Chapter 1

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********************************************************** Transcriber's Note: The chapter title 'MISCELLANEOUS BREAKFAST DISHES' was changed to match the Table of Contents. It was originally titled DAINTY DISHES. Bold words are delimited by '='. **********************************************************

BREAKFAST DAINTIES

BY

THOMAS J. MURREY

_Author of "Fifty Soups," "Fifty Salads," "Valuable Cooking Recipes," etc. Formerly Professional Caterer of the Astor House, New York, etc._

"Now good digestion wait on appetite And health on both."--SHAKESPEARE

NEW YORK

WHITE, STOKES, & ALLEN PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1885.

DEDICATION.

_To_

_My Friend, Frank B. Thurber,_

_Whose efforts to raise the standard of our food products to a higher order have been untiring, this unpretentious work is most respectfully dedicated_

_by_

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

REMARKS ON BREAKFAST COOKERY, 9

FRUITS. APPLES, BAKED, 11 BANANAS, 11 BLACKBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, ETC., 11 CANTALOUPES, 11 CHERRIES, 12 CURRANTS, 12 FIGS AND DATES, 12 GRAPES, 12 MELONS, 13 ORANGES, 13 PEACHES, 13 PEARS, 13 PINEAPPLES, 14 PLUMS, 14 STRAWBERRIES, 14 MISCELLANEOUS, 14

BEVERAGES. COFFEE, 15 "AFTER DINNER" COFFEE, 17 BOILING WATER FOR COFFEE, 18 TEA, 18 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE, 18

BREAD, ETC. BREAD, 20 "HOME-MADE" BREAD AND ROLLS, 23 SALT, 23 MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN, 24 CORN BREAD, 25 CORN MEAL CUSTARD, 25 "BOSTON BROWN BREAD," 26 MAIZE MUFFINS, 26 GRAHAM MUFFINS, 27 BREAKFAST BISCUIT, 27 MILK BREAD, 27 ROLLED WHEAT BISCUIT, 28 TO TEST THE OVEN, 28

TOAST. DRY TOAST, 29 DIP TOAST, 29 MILK TOAST, 30 ANCHOVY TOAST, 30 CLAM TOAST, 30 MARROW BONE TOAST, 30 OYSTER TOAST, 31 SALMON TOAST, 31 TONGUE TOAST, 31

EGGS AND OMELETS. TO TEST EGGS, 32 BAKED EGGS, 32 OMELETS, 32 CHEESE OMELET, 34 OMELET WITH HERBS, 34 ONION OMELET, 34 OYSTER OMELET, 34 OMELETTE AU RHUM, 35 SPANISH OMELET, 35 SWEET OMELET, 36

POTATOES. POTATOES IN GENERAL, 36 BOILED POTATOES, 37 LYONNAISE POTATOES, 38 POTATOES AU COCHON, 38 POTATOES AU GRATIN, 38 POTATOES, SAUTÉED, 38

MISCELLANEOUS BREAKFAST DISHES. ARTICHOKES (FRENCH), 39 ARTICHOKES (FRENCH), FRIED, 39 CHICKEN CROQUETTES, 40 CHICKEN, DEVILLED, 40 CHICKEN, FRIED, 40 CRABS, SOFT-SHELL, 41 FILET OF SOLE; SAUCE TARTARE, 42 HAMBURG STEAK, 42 HOMINY FRITTERS, 43 KIDNEY, SAUTÉED, 43 LAMB CHOPS WITH FRENCH PEAS, 43 MUSHROOMS ON TOAST, 45 MUTTON CHOPS WITH FRIED TOMATOES, 45 OYSTERS, BROILED, 46 PORK AND BEANS, 46 REED BIRDS, 48 SALT CODFISH, BROILED, 49 SARDINES, BROILED, 49 SAUCE TARTARE, 49 SAUSAGES, 50 SMELTS, BROILED, 50 SMELTS, FRIED, 50 SQUABS, 50 STEAK, TENDERLOIN; SAUCE BEARNAISE, 51 STEAK, SIRLOIN; SAUCE BORDELAISE, 52 TOMATO SAUCE, 52 TRIPE WITH OYSTERS, 53 TRIPE, LYONNAISE, 53 TURKEY, MINCED, WITH POACHED EGG, 44 VEAL CUTLET, SAUCE ROBERT, 53

REMARKS ON BREAKFAST COOKERY.

"_Dinner may be pleasant, So may social tea; But yet methinks the breakfast Is best of all the three._"

The importance of preparing a variety of dainty dishes for the breakfast table is but lightly considered by many who can afford luxuries, quite as much as by those who little dream of the delightful, palate-pleasing compounds made from "unconsidered trifles."

The desire of the average man is to remain in bed until the very last moment. A hurried breakfast of food long cooked awaits the late riser, who will not masticate it properly when he finally arrives at the breakfast-table, and the best of housekeepers is discouraged and prevented from ever attempting culinary surprises, when they are not to be appreciated. In this way she is innocently driven into a rut from which it is difficult to escape when occasions present themselves for offering novelties.

The following recipes and remarks will be found valuable assistants to those so situated, and will offer many practical suggestions intended to develop ingenuity and skilfulness in this much-neglected branch of cookery. Avoid asking that innocent but often annoying question, "What shall we have for breakfast?" Rely upon your own resources and inventiveness, and you will soon master the situation. The average business man generally knows but little of what is or is not in market, and he dislikes to have his gastronomic knowledge constantly analyzed.

Should your domestic duties prevent you from occasionally visiting the public markets, it will be found expedient to subscribe for a reliable newspaper that makes a specialty of reporting the latest gastronomic news. This cannot be accomplished by cook-books, owing to the fluctuations in prices and the constant arrival of "good cheer" at seasons when least expected.

Steaks and chops are looked upon as the substantials of the breakfast-table, but when served continually they do not give satisfaction, be they ever so good, and are not duly appreciated unless interspersed occasionally with lighter dishes.

FRUITS.

=Apples, Baked.=--Peel and core six large sour apples; mix together a cup of sugar, half a teaspoonful of mixed ground spice, a saltspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of grated cracker crumbs, and two tablespoonfuls of milk or water. Fill the core with the mixture; put the apples in a pan, and bake; serve them hot or cold with sweetened cream. A border of whipped cream around the apples may be substituted for the plain cream.

Apples may be served sliced, covered with sugar and a mild liquor poured over them, and topped off with whipped cream.

=Bananas.=--Select short, thick, red or yellow bananas; peel and cut them in quarters lengthwise; serve on a napkin.

=Blackberries, Raspberries, Whortleberries=, etc., are too well known to require instructions as to how they should be served; but a word of caution is necessary. They should be very thoroughly examined before they are served; all stems, bruised berries, and unripe fruit should be removed, and a thorough search made for minute particles of grit and for insects.

=Cantaloupes=, or small melons, should be placed on ice the night preceding their use. Cut or slice off the top of each melon; remove the seeds, and replace them with fine ice; replace the covers, and send to table looking as though uncut.

Should they taste insipid, trim off the rind, cut the remainder into neat pieces, pour over them a plain salad-dressing, and they will be found quite palatable.

=Cherries.=--If large, fine-looking fruit, serve them plain; but they must be cold to be palatable. Keep them on ice over night, or serve glasses of fine ice to each guest, with the fruit arranged on top of it.

=Currants.=--Large, fine clusters should be served on the stem, arranged on a fruit-stand alone, or in layers alternated with mulberries, raspberries, or other seasonable fruits. Serve with powdered sugar.

=Figs and Dates= may be served at breakfast.

=Grapes.=--Malaga, Tokay, Hamburg, and similar varieties of grapes should be well rinsed in ice-water, and cut into small bunches with fruit scissors. Place on a glass dish, or dishes surrounded by fine ice, and, if plentiful, do not divide the clusters, but drain them out of ice-water. Serve on a neatly-folded napkin, a bunch for each guest.

=Melons.=--The best way to eat melons is unquestionably with a little salt; they should be kept over night in an ice-box and served at the following breakfast; but melons are very deceptive; they may look delicious, but, from growing in or near the same garden where squashes and pumpkins are raised, they often taste as insipid as these vegetables would if eaten raw. In this case they are made very palatable by cutting the edible part into slices, and serving them with plain dressing of oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt.

=Oranges.=--Of the many ways of serving oranges, I prefer them sliced. If in summer, keep them cold until wanted. Remove all seeds, and cut large slices in two. Mandarins are served whole, with the peel scored but not removed.

=Peaches.=--If the peaches are large and perfect do not slice them, but serve them whole; wipe or brush off the feathery coating, arrange them neatly on the fruit-dish, and decorate them with fresh green leaves and flowers.

Sliced peaches turn a rusty brown color if allowed to stand after cutting them. Should this occur, cover them with whipped cream properly sweetened.

=Pears.=--Fine-flavored pears should be served whole; inferior pears, sliced and dredged with sugar; they are acceptable when mixed with other fruits.

=Pineapples= are best served as a salad. Pare and dig out the eyes; take hold of the crown of the pine with the left hand; take a fork in the right hand, and with it tear the pine into shreds, until the core is reached, which throw away. Arrange the shredded fruit lightly in a compote, add a liberal quantity of powdered sugar, a wine-glassful of Curaçoa, and half a wine-glassful of brandy.

Alternate layers of shredded pineapple and fresh cocoanut served with a sauce of orange juice, seasoned with sugar and liquors, is excellent.

=Plums= are too often picked before they are quite ripe, which prevents them from becoming popular as a breakfast fruit; this is true of Apricots also.

=Strawberries= are often objectionable, owing to grit; wash, or rather rinse them in water, drain on a napkin, and serve with vanilla-flavored whipped cream for a change.

Nearly all tropical fruits that are imported are excellent breakfast fruits, such as the alligator pear, Lechosa prickly pear, pomegranate, tropical mango, and many others.

BEVERAGES.

=Coffee.=--The coffee-tree is a much-branched tree of the cinchona family, not exceeding twenty feet in height, and much resembling a cherry-tree. Its pale green leaves are about six inches in length. The flowers are in clusters in the axils of the leaves, are white in color, resembling orange-tree flowers, and perfume the air. The fruit on ripening turns from green to red, and is about the size of a cherry or cranberry, each containing two seeds closely united by their flat sides. These being removed and separated, become the coffee of commerce.

"How to make good coffee" is the great problem of domestic life. Tastes naturally differ, and some prefer a quantity of chicory, while to others the very name of this most wholesome plant (but keep it out of coffee) will produce nausea.

Purchase coffee from large dealers who roast it daily. Have it ground moderately fine, and do not purchase large quantities at a time. At home keep the coffee in air-tight jars or cans when not in use.

The old-fashioned coffee-pot has much to recommend it, and the only possible objection to it is that it makes a cloudy beverage. Those who find this objectionable should use one of the many patented modern filters. When the coffee is finely ground these filter-pots are the best to use. Put three ounces of finely-ground coffee in the top compartment of the coffee-pot; pour a quart of boiling water over it; let it filter through; add half a pint more of boiling water; let it filter through, and pour it out into a hot measure, and pour it through the filter again. Let it stand a moment on the range, and you have coffee as clear as wine; but unless your pot, measure, and the water are very hot, the coffee will taste as though it had become cold and then "warmed over." No eggs or other foreign substances are used to clear or settle the coffee.

As I do not object to a sediment in my cup, I use the old-fashioned coffee-pot. I first heat the pot, and put the coffee into a loose muslin bag, and pour a quart of boiling water over every three ounces of coffee. I let it boil, or rather come to a boiling point a moment; then let it stand to settle. Should it not do so rapidly enough, I pour a few tablespoonfuls of cold water round the inside edge of the coffee-pot. It is advisable to tie a thread to the bag, with which it may be drawn out of the coffee, if desired.

Now, heat the coffee cup; fill it one third full of hot, but not boiled, cream; then add the coffee, and serve.

One word as to eggs used in making coffee. I admit that a different flavor is produced when they are used; but the albumen of the eggs covers the coffee grains, and coagulates, preventing the escape of the properties of the coffee, and compelling one to use nearly double the quantity of coffee to produce the same result as when eggs are not used.

Pure Java, if of a high order, does not need other brands of coffee to make it palatable; but, as a rule, most of the coffees sold at the grocers' are improved by blending or mixing one third each of pure Mocha, Java, and Maracaibo to make a rich cup of coffee, while a mixture of two thirds Mandehling Java and one third "male berry" (so called) Java produces excellent results. Mexico coffee is quite acceptable, but the producers _must_ clean it properly if they expect to receive patronage.

="After-dinner Coffee."=--Use three ounces of finely-ground coffee to a pint of boiling water. Old Government Java does make a very satisfactory cup of after-dinner coffee. The after-dinner coffee found at most of the first-class restaurants in New York, such as the Brunswick, etc., contains chicory.

=Boiling Water= is a very important desideratum in the making of good coffee. The water should be fresh from the main pipe, boiled two or three minutes, and then added to the coffee. Servants frequently use water drawn from the range boiler, or water that has stood long in the tea-kettle; in either case the coffee will be insipid.

=Tea.=--The constituents of tea are very much the same as those of coffee--theine (an aromatic oil), sugar and gum, and a form of tannic acid. Green tea is more astringent than the other varieties, partly because it contains more tannin, and partly because it is sophisticated to adapt it to a peculiar taste.

Whatever variety of tea used, do not allow the beverage to boil; put the tea in a black earthen tea-pot previously heated; pour boiling water over it; let it draw for two minutes, and the process is at an end. Charitable institutions would find it advantageous to grind tea to powder; in this way one half the quantity of tea ordinarily used is saved.

=Cocoa and Chocolate= are obtained from the seeds of _Theobroma cacao_. The active principle is theobromine, a substance which resembles the alkaloids of coffee and tea, except that it contains more nitrogen than theine and caffeine. Another important difference between cacao (not cocoa) and coffee or tea is the large amount of fat or cacao-butter contained in the bean.

The seed receptacle resembles a large black cucumber, containing from ten to thirty leaves, which are roasted like coffee. The husks are then taken off, and are called cacao shells. The best cacao is made from the bean after the husks are removed.

Chocolate is the finely-ground powder from the kernels mixed to a paste, with or without sugar. The product of this seed, being rich in fatty matters, is more difficult to digest, and many dyspeptics cannot use it unless the fats have been removed, which is now done by manufacturers. Nearly all brands of cacao and chocolate are recommended to be prepared at table; but it is much better to prepare them before the meal, and allow it to boil at least once before serving.

BREAD, ROLLS, ETC.

=Bread.=--The word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _bracan_, to bruise, to pound, which is expressive of the ancient mode of preparing the grain. Bread was not introduced into Rome until five hundred and fifty years after its foundation. Pliny informs us that the Romans learned this, with many other improvements, during the war with Perseus, King of Macedon. The armies, on their return, brought Grecian bakers with them into Italy, who were called _pistores_, from their ancient practice of bruising the grain in mortars.

The Greeks ascribed the invention of bread-making to Pan; but the Chaldeans and Egyptians were acquainted with it at a still more remote period. In the paintings discovered in the tombs of Egypt the various processes used by them in bread-making are distinctly represented.

Bread from wheat was first made in China, 2000 B.C.

An extensive variety of substances is used in making bread; the roots, shoots, bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds of trees and plants have been, and are still, made into bread by semi-civilized races. In Iceland codfish is dried and beaten to a powder, and made into bread.

Bread is universally admitted to be a matter deserving the serious consideration of all good housewives. It is no longer a luxury, as in olden times, but a positive necessity; upon it depends the health of all mankind. It is, therefore, highly important that its ingredients should be of the very best quality. At no time is this question more seriously to be considered than when changing the food of infants from liquids to solid food.

Bakers' bread cannot always be relied upon. One never knows to what extent the flour has been mixed with brands of flour made from musty or sprouted wheat, as the baker can make what appears to be good bread from these by mixing them with what is known as garlic flour, which is a grade of flour ground with garlic, the effect being to conceal other unpleasant odors.

Their flour is often stored in damp cellars, where, under the influence of heat that is not strong enough to expel moisture, fermentation takes place in it, exactly as it does in bread-making, except on a smaller scale.

Any flour containing too much moisture is likely to "heat," or sour, and flour of the best quality, when placed in damp, stuffy cellars, where it will absorb moisture, is likely to do the same thing. The yeast used by many bakers is deserving the attention of the Health Department. Damaged hops are often used, which, when boiled too long, impart their obnoxious flavor to the yeast, and to the bread made from it.

If what is known as "head yeast" be allowed to ferment too far--as is often the case--it will sour the stock yeast; or if the fermentation be too feeble, the result in either case will be unhealthy bread.

Potatoes used in making "potato ferment" are often of a very inferior quality, and impart their rankness to the bread. When bread is sold by weight an excess of water is introduced to brands of dry flour, which absorb more than others, and the result is heavy, dark, pasty bread, which is often sour.

By the producer of inferior bread these little items are not taken into consideration. The bread has been made, and it _must_ be sold; and the unsuspecting housewife who buys bread from certain bakers because they sell it a few cents less per loaf than the price asked by firms who will _not_ jeopardize their reputations, is endangering the health of her family.

I particularly warn my readers against bakers seeking customers by cutting rates; they cannot supply good bread at low rates without using inferior flour.