Part 4

This is the original native American Indian name for corn and beans. In compounding this most palatable and wholesome dish, take two or three pounds of green, climbing, or pole beans--the pods of which are large, and, at the same time, tender. Break these in pieces of something like half-an-inch long, and let them lie in cold water about half-an-hour, at which time drain this off. Put them in a porcelain-lined kettle, covering them with boiling water, into which put a large tablespoonful of salt. When the beans become tender, pour off the greater portion of the water, replacing it with that which is boiling, and when the beans become entirely tender, cut from the cob about half the amount of corn you have of the beans, which boil for twenty minutes; but where canned corn is used five minutes will suffice. About five minutes before taking from the fire, take a piece of butter about the size of an egg, worked with sufficient flour or corn-starch to form a stiff paste. Season with plenty of black pepper and salt to taste, adding, at the same time, a teacupful of rich milk or cream. Then, to keep warm, set back from the fire, not allowing to boil, but simmering slowly. This will be equally good the next day, if kept in a cool place, with an open cover, which prevents all danger of souring. This is a simple, healthful, and most appetizing dish, inexpensive and at the same time easily prepared.

Saratoga Fried Potatoes.

The mode of preparing the world-renowned Saratoga fried potatoes is no longer a secret. It is as follows:

Peel eight good-sized potatoes; slice very thin; use slicing-machine, when available, as this makes the pieces of uniform thickness. Let them remain half-an-hour in a quart of cold water, in which a tablespoonful of salt has been dissolved, and lay in a sieve to drain, after which mop them over with a dry cloth. Put a pound of lard in a spider or stewpan, and when this is almost, but not quite, smoking hot, put in the potatoes, stirring constantly to prevent the slices from adhering, and when they become a light brown, dip out with a strainer ladle.

[If preferred, cut the potatoes in bits an inch in length, and of the same width, treating as above.]

Salsify or Oyster Plant.

The best way I have yet found to cook this finely flavored and highly delicious vegetable is: First, wash clean, but do not remove the skin. Put the roots in more than enough boiling water to cover them; boil until quite soft; remove the skin; mash; add butter, and season with pepper and salt; make into the size of oysters, and dip in thin egg batter; fry a light brown. If the plant is first put into cold water to boil, and the skin scraped or removed, the delicate flavor of the oyster--which constitutes its chief merit--will be entirely dissipated and lost.

Egg Plant.

There is no more delicate and finely-flavored esculent to be found in our markets than the egg plant, when cooked in the right manner. Properly prepared, it is a most toothsome dish; if badly cooked, it is anything but attractive. Of all the varieties, the long purple is decidedly the best. Cut in slices, less than one-fourth an inch in thickness; sprinkle with salt, and let the slices lie in a colander half-an-hour or longer, to drain. Next parboil for a few minutes, and drain off the water; season with salt and pepper, and dip in egg batter, or beaten egg, and fry in sweet lard mixed with a little butter, until the slices are a light brown. Serve hot.

To Boil Green Corn.

Green corn should be put in hot water, with a handful of salt, and boiled slowly for half-an-hour, or five minutes longer. The minute the corn is done, pour off the water and let it remain hot. All vegetables are injured by allowing them to remain in the water after they are cooked.

Boiled Rice.

American rice for all its preparations is decidedly preferable, the grain being much the largest and most nutritious. In boiling, use two measures of water to one of rice, and let them boil until the water is entirely evaporated. Cover tightly; set aside, and let steam until every grain is separated. When ready to serve, use a fork in removing the rice from the cooking utensil.

[The foregoing recipe was given me by a lady of South Carolina, of great experience in the preparation of this staple cereal product of the Southern Atlantic seaboard.]

Stewed Okra.

Cut into pieces one quart of okra, and put to boil in one cup of water; add a little onion and some tomatoes; salt and pepper to taste; and when all is boiled tender, add a good lump of butter, worked in with a spoonful of flour, and let stew five minutes, stirring frequently.

Bread, Cakes, Pies, Puddings and Pastry.

SOLID AND LIQUID SAUCES.

Quick Bread.

Mix 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder with quart of flour, adding 1 teaspoonful salt and sufficient milk or water to make a soft dough, and bake at once in a hot oven. If eaten hot, break; use a hot knife in cutting.

Quick Muffins.

Take 2 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls best lard or butter, 1 teaspoonful salt, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1 tablespoonful sugar, 1 quart good milk, and flour to make a moderately stiff batter, and bake at once in muffin-rings.

Brown Bread.

3 cups of yellow corn-meal, 1 cup flour, 2 sweet, and 1/2 cup sour milk, with 1/2 cup syrup, 1 teaspoonful soda, and a little salt. Bake 4 hours.

Graham Rolls.

Two cups graham and 1 of white flour, 1/2 cup of yeast or 1/3 cake compressed yeast, 2 teaspoonfuls sugar; mix with warm milk or water, and let stand upon range until light.

Mississippi River Corn-Bread.

One pint best yellow corn-meal, 1 pint of butter-milk, 2 tablespoonfuls melted butter, 2 eggs and teaspoonful of salt, 1 teaspoonful saleratus; mix well, and bake at a brisk fire.

Nice Light Biscuit.

Before sifting 1 quart of flour, put in 2 or 3 teaspoonfuls of best baking powder, adding a little salt after sifting. Follow this with 3 tablespoonfuls of best lard, and with good milk, mix into soft dough--working as little as possible. Roll full half-an-inch thick; cut and bake in a hot oven until slightly browned on top and bottom.

Clayton's Corn-Bread.

Take 3 cups of good corn-meal--either yellow or white--and 1 cup of flour; add a teaspoonful of baking powder, stirring well together. Next, put into a vessel, 2 eggs, well beaten, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, a little salt, a large tablespoonful of sweet lard or butter, and milk enough to make a thick batter. Let these come to a boiling heat, stirring well at the same time, then pour in the meal, and beat to a stiff consistence. Turn into a baking pan, and bake until thoroughly done, brown on top and bottom. Use hot milk in mixing, as, in my opinion, it takes the raw taste from the corn-meal.

Johnny Cake.

Two spoonfuls of melted butter, 1 egg, well beaten, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 2 cups milk, 1/2 cup sugar or syrup, 2 cups each, corn-meal and flour. Bake in a moderate oven until brown.

Sweet Potato Pone.

One large sweet potato grated, 1 cup yellow Indian meal, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful butter, 1/2 cup molasses, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and spice to taste; add sufficient milk to make the usual thickness of cake.

Ginger-Bread.

One pint molasses, 1/2 pint of sour milk, 2 teaspoonfuls ginger, 1 teacup butter, 1 teaspoonful soda, 2 eggs--salt.

Molasses Ginger Bread.

One cup syrup, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup sweet milk, 2 tablespoonfuls vinegar, 1/2 cup shortening; flour to make moderately thick, and large teaspoonful baking powder.

Quaker Cake.

One cup butter, 3 teaspoonfuls ginger, 5 flour, 1/2 cup cider or any spirits, 4 eggs, and a teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in a teacup of sweet milk.

Pound Cake.

One cup sugar, 1/2 cup best butter, 1/2 cup of rich milk or cream, 3 eggs, well beaten, 1-1/2 cups flour, 1 large teaspoonful baking powder, and a teaspoonful ground nutmeg; and beat the whole thoroughly before baking.

Chocolate Cake.--Jelly Cake.

Two cups sugar, 1 cup butter, the yolks of 5 eggs, and whites of 2, 1 cup pure milk, 3-1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoonful bi-carbonate soda, and stir thoroughly before baking.

The following is the mixture for filling.

Whites of 3 eggs, 1-1/2 cups sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate, and 1 teaspoonful extract vanilla. Beat well together, and spread between each layer and on top the cake.

[Jelly cake may be made the same way, using jelly instead of chocolate.]

Currant Cake.

Three eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 butter, 1 milk, 1/2 teaspoonful soda, 1 cup currants, and a little citron, cut in thin slices, with flour to make a stiff batter. Pour into pans, and bake medium quick.

Cream Cup-Cake.

Four cups of flour, 2 of sugar, 3 of sweet cream, 4 eggs; mix and bake in square tins. When cold, cut in squares about two inches wide.

Jumbles.

Rub to a cream a pound of butter and a pound of sugar; mix with a pound and a half of flour, 4 eggs and a little brandy; roll the cakes in powdered sugar, lay in flat buttered tins, and bake in a quick oven.

Sweet Cake.

One cup of sugar, 1 cup sour cream, 1 cup butter, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoonful soda, 1/2 nutmeg grated fine, flour enough to make a stiff batter. Bake in a slow oven.

Sponge Cake.

Five eggs, 2 cups sugar, 2 cups flour, 1/2 teacup cold water; mix well and bake quickly.

Ginger Snaps.

Into 1 pint of molasses put 1 cup lard, 1 tablespoonful of ginger, 1 teaspoonful of soda, and a little salt; boil for a few minutes, and when quite cool, add sufficient flour to make a stiff dough; roll very thin and bake.

A Nice Cake.

One quart flour, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup sweet lard, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and 1 of salt. Beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately, until light. Sift the baking powder into the flour. Melt the shortening in a cup of milk with the yolks of the eggs--putting the whites in last. Work into a thick batter, and bake steadily for three-quarters of an hour; to be eaten hot.

Icing for Cake.

There are a number of formulas for the preparation of icings for cake, but the following will invariably be found the simplest, easiest prepared, and the best:

Take the whites of 4 eggs, and 1 pound of best pulverized white sugar, and any flavoring extract most agreeable to the taste. Break the whites of the eggs into a broad, cool dish, and after throwing a small handful of sugar upon them, begin whipping it in with long even strokes of the beater. Beat until the icing is of a smooth, fine and firm texture. If not stiff enough, put in more sugar, using at least a quarter of a pound to each egg. Pour the icing by the spoonful on top of the cake, and near the centre of the surface to be covered. If the loaf is so shaped that the liquid will naturally settle to its place, it is best left to do so. To spread it, use a broad-bladed knife, dipped in cold water; if as thick with sugar as should be, one coat will be amply sufficient. Leave in a moderate oven for three minutes. To color icing yellow, use the rind of a lemon or orange, tied in a thin muslin bag, straining a little of the juice through it and squeezing hard into the ice and sugar; for red, use extract of cochineal.

Chocolate Icing.

Quarter of a cake of chocolate grated, 1/2 cup of sweet milk, 1 tablespoonful corn-starch; flavor with extract of vanilla. Mix these ingredients, with the exception of the vanilla; boil two minutes, and after it has fairly commenced to boil, flavor, and then sweeten to taste with powdered sugar, taking care to have it sweet enough.

Lemon Pie.

Grated rind and juice of two lemons; 2 cups sugar; butter, the size of an egg; 2 tablespoonfuls corn-starch; 4 eggs. Rub the butter and sugar smooth in a little cold water; have ready 2 cups boiling water, in which stir the corn-starch, until it looks clear; add to this the butter and sugar, and, when nearly cold, the yolks of four eggs, and the white of one, well beaten, and the rind and the juice of the lemons. After lining two deep dishes with a delicate paste, and pouring in the mixture, beat the remaining whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, adding two spoonfuls of powdered sugar. Spread this over the pies when done, returning to the oven to brown.

English Plum Pudding.

Three cups flour; 2 eggs; 1 cup milk; 1/2 cup brandy; 1 nutmeg; a teaspoonful of salt; 5 teaspoonfuls baking powder; 1/2 pound currants; 1/2 pound raisins, stoned and chopped fine; 1/2 pound suet chopped fine; 1 cup sugar. Boil three hours.

Baked Apple Pudding.

Two cups oatmeal or cracked wheat; 2 eggs; 1 tablespoonful butter; 1 pint milk; three medium-sized apples; a little suet; cinnamon to flavor; sweeten to taste. Beat sugar, eggs, and milk together; stir in the meal, and then add the other ingredients, the apples last, after reducing to small pieces. Bake until well set. To be eaten with or without sauce.

Bread Pudding.

One loaf of stale bread, soaked in a pint of milk, and when soft, beat with an egg-beater until very fine. Pour into this the yolks of four eggs, well beaten, a tablespoonful of butter, some flavoring, and a little salt, beating all well together. After baking until well set, let it cool, and spread a nice jelly over the top, and on this put the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, returning to the oven to brown.

Baked Corn-Meal Pudding.

Into a large cup of corn-meal stir 1 pint scalded milk; a small cup suet, chopped fine; two-thirds of a cup of syrup or molasses; salt to taste, and when cold, add 1 pint milk, and 2 eggs, well beaten, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, and 1 cup raisins. Bake three hours.

Corn-Starch Pudding (Baked).

Four tablespoonfuls corn-starch; 1 quart of milk; 2 eggs; 3/4 coffee-cup white sugar; adding butter size of an egg, with flavoring to taste. After dissolving the corn-starch in a little cold water, heat the milk to boiling and stir this in, and boil three minutes, stirring the mixture all the time; next, stir in the butter, and set away until cold. Beat the eggs until very light, when add the sugar and seasoning, and then stir into the corn-starch, beating thoroughly to a smooth custard. Put into a buttered dish, and bake not more than half an hour. This pudding is best eaten cold, with sauce made of cream and sugar, flavored with nutmeg or cinnamon, or both, or plain powdered sugar, as tastes may prefer.

Delmonico Pudding.

One quart of milk; 3 tablespoonfuls corn-starch; put in hot water until it thickens; to the yolks of 5 eggs, add three tablespoonfuls white sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls vanilla, and a little salt. Pour on the corn-starch, stir thoroughly, and bake fifteen minutes, but not long enough to whey. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth; add 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar; 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla; put on top, and let brown.

Peach Ice-Cream.

Pare and cut in pieces 1 dozen peaches, or more, if desired, and boil with 1/2 pound loaf sugar. When reduced to a marmalade press through a fine sieve, and when cool, add 1 pint cream and freeze. Serve with halves or quarters of fresh peaches, half frozen, around the cream.

Apple Snow.

Reduce half a dozen apples to a pulp; press them through a sieve; add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and a teaspoonful lemon extract; take whites of 6 eggs and whip several minutes, and sprinkle 2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar over them; beat the apple-pulp to a froth and add the beaten eggs. Whip the mixture well until it breaks like stiff snow, then pile it high in rough portions, in a glass dish--garnish with a spoonful of currant jelly.

Strawberry Sauce.

A delicious sauce for baked pudding: Beat 1/2 cup butter and 1 of sugar, to a cream; add, stiff beaten, white of 1 egg and a large cupful of ripe strawberries, thoroughly crushed.

Ambrosia.

Have ready a grated cocoanut and some oranges, peeled and sliced; put a large layer of oranges in your dish, and strew sugar over them; then a layer of cocoanut, then orange, and sprinkle sugar; and so on until the dish is full, having cocoanut for the last layer. Pine-apple may be substituted for the orange.

Farina Pudding.

Two tablespoonfuls farina, soaked in a little milk for two hours; 1 quart of milk. Set in a kettle of boiling water; when the milk boils, add the farina, stirring four minutes. Then stir in the yolks of 5 eggs, well beaten, 1 cup sugar, and a little salt. After boiling three or four minutes, pour into a dish to cool. Flavor, and stir in the whites of the eggs beaten to a foam. To be eaten cold.

Baked Corn-Meal Pudding.

Take 1 large teacupful of corn-meal; scald 1 pint of milk, and stir the meal in slowly and thoroughly. Add a small cup of suet, chopped fine; 2/3 of a cup of molasses, salt to taste, and when cool add 1 pint milk, with 2 eggs, well beaten, 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon and 1 cup of raisins. Bake 3 hours.

Snow Pudding.

One box gelatine, 2 cups sugar, juice of 2 lemons, whites of 3 eggs, 1 quart of milk, 5 eggs, 5 tablespoonfuls sugar, and 1 vanilla. Dissolve the gelatine in 1/4 pint of water and let stand for 2 hours; then add 1/4 pint of boiling water, the lemon juice, and sugar; strain and set away to cool and thicken, and when quite stiff, add the whites of the 3 eggs, beaten to a stiff froth; stir these into the jelly until it looks like snow--mould and set on ice.

For a similar custard; add 5 eggs, well beaten in a dish, with 5 tablespoonfuls white sugar.

Fruit Pudding.

One quart of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls yeast powder, a little salt, 1 cup suet chopped fine, or a 1/4 pound butter or sweet lard; mix to soft dough, and roll quite thin--spreading over any kind of cooked fruit, sweetened to taste--rolling up nicely. This may be boiled, but is much better steamed, as this makes it much lighter. This delicious pudding should be eaten with brandy or wine sauce, liquid or solid.

Charlotte-a-Russe.

Take 1 pint rich milk, 1/2 ounce of gelatine, dissolved in a little hot milk, the whites of 2 eggs beaten to a froth, and 1 cup sugar; flavoring with vanilla. Mix the milk, eggs, sugar and flavoring; and when the gelatine is cold, pour it in, stirring thoroughly. Line the dish or mould with slices of sponge cake, fill with this mixture, and set on ice to cool.

Solid Sauce.

Work well into 1/2 cup of the freshest butter, 1 cup of powdered white sugar, adding the white of an egg, well beaten, and worked in with a large spoonful of California brandy, or a couple of spoonfuls of good sherry or California white-wine; working all of these well together, that the ingredients may be thoroughly incorporated, and season with nutmeg or cinnamon, or both, as may be preferred.

Liquid Sauce.

Take butter, the size of an egg, and sufficient flour or corn-starch, and after adding boiling water to make thick drawn butter, boil two or three minutes; add brandy, sherry or white-wine--according to taste--with a little vinegar or juice of 1 lemon. Make quite sweet and season to taste.

Currant, or Grape Jelly.

Wash the currants or grapes well in a pan of water; afterwards mash thoroughly, and put in a preserving kettle, letting them simmer slowly for fifteen or twenty minutes. Strain through a thin muslin bag, and, for every pint of juice, add one pound of granulated sugar. Mix well together, and boil five minutes, and put into glasses while warm. Cut paper to fit the top, dip in brandy, and lay over the jelly, and when quite cold tie a paper over the top, and put away in a dry, dark place.

Calves' Foot Jelly.

Boil 4 calves' feet in 4 or 5 quarts of water, until reduced to shreds; strain, and let the liquid cool; after taking off the fat, put the jelly in a kettle, with one pint of California sherry, or white wine, 3 cups granulated sugar, the whites of 4 eggs, well beaten, the juice of 1 lemon, with half of the grated peel, 1 teaspoonful of ground cinnamon or nutmeg; boil until clear, and strain into moulds or glasses.

Ice-Cream.

There are a thousand and one modes and recipes for making ice-cream. But, after having tested the merits of a large number, I have found the following formula, used by Mr. Piper, the former head cook of the Occidental Hotel, of San Francisco, in all respects superior to any that I have ever used:

One quart of Jersey, or best dairy milk, with the addition of a pint of rich cream; 6 eggs, and 1 pound of best granulated white sugar, thoroughly beaten and incorporated together; place the milk in a can, set it in a vessel of boiling water, and let it come to a boiling heat, stirring well at the same time. Then take from the fire, and add vanilla, lemon, or such flavoring as you may prefer, after which set it in ice-water to cool, and then freeze. Break the ice for the freezer of a uniform size, mixing coarse salt with the mass. Stir the cream constantly, and scrape thoroughly from the sides. The more the cream is stirred, the more delicate the mixture will be.

Orange-Ice.

The juice of 6 oranges; after adding the grated rind of 1 mix the juice of two lemons, and the grated rind of one; after adding 1 pint of granulated white sugar, dissolved in a pint of cold water, freeze the mixture the same as ice cream.

Lemon Jelly.

One pound sugar; 3 lemons, sliced, and put into the sugar; 1 ounce gelatine, dissolved in cold water sufficient to cover; add a quart of boiling water, and strain into moulds.

Wine Jelly.

One box Cox's gelatine, dissolved in a little warm water; add a large goblet sherry wine, and 1-1/2 pints of boiling water; sweeten highly and boil briskly. To be eaten with cream.

Peach Jelly.

Do not pare, but rub your peaches; place them in a porcelain lined kettle, with just enough water to cover. Let them cook thoroughly--from one to two hours--then strain through a jelly-bag. To every 4 cups of juice, add 3 cups of sugar, and set on to boil again. Sometimes, when the fruit is particularly fine and fresh, three-quarters of an hour or less boiling is sufficient to make a jelly, but sometimes it takes longer. To test it, drop some in a saucer and set on ice; if it does not spread but remain rounded, it is done.

Roman Punch.

Take the juice of 4 oranges, and of the same number of lemons or limes. Dissolve 1 pound of white sugar in a pint of water. Mix all these together, and strain; after which add 1 pint of California champagne, and 2 gills of good California brandy, if desirable. Freeze the same as ice-cream.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Butter and Butter-Making.

With the exception of bread, which has been appropriately termed "the staff of life," there is, perhaps, no other article of food more universally used by mankind than butter. Notwithstanding this well established fact, it is a lamentable reflection, that really good butter is one of the rarest and most difficult articles to be procured. Although the adulterations of this staple article of food are numerous, the main cause of the quantities of bad butter with which the community is burdened, is ignorance of the true methods, and slovenliness in the preparation of this staple article, for which no reasonable excuse can be urged. In the making of good butter, no process is more simple or easily accomplished. The Quakers, living in the vicinity of Philadelphia, more than a century ago, so thoroughly understood and practised the art of making the best butter, that the products of their dairies sold readily in that city for from five to eight cents per pound more than that produced by any other class.