondant_; with your _fondant_ you can work marvels. But to begin with +the simplest French candies. + +Take a piece of _fondant_, flavor part of it with vanilla, part of it +with lemon, color yellow (see coloring candies), and another part with +raspberry, color pink; make these into balls, grooved cones, or anything +that strikes your fancy, let them stand till they harden, they are then +ready for use. + +Take another part of your _fondant_, have some English walnuts chopped, +flavor with vanilla and color pink; work the walnuts into the paste as +you would fruit into a loaf cake; when mixed, make a paper case an inch +wide and deep, and three or four inches long; oil it; press the paste +into it, and when firm turn it out and cut into cubes. Or, instead of +walnuts, use chopped almonds, flavor with vanilla, and leave the +_fondant_ white. This makes VANILLA ALMOND CREAM. + +TUTTI FRUTTI CANDY.--Chop some almonds, citron, a _few_ currants, and +seedless raisins; work into some _fondant_, flavor with rum and lemon, +thus making Roman punch, or with vanilla or raspberry; press into the +paper forms as you did the walnut cream. You see how you can ring the +changes on these bars, varying the flavoring, inventing new +combinations, etc. + +FONDANT PANACHE.--Take your _fondant_, divide it in three equal parts, +color one pink and flavor as you choose, leave the other white and +flavor also as you please; but it must agree with the pink, and both +must agree with the next, which is chocolate. Melt a little unsweetened +chocolate by setting it in a saucer over the boiling kettle, then take +enough of it to make your third piece of _fondant_ a fine brown; now +divide the white into two parts; make each an inch and a half wide, and +as long as it will; do the same with the chocolate _fondant_; then take +the pink, make it the same width and length, but of course, not being +divided, it will be twice as thick; now butter slightly the back of a +plate, or, better still, get a few sheets of waxed paper from the +confectioner's; lay one strip of the chocolate on it, then a strip of +white on that, then the pink, the other white, and lastly the chocolate +again; then lightly press them to make them adhere, but not to squeeze +them out of shape. You have now an oblong brick of parti-colored candy; +leave it for a few hours to harden, then trim it neatly with a knife and +cut it crosswise into slices half an inch think, lay on waxed paper to +dry, turning once in a while, and pack away in boxes. + +If your _fondant_ gets very hard while you work, stand it over hot water +a few minutes. + +Creamed candies are very fashionable just now, and, your _fondant_ once +ready, are very easy to make. + +CREAM WALNUTS.--Make ready some almonds, some walnuts in halves, some +hazelnuts, or anything of the sort you fancy; let them be very dry. Take +_fondant_ made from a pound of sugar, set it in a bowl in a saucepan of +boiling water, stirring it till it is like cream. Then having flavored +it with vanilla or lemon, drop in your nuts one by one, taking them out +with the other hand on the end of a fork, resting it on the edge of your +bowl to drain for a second, then drop the nut on to a waxed or buttered +paper neatly. If the nut shows through the cream it is too hot; take it +out of the boiling water and beat till it is just thick enough to mask +the nut entirely, then return it to the boiling water, as it cools very +rapidly and becomes unmanageable, when it has to be warmed over again. + +VERY FINE CHOCOLATE CREAMS are made as follows: Boil half a pound of +sugar with three tablespoonfuls of thick cream till it makes a _soft_ +ball in water, then let it cool. When cool beat it till it is very +white, flavor with a few drops of vanilla and make it into balls the +size of a large pea; then take some unsweetened chocolate warmed, mix it +with a piece of _fondant_ melted--there should be more chocolate than +sugar--and when quite smooth and thick enough to mask the cream, drop +them in from the end of a fork, take them out, and drop on to wax paper. + +Another very fine candy to be made without heat, and therefore +convenient for hot weather, is made as follows: + +PUNCH DROPS.--Sift some powdered sugar. Have ready some fine white +gum-arabic, put a tablespoonful with the sugar (say half a pound of +sugar), and make it into a firm paste; if too wet, add more sugar, +flavor with lemon and a tiny speck of tartaric acid or a very little +lemon juice. Make the paste into small balls, then take more sugar and +make it into icing with a spoonful of Santa Cruz rum and half the white +of an egg. Try if it hardens, if not, beat in more sugar and color it a +bright pink, then dip each ball in the pink icing and harden on wax +paper. These are very novel, beautiful to look at, and the flavors may +vary to taste. + +TO MAKE COCHINEAL COLORING WHICH IS QUITE HARMLESS.--Take one ounce of +powdered cochineal, one ounce of cream of tartar, two drachms of alum, +half a pint of water; boil the cochineal, water, and cream of tartar +till reduced to one half, then add the alum, and put up in small bottles +for use. Yellow is obtained by the infusion of Spanish saffron in a +little water, or a still better one from the grated rind of a ripe +orange put into muslin, and a little of the juice squeezed through it. + +Be careful in boiling the sugar for _fondant_, not to stir it after it +is dissolved; stirring causes it to become rough instead of creamy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A CHAPTER FOR PEOPLE OF VERY SMALL MEANS. + + +I AM sorry to say in these days this chapter may appeal to many, who are +yet not to be called "poor people," who may have been well-to-do and +only suffering from the pressure of the times, and for whose cultivated +appetites the coarse, substantial food of the laboring man (even if they +could buy it) would not be eatable, who must have what they do have +good, or starve. But, as some of the things for which I give recipes +will seem over-economical for people who can afford to buy meat at least +once a day, I advise those who have even fifty dollars a month income to +skip it; reminding them, if they do not, "that necessity knows no law." + +A bone of soup meat can be got at a good butcher's for ten or fifteen +cents, and is about the best investment, for that sum I know of, as two +nourishing and savory meals, at least, for four or five persons can be +got from it. + +Carefully make a nice soup, with plenty of vegetables, rice, or any +other thickening you like. Your bone will weigh from four to six pounds, +perhaps; put it on with water according to size, and let it boil down +slowly until nice and strong. If you have had any scraps of meat or +bones, put them also to your soup. + +When you serve it, keep back a cup of soup and a few of the vegetables, +and save the meat, from which you can make a very appetizing hash in the +following way: Take the meat from the bone, chop it with some cold +potatoes and the vegetables you saved from the soup. Cold stewed onions, +boiled carrots or turnips, all help to make the dish savory. Chop an +onion very fine, unless you have cold ones, a little parsley and thyme, +if liked, and sometimes, for variety's sake, if you have it, a pinch of +curry powder, not enough to make it hot or yellow, yet to impart +piquancy. If you have a tiny bit of fried bacon or cold ham or cold +pork, chop it with the other ingredients, mix all well, moisten with the +cold soup, and, when nicely seasoned, put the hash into an iron +frying-pan, in which you have a little fat made hot; pack it smoothly +in, cover it with a pot-lid, and either set it in a hot oven, or leave +it to brown on the stove. If there was more soup than enough to moisten +the hash, put it on in a tiny saucepan, with a little brown flour made +into a paste with butter, add a drop of tomato catsup, or a little +stewed tomato, or anything you have for flavoring, and stir till it +boils. Then turn the hash out whole on a dish, it should be brown and +crisp, pour the gravy you have made round it, and serve. For a change +make a pie of the hash, pouring the gravy in through a hole in the top +when done. + +It is not generally known that a very nice plain paste can be made with +a piece of bread dough, to which you have added an egg, and some lard, +dripping, or butter. The dripping is particularly nice for the hash pie, +and, as you need only a piece of dough as large as an orange, you will +probably have enough from the soup, if you skimmed off all the fat +before putting the vegetables in (see _pot-au-feu_); work your dripping +into the dough, and let it rise well, then roll as ordinary pie-crust. +Potato crust is also very good for plain pies of any sort, but as there +are plenty of recipes for it, I will not give one here. + +One of the very best hashes I ever ate was prepared by a lady who, in +better times, kept a very fine table. And she told me there were a good +many cold beans in it, well mashed; and often since, when taking +"travelers' hash" in an hotel, I have thought of that savory dish with +regret. + +Instead of making your chopped meat into hash, vary it, by rolling the +same mixture into egg-shaped pieces, or flat cakes, flouring them, and +frying them nicely in very hot fat; pieces of pork or bacon fried and +laid round will help out the dish, and be an improvement to what is +already very good. + +To return once more to the soup bone. If any one of your family is fond +of marrow, seal up each end of the bone with a paste made of flour and +water. When done, take off the paste, and remove the marrow. Made very +hot, and spread on toast, with pepper and salt, it will be a relish for +some one's tea or breakfast. + +In this country there is a prejudice against sheep's liver; while in +England, where beef liver is looked upon as too coarse to eat (and falls +to the lot of the "cats-meat man," or cat butcher), sheep's is esteemed +next to calf's, and it is, in fact, more delicate than beef liver. The +nicest way to cook it is in very _thin_ slices (not the inch-thick +pieces one often sees), each slice dipped in flour and fried in pork or +bacon fat, and pork or bacon served with it. But the more economical way +is to put it in a pan, dredge it with flour, pin some fat pork over it, +and set it in a hot oven; when very brown take it out; make nice brown +gravy by pouring water in the pan and letting it boil on the stove, +stirring it well to dissolve the glaze; pour into the dish, and serve. +The heart should be stuffed with bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, and a +_little_ onion, and baked separately. Or, for a change, you may chop the +liver up with a few sweet herbs and a little pork (onion, or not, as you +like), and some bread-crumbs. Put all together in a crock, dredge with +flour, cover, and set in a slow oven for an hour and a half; then serve, +with toasted bread around the dish. + +It is very poor economy to buy inferior meat. One pound of fine beef has +more nourishment than two of poor quality. But there is a great +difference in prices of different parts of meat, and it is better +management to choose the cheap part of fine beef than to buy the sirloin +of a poor ox even at the same price; and, by good cooking many parts not +usually chosen, and therefore sold cheaply, can be made very good. Yet +you must remember, that a piece of meat at seven cents a pound, in which +there is at least half fat and bone, such as brisket, etc., is less +economical than solid meat at ten or twelve. + +Pot roasts are very good for parts of meat not tender enough for +roasting, the "cross-rib," as some butchers term it, being very good for +this purpose; it is all solid meat, and being very lean, requires a +little fat pork, which may be laid at the bottom of the pot; or better +still, holes made in the meat and pieces of the fat drawn through, +larding in a rough way, so that they cut together. A pot roast is best +put on in an iron pot, without water, allowed to get finely brown on one +side, then turned, and when thoroughly brown on the other a little water +may be added for gravy; chop parsley or any seasoning that is +preferred. Give your roast at least three hours to cook. Ox cheek, as +the head is called, is very good, and should be very cheap; prepare it +thus: + +Clean the cheek, soak it in water six hours, and cut the meat from the +bones, which break up for soup; then take the meat, cut into neat +pieces, put it in an earthen crock, a layer of beef, some thin pieces of +pork or bacon, some onions, carrots, and turnips, cut _thin_, or chopped +fine, and sprinkled over the meat; also, some chopped parsley, a little +thyme, and bay leaf, pepper and salt, and a clove to each layer; then +more beef and a little pork, vegetables, and seasoning, as before. When +all your meat is in pour over it, if you have it, a tumbler of hard +cider and one of water, or else two of water, in which put a half gill +of vinegar. If you have no tight-fitting cover to your crock, put a +paste of flour and water over it to keep the steam in. Place the crock +in a slow oven five or six hours, and when it is taken out remove the +crust and skim. Any piece of beef cooked in this way is excellent. + +Ox heart is one of the cheapest of dishes, and really remarkably nice, +and it is much used by economical people abroad. + +The heart should be soaked in vinegar and water three or four hours, +then cut off the lobes and gristle, and stuff it with fat pork chopped, +bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt; then tie it in a cloth +and very slowly simmer it (large end up) for two hours; take it up, +remove the cloth, and flour it, and roast it a nice brown. Lay in the +pan in which it is to be roasted some fat pork to baste it. Any of this +left over is excellent hashed, or, warmed in slices with a rich brown +gravy, cannot be told from game. Another way is to stuff it with sage +and onions. It must always be served _very hot_ with hot plates and on a +very hot dish. + +Fore quarter of mutton is another very economical part of meat, if you +get your butcher to cut it so that it may not only be economical, but +really afford a choice joint. Do not then let him hack the shoulder +across, but, before he does a thing to it, get him to take the shoulder +out in a round plate-shaped joint, with knuckle attached; if he does +this well, that is, cuts it close to the bone of the ribs, you will have +a nice joint; then do not have it chopped at all; this should be roasted +in the oven very nicely, and served with onion sauce or stewed onions. +If onions are not liked, mashed turnips are the appropriate vegetable. +This joint, to be enjoyed, must be properly carved, and that is, across +the middle from the edge to the bone, the same as a leg of mutton; and +like the leg, you must learn, as I cannot describe it in words, where +the bone lies, then have that side nearest you and cut from the opposite +side. + +You have, besides this joint, another roast from the ribs, or else cut +it up into chops till you come to the part under the shoulder; from this +the breast should be separated and both either made into a good Irish +stew, or the breast prepared alone in a way I shall describe, the neck +and thin ribs being stewed or boiled. + +The neck of mutton is very tender boiled and served with parsley or +caper sauce; the liquor it is boiled in served as broth, with vegetables +and rice, or prepared as directed in a former chapter for the broth from +leg of mutton. + +The mode I am about to give of preparing breast of mutton was told me by +a Welsh lady of rank, at whose table I ate it (it appeared as a side +dish), and who said, half laughingly, "Will you take some 'fluff'? We +are very fond of it, but breast of mutton is such a despised dish I +never expect any one else to like it." I took it, on my principle of +trying everything, and did find it very good. This lady told me that, +having of course a good deal of mutton killed on her father's estate, +and the breast being always despised by the servants, she had invented a +way of using it to avoid waste. Her way was this: + +Set the breast of mutton on the fire whole, just covered with water in +which is a little salt. When it comes to the boil draw it back and let +it _simmer_ three hours; then take it up and draw out the bones, and lay +a force-meat of bread-crumbs, parsley, thyme, chopped suet, salt and +pepper all over it; double or roll it, skewer it, and coat it thickly +with egg and bread-crumbs; then bake in a moderate oven, basting it +often with nice dripping or butter; when nicely brown it is done, and +eats like the tenderest lamb. It was, when I saw it, served on a bed of +spinach. I like it better on a bed of stewed onions. + +I now give some dishes made without meat. + +RAGOUT OF CUCUMBER AND ONIONS.--Fry equal quantities of large cucumbers +and onions in slices until they are a nice brown. The cucumber will +brown more easily if cut up and put to drain some time before using; +then flour each slice. When both are brown, pour on them a cup of water, +and let them stew for half an hour; then take a good piece of butter in +which you have worked a dessert-spoonful of flour (browned); add pepper, +salt, and a little tomato catsup or stewed tomato. This is a rich-eating +dish if nicely made, and will help out cold meat or a scant quantity of +it very well. A little cold meat may be added if you have it. ONION +SOUP.--Fry six large onions cut into slices with a quarter of a pound of +butter till they are of a bright brown, then well mix in a tablespoonful +of flour, and pour on them rather more than a quart of water. Stew +gently until the onions are quite tender, season with a spoonful of salt +and a little sugar; stir in quickly a _liaison_ made with the yolks of +two eggs mixed with a gill of milk or cream (do not let it boil +afterwards), put some toast in a tureen, and serve very hot. + +PEA SOUP.--Steep some yellow split peas all night, next morning set them +on to boil with two quarts of water to a pint of peas; in the water put +a tiny bit of soda. In another pot put a large carrot, a turnip, an +onion, and a large head of celery, all cut small and covered with water. +When both peas and vegetables are tender, put them together, season with +salt, pepper, and a little sugar, and let them gently stew till thick +enough; then strain through a colander, rubbing the vegetables well, and +return to the pot while you fry some sippets of bread a crisp brown; +then stir into the soup two ounces of butter in which you have rolled a +little flour. + +This soup is simply delicious, and the fact of it being _maigre_ will +not be remembered. + +POTATO SOUP is another of this good kind, for meat is scarcely required, +so good is it without. + +Boil some potatoes, then rub them through a colander into two quarts of +hot milk (skimmed does quite well); have some fine-chopped parsley and +onion, add both with salt and pepper, stew three quarters of an hour; +then stir in a large piece of butter, and beat two eggs with a little +cold milk, stir in quickly, and serve with fried bread. There should be +potatoes enough to make the soup as thick as cream. Do not be +prejudiced against a dish because there is no meat in it, and you think +it cannot be nourishing. This chapter is not written for those with whom +meat, or money, is plentiful; and if it be true that man is nourished +"not by what he eats, but by what he assimilates," and, according to an +American medical authority, "what is eaten with distaste is not +assimilated" (Dr. Hall), it follows that an enjoyable dinner, even +without meat, will be more nourishing than one forced down because it +lacks savor; that potato soup will be more nourishing than potatoes and +butter, with a cup of milk to drink, because more enjoyable. Yet it +costs no more, for the soup can be made without the eggs if they are +scarce. + +Or say bread and butter and onions. They will not be very appetizing, +especially if they had to be a frequent meal, yet onion soup is made +from the same materials, and in France is a very favorite dish, even +with those well able to put meat in it if they wished. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A FEW THINGS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER. + + +EVERY housekeeper has pet "wrinkles" of her own which she thinks are +especially valuable; some are known to all the world, others are new to +many. So it may be with mine; but, on the chance that some few things +are as new to my friends as they were to me, I jot them down without any +pretense of order or regularity. + +Lemons will keep fresher and better in water than any other way. Put +them in a crock, cover them with water. They will in winter keep two or +three months, and the peel be as fresh as the day they were put in. Take +care, of course, that they do not get frosted. In summer change the +water twice a week; they will keep a long time. + +In grating nutmegs begin at the flower end; if you commence at the +other, there will be a hole all the way through. + +Tea or coffee made hot (not at all scorched), before water is added, are +more fragrant and stronger. Thus, by putting three spoonfuls of tea in +the pot and setting in a warm place before infusing, it will be as +strong as if you make tea with four spoonfuls without warming it, and +much more fragrant. + +Vegetables that are strong can be made much milder by tying a bit of +bread in a clean rag and boiling it with them. + +Bread dough is just as good made the day before it is used; thus, a +small family can have fresh bread one day, rolls the next, by putting +the dough in a cold place enveloped in a damp cloth. In winter, kept +cold, yet not in danger of freezing, it will keep a week. + +Celery seed takes the place of celery for soup or stews when it is +scarce; parsley seed of parsley. + +Green beans, gherkins, etc., put down when plentiful in layers of rock +salt, will keep crisp and green for months, and can be taken out and +pickled when convenient. + +Lemon or orange peel grated and mixed with powdered sugar and a squeeze +of its own juice (the sugar making it into paste) is excellent to keep +for flavoring; put it into a little pot and it will keep for a year. + +Bread that is very stale may be made quite fresh for an hour or two by +dipping it quickly into milk or water, and putting it in a brisk oven +till _quite hot through_. It must be eaten at once, or it will be as +stale as ever when cold. + +Meat to be kept in warm weather should be rubbed over with salad oil, +every crevice filled with ginger; meat that is for roasting or frying is +much better preserved in this way than with salt; take care that every +part of the surface has a coat of oil. Steaks or chops cut off, which +always keep badly, should be dipped into warm butter or even dripping, +if oil is not handy (the object being to exclude the air), and then hung +up till wanted. + +Mutton in cold weather should be hung four or five weeks in a place not +subject to changes of temperature, and before it is so hung, every +crevice filled with ginger and thoroughly dredged with flour, which +must be then rubbed in with the hand till the surface is quite dry. This +is the English fashion of keeping venison. + +It may be useful for those who burn kerosene to know that when their +lamps smell, give a bad light, and smoke, it is not necessary to buy new +burners. Put the old ones in an old saucepan with water and a +tablespoonful of soda, let them boil half an hour, wipe them, and your +trouble will be over. + +Meat that has become slightly tainted may be quite restored by washing +it in water in which is a teaspoonful of borax, cutting away every part +in the least discolored. + +In summer when meat comes from the butcher's, if it is not going to be +used the same day, it should be washed over with vinegar. + +Poultry in summer should always have a piece of charcoal tied in a rag +placed in the stomach, to be removed before cooking. Pieces of charcoal +should also be put in the refrigerator and changed often. + +Oyster shells put one at a time in a stove that is "clinkered" will +clean the bricks entirely. They should be put in when the fire is +burning brightly. + +Salt and soapstone powder (to be bought at the druggist's) mend fire +brick; use equal quantities, make into a paste with water, and cement +the brick; they will be as strong as new ones. + +Ink spilled on carpets may be entirely removed by rubbing while wet with +blotting paper, using fresh as it soils. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ON SOME TABLE PREJUDICES. + + +MANY people have strong prejudices against certain things which they +have never even tasted, or which they do frequently take and like as a +part of something else, without knowing it. How common it is to hear and +see untraveled people declare that they dislike garlic, and could not +touch anything with it in. Yet those very people will take +Worcestershire sauce, in which garlic is actually predominant, with +everything they eat; and think none but English pickles eatable, which +owe much of their excellence to the introduction of a _soupcon_ of +garlic. Therefore I beg those who actually only know garlic from hearsay +abuse of it, or from its presence on the breath of some inveterate +garlic eater, to give it a fair trial when it appears in a recipe. It is +just one of those things that require the most delicate handling, for +which the French term a "_suspicion_" is most appreciated; it should +only be a suspicion, its presence should never be pronounced. As Blot +once begged his readers, "Give garlic a fair trial in a _remolade_ +sauce." (Montpellier butter beaten into mayonnaise is a good _remolade_ +for cold meat or fish.) + +Curry is one of those things against which many are strongly prejudiced, +and I am inclined to think it is quite an acquired taste, but a taste +which is an enviable one to its possessors; for them there is endless +variety in all they eat. The capabilities of curry are very little known +in this country, and, as the taste for it is so limited, I will not do +more in its defense than indicate a pleasant use to which it may be put, +and in which form it would be a welcome condiment to many to whom "a +curry," pure and simple, would be obnoxious. I once knew an Anglo-Indian +who used curry as most people use cayenne; it was put in a pepper-box, +and with it he would at times pepper his fish or kidneys, even his eggs. +Used in this way, it imparts a delightful piquancy to food, and is +neither hot nor "spicy." + +Few people are so prejudiced as the English generally, and the +stay-at-home Americans; but the latter are to be taught by travel, the +Englishman rarely. + +The average Briton leaves his island shores with the conviction that he +will get nothing fit to eat till he gets back, and that he will have to +be uncommonly careful once across the channel, or he will be having +fricasseed frogs palmed on him for chicken. Poor man! in his horror of +frogs, he does not know that the Paris restaurateur who should give the +costly frog for chicken, would soon end in the bankruptcy court. + +"If I could only get a decent dinner, a good roast and plain potato, I +would like Paris much better," said an old Englishman to me once in that +gay city. + +"But surely you can." + +"No; I have been to restaurants of every class, and called for beefsteak +and roast beef, but have never got the real article, although it's my +belief," said he, leaning forward solemnly, "that I have eaten _horse_ +three times this week." Of course the Englishman of rank, who has spent +half his life on the continent, is not at all the _average_ Englishman. + +Americans think the hare and rabbits, of which the English make such +good use, very mean food indeed, and if they are unprejudiced enough to +try them, from the fact that they are never well cooked, they dislike +them, which prejudice the English reciprocate by looking on squirrels as +being as little fit for food as a rat. And a familiar instance of +prejudice from ignorance carried even to insanity, is that of the Irish +in 1848, starving rather than eat the "yaller male," sent them by +generous American sympathizers; yet they come here and soon get over +that dislike. Not so the French, who look on oatmeal and Indian meal as +most unwholesome food. "_Ca pese sur l'estomac, ca creuse l'estomac_," I +heard an old Frenchwoman say, trying to dissuade a mother from giving +her children mush. + +The moral of all of which is, that for our comfort's sake, and the +general good we should avoid unreasonable prejudices against unfamiliar +food. We of course have a right to our honest dislikes; but to condemn +things because we have heard them despised, is prejudice. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS--VALEDICTORY. + + +I HAVE alluded, in an earlier chapter, to the fact that many +inexperienced cooks are afraid of altering recipes; a few words on this +subject may not be out of place. As a rule, a recipe should be +faithfully followed in all important points; for instance, in making +soup you cannot because you are short of the given quantity of meat, put +the same amount of water as directed for the full quantity, without +damaging your soup; but you may easily reduce water and _every other +ingredient_ in the same proportion; and, in mere matters of flavoring, +you may vary to suit circumstances. If you are told to use cloves, and +have none, a bit of mace may be substituted. + +If you read a recipe, and it calls for something you have not, consider +whether that something has anything to do with the substance of the +dish, or whether it is merely an accessory for which something else can +be substituted. For instance, if you are ordered to use cream in a +sauce, milk with a larger amount of well-washed butter may take its +place; but if you are told to use cream for charlotte russe or trifles, +there is no way in which you could make milk serve, since it is not an +accessory but the chief part of those dishes. For a cake in which cream +is used, butter whipped to a cream may take its place. Wine is usually +optional in savory dishes; it gives richness only. + +Again, in cakes be very careful the exact proportions of flour, eggs, +and milk are observed; of butter you can generally use more or less, +having a more or less rich cake in proportion. In any but plain cup +cakes (which greatly depend on soda and acid for their lightness) never +lessen the allowance of eggs; never add milk if a cake is too stiff (but +an extra egg may always be used), unless milk is ordered in the recipe, +when more or less may be used as needed. Flavoring may be always varied. + +In reducing a recipe always reduce _every ingredient_, and it can make +no difference in the results. Sometimes, in cookery books, you are told +to use articles not frequently found in ordinary kitchens; for instance, +a larding-needle (although that can be bought for twenty-five cents at +any house-furnishing store, and should always be in a kitchen); but, in +case you have not one for meat, you may manage by making small cuts and +inserting slips of bacon. + +Another article that is very useful, but seldom, if ever, to be found in +small kitchens, is a salamander; but when you wish to brown the top of a +dish, and putting it in the oven would not do, or the oven is not quick +enough to serve, an iron shovel, made nearly red, and a few red cinders +in it, is a very good salamander. It must be held over the article that +requires browning near enough to color it, yet not to burn. + +In the recipes I have given nothing is required that cannot be obtained, +with more or less ease, in New York. For syrups, fruit juices, etc., +apply to your druggist; if he has not them he will tell you where to +obtain them. We often make up our minds that because a thing is not +commonly used in this country, it is impossible to get it. Really there +are very few things not to be got in New York City to the intelligent +seeker. You need an article of French or Italian or may be English +grocery, that your grocer, a first-class one, perhaps, has not, and you +make up your mind you cannot get it. But go into the quarters where +French people live, and you can get everything belonging to the French +_cuisine_. So prejudiced are the French in favor of the productions of +_la belle France_, that they do not believe in our parsley or our chives +or garlic or shallots; for I know at least one French grocer who imports +them for his customers. On being asked why he brought them from France +to a country where those very things were plentiful, he answered: + +"Oh, French herbs are much finer." + +Needless to say tarragon is one of the herbs so imported, and can thus +be bought; but, as several New Jersey truck gardeners grow all kinds of +French herbs, they can be got in Washington Market, and most druggists +keep them dried; but for salads, Montpellier butter, and some other +uses, the dried herb would not do, although for flavoring it would +serve; but the far better way is to grow them for yourself, as I have +done. Any large seedsman will supply you with burnet, tarragon, and +borage (very useful for salads, punch, etc.) seeds, and if you live in +the country, have an herb bed; if in town, there are few houses where +there is not ground enough to serve for the purpose; but even in these +few houses one can have a box of earth in the kitchen window, in which +your seeds will flourish. + +Parsley is a thing in almost daily request in winter, yet it is very +expensive to buy it constantly for the sake of using the small spray +that often suffices. It is a good plan, therefore, in fall, to get a few +roots, plant them in a pot or box, and they will flourish all winter, +if kept where they will not freeze, and be ready for garnishing at any +minute. + +Always, as far as your means allow, have every convenience for cooking. +By having utensils proper for every purpose you save a great deal of +work and much vexation of spirit. Yet it should be no excuse for bad +work that such utensils are not at hand. A willing and intelligent cook +will make the best of what she has. Apropos of this very thing Gouffe +relates that a friend of his, an "artist" of renown, was sent for to the +chateau of a Baron Argenteuil, who had taken a large company with him, +unexpectedly crowding the chateau in every part. He was shown into a +dark passage in which a plank was suspended from the ceiling, and told +this was to be his kitchen. He had to fashion his own utensils, for +there was nothing provided, and his pastry he had to bake in a +frying-pan--besides building two monumental _plats_ on that board--and +prepare a cold _entree_. But he cheerfully set to work to overcome +difficulties, achieved his task, and was rewarded by the plaudits of the +diners. Such difficulties as these our servants never have to encounter, +and a cheerful endeavor to make the best of everything should be the +rule. Yet, let us spare them all the labor we can, or rather make it as +easy and pleasant as possible; they will be more proud of their +well-furnished kitchen, more cheerful in it, than they will of one where +everything for their convenience is grudged, and such pride and +cheerfulness will be your gain. + +There is always a great deal of talk about servants in America, how bad +and inefficient they are, how badly they contrast with those of England. +Certainly, they are not so efficient as those of the older country; how +could they be? There, girls who are intended for servants have ever held +before their eyes what they may or may not do in the future calling, and +how it is to be done. But take one of these orderly, efficient girls, +put her in an American family as general servant or as cook, where two +are kept, washing and ironing to do, and a variety of other work, and +see how your English servant would stare at your requirements. She has +been accustomed to her own line of work at home; if housemaid, she has +been dressed for the day at noon; if cook, she has never done even her +own washing. + +She may, and will no doubt, fall into the way of the country, after a +while, and on account of her early habits of respect, will make a good +servant perhaps. But many of them would be quite indignant at being +asked to do the average servant's work here. I am speaking now of the +_trained_ servants; but, comparing the London "maid-of-all-work" or +"slavey" with our own general servants, and considering how much more is +expected of the latter, the comparison seems to me vastly in the favor +of our own Bridgets. We may rest assured, however smoothly the wheels of +household management glide along in wealthy families across the water, +people who can only keep one or two have all our troubles with servants +and a few added, and their faults are just as general a subject of +conversation among ladies. + +France (out of Paris, from Parisian servants deliver me!) and Germany +seem the favored lands where one servant does the work of three or four. +Yet even they, are, they say, degenerating. Let us, then, be contented +and make the best of what we have, assured that even Biddy is not so +hopeless as she is painted. Kindness (not weakness), firmness, and +patience work wonders, even with the roughest Emerald that ever crossed +the sea. + +I have said somewhere else that you must beware of attempting too much +at once; perfect yourself in one thing before you attempt another. Take +breaded chops or fried oysters, make opportunities for having them +rather often, and do not rest satisfied until you have them as well +fried as you have ever seen them anywhere; "practice makes perfect," and +you certainly will achieve perfection if you are not discouraged by one +failure. But above all things never make experiments for company; let +them be made when it really matters little whether you succeed or not, +and let your experiments be on a _small_ scale; don't attempt to fry a +_large_ dish of oysters or chops until it is a very easy task, or make +more than half a pound of puff paste at first; for if you fail with a +large task before you, you will be tired and disheartened, hate the +sight of what you are doing, and, as a consequence, not be likely to +return to it very soon. The same may be said of cooks; some of them are +very fond of experiments, which taste I should always encourage; but do +not let them jump from one experiment to the other; if they try a dish +and fail, they often make up their minds that the fault is not theirs, +that it is not worth while to "bother" with it. Here your knowledge will +be of service; you will show them that it can be done, how it should be +done, and order the dish cook failed in, frequently, giving it +sufficient surveillance to prevent your family suffering from her +inexperience; for, as a witty Frenchman said of Mme. du Deffaud's cook, +"Between her and Brinvilliers there is only the difference of +intention." + +Few things add more to a man or woman's social reputation than the fact +that they keep a good table. It need not be one where + + "The strong table groans + Beneath the smoking sirloin stretched immense;" + +but a table where whatever you do have will be good, be it pork and +beans, or salmi; the pork and beans would satisfy a Bostonian, the salmi +Grimod de la Reyniere himself. I do not admit with Di Walcott that + + "The turnpike road to people's hearts I find + Lies through their mouths, or I mistake mankind." + +But it is a fact that good living--by this I do not mean extravagant +living--presupposes good breeding. Well-bred people sometimes live +badly; but ill-bred people seldom or ever live well, in the right sense +of the term. + +Now, by way of valedictory, let me repeat that I do not think a lady's +best or proper place is the kitchen; but it is quite possible to have a +perfectly served table, yet spend very little time there. Only that one +little hour a day that Talleyrand, the busy man full of intrigue and +statecraft, found time to spend with his cook, would insure your table +being well served. For, after devoting say a few winter months to +perfecting yourself in a few things, you will be able to teach your +cook, who is often ambitious to excel if put in the right way. A word +here about cooks. + +The knowledge that if they fail to do a thing well you will do it +yourself, will often put them on their mettle to do their best; while +the feeling that you don't know, will make them careless. + +Servants have a great deal more _amour propre_ than people imagine; +therefore, stimulate it by judicious praise and appreciation; let them +think that to send in a dish perfect, is a glory to themselves as well +as a pleasure to you. While careful to remark when alone with them upon +any fault that results from carelessness, be equally careful to give all +the praise you can, and repeat to them complimentary remarks that may +have been made on their skill. Servants are usually--such is the +weakness of feminine nature, whether in the drawing-room or the +kitchen--very sensitive to the praise or blame of the gentlemen of the +family. Indulge poor humanity a little when you honestly can. + + + + + INDEX + + + PAGE + Almond creams, 93 + + Altering recipes, 111, 112 + + Asparagus, to boil, 66 + + + Baba, 86 + Small, 87 + Syrup for, 87 + + Batter for frying a la Careme, 59 + " " " " Provencale, 60 + + Beef, B[oe]uf a la jardiniere, 74 + " au Gratin, 75 + Filet de b[oe]uf Chateaubriand, 49 + Fritadella, 81 + Little breakfast dish of, 78 + Miroton of, 76 + Olives of, 79 + Pseudo-beefsteak, 75 + Ragout of cold, 78 + Salmi of cold, 73 + Simplest way to warm a joint, 77 + To warm over a large piece, 78 + Sirloin, to make two dishes, 49 + + Biscuit glace, a la Charles Dickens, 85 + " " " Thackeray, 85 + + Blanc for white sauce, 31 + + Boiling, asparagus, 66 + Cabbage, 65 + Potatoes, 66 + Peas, 65 + Rules for meat, 65 + + Bouchees de dames, 88 + To ice, 89 + + Bread, 12 + Baking, 14 + Cause of failure, 15 + " of thick crust, 14 + Compressed yeast, 15 + Kneading, 14 + Oven heating, 14 + Remarks, 12 + Rules of time for rising, 14 + To set sponge, 13 + + Bread-crumbs for frying, 56 + + Bread dough, to keep a day or two, 106 + " " for pie crust, 97 + Soufflee, 20 + + Brioche, 18 + Jockey Club, recipe for, 19 + for summer pastry, 19, 20 + + Broiling, 60 + Chickens and birds, 61 + + Brown flour, 34 + Sauce, 71 + + Butter, maitre d'hotel, 32 + Montpellier, 33 + Ravigotte, 33 + + + Cabbage, to boil, 65 + + Cakes, Baba, 86 + Bouchees de dames, 83 + Savarins, 88 + + Candies, 92 + Chocolate creams, 94 + Cream almonds, 93 + Cream walnuts, 93 + Fondant, 92 + Fondant panache, 93 + Punch drops, 94 + Simple French, 92 + Tutti frutti, 92 + Vanilla almond cream, 92 + Walnut cream, 92 + + Celeraic, or turnip-rooted celery, 54 + + Celery seed for soup, 106 + + Celery cream soup, 68 + + Chateaubriand, filet de b[oe]uf, 49 + + Chicken, 48 + Broiling, 60 + Cold, 49 + Pie, 38 + Potted, 44 + Roasting, 48 + Use of the feet, 48 + + Clinkered fire-bricks, 107 + + Cold meat salmi, 73 + Various ways of warming, 72-81 + + Coloring for candy and icing, 95 + + Company to lunch, and nothing in + the house, 44 + + Cromesquis of cold lamb, 75 + + Crumbs for frying, 56 + + Cucumber and onion ragout, 102 + + Curacoa, to make, 89 + + Curry, 108 + + + Deviled meats, 80 + + Dishes made without meat, 102 + + Dripping, to clarify, 59 + + + Feuilletonage, 23 + + Fire-bricks, to remove clinkers from, 107 + To mend, 107 + + Flavoring, 70 + + Flounders, to bone, 56 + As filet de sole, 56 + + Forequarter of mutton, 101 + + Frangipane tartlets, 26 + + French herbs, 113 + + Friandises, 84 + + Fritadella of cold meat, twenty + recipes in one, 81 + + Frying, 55 + Batter a la Careme, 59 + " " Provencale, 60 + Crumbing, 56 + Filet de sole, 56 + Flounders, 56 + Oil for, 58 + Oysters, 57 + Remarks on, 55 + To clarify dripping for, 59 + To test the heat of fat for, 57 + + + Galantine, 39 + + Garlic, 108 + + Glaze, 30 + To glaze ham, tongue, etc., 32 + + Gouffe's pot-au-feu, 68 + Rules for ovens, 27 + + Gravy, 29-63 + + Grating nutmegs, 105 + + + Ham, to boil, 65 + To glaze, 32 + To pot, 43 + + Hash, 97 + + Heart, beef, 100 + Sheep's, 99 + + + Iced soufflee, 85 + A la Byron, 84 + + Icing, 89 + + Ink, to remove from carpets, 107 + + + Jellied fish or oysters, 41 + + Jelly for cold chicken, 47 + + Jelly from pork, 31 + + + Kerosene lamps, 107 + + Keeping meat, 106 + Poultry, 107 + Dough, 106 + + Kitchen conveniences, 114 + + Kreuznach horns, 16 + + Kringles, 17 + + + Lamb, cromesquis of, 75 + + Lamps, 107 + + Larding needle, 112 + + Leg of mutton, 52 + A la Soubise, 52 + Boiled, 52 + + Lemons, to keep, 105 + Peels, 106 + + Little dinners, 50 + + Liver, sheep's, 98 + + Luncheons, 35 + + + Maitre d'hotel butter, 32 + + Management in small families, 47 + + Maraschino, to make, 90 + + Marrow from soup bone, 98 + + Mayonnaise, new, 42 + + Meat, to keep, 106 + Salad, 52 + + Mephistophelian sauce, 81 + + Miroton of beef, 76 + + Montpellier butter, 33 + + Mushroom powder, 29 + + Mutton broth, 52 + Forequarter, 101 + Leg, 52 + + + Neck of mutton, 101 + + Noyeau, 90 + + Nutmegs, best way to grate, 105 + + + Omelet, new, 45 + + Onion soup, maigre, 103 + + Ornamenting meat pies, 37 + + Ovens, 14 + Gouffe's rules for heating, 27 + + Oysters, to fry, 57 + In jelly, 41 + + Ox cheek, 100 + + + Panache fondant, 93 + + Parsley seed for soup, 106 + + Parsley in winter, 113 + + Paste, puff, 22 + To handle, 24 + + Pastry tablets, 26 + + Pate a la Careme for frying, 59 + " " Provencale, 60 + + Peas, to boil, 66 + + Pease soup, maigre, 103 + + Pie, bread dough for crust, 97 + Chicken, to eat cold, 38 + Fruit, 24 + English raised, 38 + To "raise" a, 39 + Veal and ham, 38 + Windsor, 36 + + Pork for jelly, 31 + + Potato salad, 54 + Snow, 45 + Soup, maigre, 103 + To warm over, 46 + + Pot-au-feu, 68 + + Pot roasts, 99 + + Potted meats, 43 + + Punch drops, 94 + + + Ragout of cold meat, 78 + Of cucumber and onion, 102 + + Ravigotte, 33 + + Remarks, preliminary, 1-12 + On boiling, 65 + On bread-making, 12 + On frying, 54 + On kitchen and servants, 114 + On little dinners, 50 + On luncheons, 35 + On maigre dishes, 104 + On management in small families, 47 + On sauces and flavoring, 70 + + Remarks on soups, 67 + On table prejudices, 108 + On true economy in buying meat, 99 + On roasting, 62 + + Rissolettes, 25 + + Rolls, 15 + + Roux, 34 + + Rusks, 16 + + + Salad, Celeraic, 54 + Potato, 54 + Cold meat, 52 + + Salamander, substitute for, 112 + + Sauces, 70 + Flavoring, 70 + Brown or espagnole, 71 + Mephistophelian, 81 + White, 71 + Mayonnaise, 42 + + Savarin (cake), 88 + + Soufflee bread, 20 + Iced, 85 + A la Byron, 84 + + Soup bone, 96 + + Soup, celery cream, 68 + Consomme, 68 + Pot-au-feu, 68 + Onion, 103 + Pease, 103 + Potato, 103 + To color, 67 + To clear stock, 66 + + Sugar boiling for candy, 91 + + + Tainted meat, to restore, 107 + + To make strong vegetables milder, 106 + + Tutti frutti candy, 92 + + + Vanilla almond cream, 92 + + Veal, 53 + + + Warming over, 72 + + What to do with scraps, 45 + + Where to buy articles not in general + use, 112 + + Why meat does not brown in cooking, 62 + + Windsor pie, 36 + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Culture and Cooking, by Catherine Owen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CULTURE AND COOKING *** + +***** This file should be named 29982.txt or 29982.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/8/29982/ + +Produced by Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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