Part 1

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Transcriber’s note:

In the section Pickled nutmeg melons, melons change to mangoes part way through, viz. “Lay the _mangoes_ in strong brine for three days. Drain off the brine and freshen in pure water for twenty-four hours. “Green” as you would cucumbers—that is, have a kettle lined with green vine leaves, and lay the _mangoes_ evenly within it, scattering powdered alum over the layers. A piece of alum as large as a pigeon’s egg will be enough for a two-gallon kettleful. Fill with cold water; cover with vine leaves, three deep; put a close lid or inverted pan over all, and steam over a slow fire five or six hours, not allowing the water to boil. When the _mangoes_ are a fine green remove the leaves and lay the melons in cold water until cold and firm.” This has been corrected.

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

MARION HARLAND’S COMPLETE COOK BOOK

MARION HARLAND’S COMPLETE COOK BOOK

A Practical and Exhaustive Manual of Cookery and Housekeeping

Containing Thousands of Carefully Proved Recipes—Prepared for the Housewife, not for the Chef—and Many Chapters on the Care and Management of the Home—the Final Expression of Her Life’S Experience

by

MARION HARLAND

Author of Common Sense in the Household, Etc.

New Edition, Revised and Enlarged

Indianapolis The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers

Copyright 1903 The Bobbs-Merrill Company

June

Copyright 1906 The Bobbs-Merrill Company

March

Press of Braunworth & Co. Bookbinders and Printers Brooklyn, N. Y.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

MARKETING 3

CARE OF HOUSEHOLD STORES 6

KITCHEN UTENSILS 9

CHEMISTRY IN THE KITCHEN 12

CARVING 15

SERVING AND WAITING 18

AMONG THE LINENS 23

THE CHILDREN 25

DIET AND DIGESTION 28

THE IMPROMPTU LARDER 32

FAMILIAR TALK

BREAKFAST 34

BREAKFAST FRUITS 38

BREAKFAST CEREALS 42

BREAKFAST BREADS 46

HOT BREAKFAST BREADS 54

QUICK BISCUITS 61

MUFFINS AND THEIR CONGENERS 63

WAFFLES 65

GRIDDLE CAKES 66

BREAKFAST BREADS OF INDIAN MEAL 71

DIVERS KINDS OF TOAST 75

EGGS 78

FAMILIAR TALK

WHO RULES THE HOME 89

FISH FOR BREAKFAST 93

FAMILIAR TALK

WHERE WE EAT 107

BREAKFAST MEATS 110

BREAKFAST BACON 110

TRIPE 114

BEEFSTEAK 116

KIDNEYS 118

SWEETBREADS 120

LIVER 122

CHICKEN 123

OTHER BREAKFAST MEATS 126

BREAKFAST GAME 129

BREAKFAST VEGETABLES 131

FAMILIAR TALK

WITH MARTHA IN HER KITCHEN 137

THE FAMILY LUNCHEON 143

LUNCHEON DISHES 145

FAMILIAR TALK

LIVING TO LEARN 183

CROQUETTES 188

WITH THE CASSEROLE 194

CHEESE DISHES FOR LUNCHEON 198

THE TOAST FAMILY 205

LUNCHEON VEGETABLES 207

SANDWICHES 214

TEMPTING PREFIXES TO LUNCHEON 221

SALADS 224

LUNCHEON FRUITS, COOKED AND RAW 241

SWEET OMELETS 247

FAMILIAR TALK

WITH THE NOMINAL MISTRESS OF THE HOUSE 249

LUNCHEON CAKES 258

FROSTINGS FOR CAKES 278

VARIOUS FILLINGS FOR CAKES 279

GINGERBREADS 281

SMALL CAKES 284

THE DOUGHNUT AND CRULLER FAMILY 292

FAMILIAR TALK

A FRIENDLY WORD WITH “OUR MAID” 296

DINNER 300

SOUPS 303

BISQUES 314

CREAM SOUPS 318

VEGETABLE SOUPS WITH MEAT 322

VEGETABLE SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT 328

FISH SOUPS 333

FISH 337

SAUCES FOR FISH AND MEAT 353

FAMILIAR TALK

IS IMPROMPTU HOSPITALITY A LOST ART 361

MEATS 367

BEEF 367

VEAL 377

MUTTON 385

MEAT AND POULTRY PIES 388

PORK 395

POULTRY 400

TURKEY 400

DUCKS 404

CHICKENS 405

GEESE 413

GAME 415

DINNER VEGETABLES 427

EVEN THREADED LIVING 498

SWEETS OF ALL SORTS 503

PIES 503

HOT PUDDINGS 518

BAKED PUDDINGS 528

FRITTERS 544

PANCAKES AND DUMPLINGS 548

SOME PUDDING SAUCES 551

COLD PUDDINGS AND CUSTARDS 555

WHIPPED CREAM DISHES 558

BLANC MANGE 563

FRUIT DESSERTS 576

ICE CREAM AND ICES 580

HOME-MADE CANDIES 590

AFTERNOON TEA 604

SOME DAINTIES FOR AFTERNOON TEA 610

FRAPPÉ BEVERAGES 614

WAFERS 616

STEWED FRUIT, PRESERVES, FRUIT JELLIES, ET CETERA 617

PICKLES 633

CATSUPS, ET CETERA 648

THE HOME BREW 652

FORMAL BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHEONS 663

CONCERNING DINNER GIVING 668

SOME STUDIES OF COLOR IN FAMILY DINNERS 673

AN EVENING RECEPTION AND CHAFING-DISH SUPPER 676

FAMILIAR TALK

COMMON SENSE AND “ETIQUETTE” 681

CANNED GOODS 684

“HANDY” HOUSEHOLD HINTS 693

FINAL FAMILIAR TALK

EMERGENCIES, BROKEN CHINA, ET CETERA 715

SOME CULINARY TERMS 719

FOR READY REFERENCE 724

INDEX 729

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

AFTER DINNER COFFEE IN A COZY CORNER 672

AFTERNOON TEA ON THE VERANDA 606

ANCHOVIES ON TOAST 464

BEEF, ROAST 380

BELGIAN HARE, ROAST 416

BEVERAGES 652

BIRTHDAY CAKE 520

BISCUITS, HOT 364

BRANDIED PEACHES, GARNISHED 628

BREAKFAST EQUIPAGE 36

CAKE, SLICED HOME-MADE 364

CALF’S HEAD, BOILED 380

CAVIAR TOAST, GARNISHED 222

CHEESE AND EGG ENTRÉES 202

CHICKEN PIE, SMALL 388

CHICKEN PIE IN SILVER STAND 388

CHICKEN OMELET 84

CHICKEN SALAD MANTLED WITH CREAM MAYONNAISE AND GARNISHED 232

CHICKEN, SCALLOPED 404

CHICKEN, SCALLOPED 126

COD, BOILED 344

COFFEE, CAPITAL CUP OF 364

COVERED CHEESE DISH FOR LIMBURGER 202

CRAB, SCALLOPED, IN SHELL 156

CREAMED MACARONI IN PINEAPPLE CHEESE SHELL 202

CROQUETTES 126

DAFFODILS 84

DINNER, A LITTLE 668

“DINNER, A PICK-UP” 364

EGGS 78

EGGS, BAKED 78

EGG OMELET 78

EGGS, STUFFED 202

ENTREES 126

FISH 100

FISH 344

FLOATING ISLAND 520-558

FONDU OF CHEESE 202

FRUIT SALAD, GARNISHED 232

FRUIT SALAD, IN BANANA-SKIN 232

GAME 416

GAME PIE IN NAPKINNED DISH 388

GRAPE FRUIT PREPARED FOR LUNCHEON 222

GREEN PEAS, GARNISHED 464

HALIBUT STEAK 100

HARLAND, MARION Frontispiece

ICE CREAM WITH HOT MAPLE SAUCE 582

INDIVIDUAL FLOATING ISLAND 558

IRISH STEW AND BROWNED POTATOES 364

LAMB CHOPS 126

LOBSTER CUTLETS AND WHIPPED POTATOES 156

MERINGUE GLACE AND WHIPPED CREAM 558

MOCK PIGEON 380

MOULD OF JELLY, GARNISHED 628

ORANGE MARMALADE 582

OYSTER COCKTAILS 222

OYSTER PATTIES 344

OYSTERS SCALLOPED 84

PAIR OF BOILED FOWLS, GARNISHED 404

PAIR OF ROAST DUCKS 404

PARTRIDGE, ROAST 416

PERCH, FRIED 100

PLUM PUDDING 520

POULTRY AND ENTRÉES 404

PUNCH, STRAWBERRY 628

QUAIL ON TOAST 416

RANGE SCREEN LOWERED TO SHUT IN HEAT 140

RANGE SCREEN PARTLY RAISED 138

SALADS 236

SALMON, BOILED 344

SANDWICHES

AFTERNOON TEA 582

BRUNETTE 216

CRESCENT 216

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD 216

SIDE-BOARD AND CHINA CLOSET 718

SMELTS, FRIED 100

SWEETBREADS, BRAISED 404

SWEETBREAD CUTLETS AND SARATOGA POTATOES 156

TABLES

AUTUMN DINNER 300

BRIDESMAID’S, WITH PINK ROSES 500

CHRISTMAS, DECORATED WITH HOLLY 300

DECORATED WITH PINE CONES 266

DECORATED WITH CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND PALMS 300

EASTER WEDDING BREAKFAST 266

ENGAGEMENT DINNER 500

JAPANESE DECORATIONS FOR CHILDREN’S LUNCHEON 266

SUNFLOWER LUNCHEON 500

A LITTLE DINNER 668

TOAST AND ANCHOVIES GARNISHED 464

TOMATO SALAD 236

TOMATO SALAD WITH WHIPPED CREAM DRESSING 236

TOMATOES, STUFFED AND GARNISHED 464

TROUT, FRIED 344

TURKEY, ROAST 404

VEAL AND BEEF 380

VEAL CHOPS AND SPINACH 380

VENISON, ROAST 416

WAFERS 616

WHIPPED CREAM 520

WHIPPED CREAM, GARNISHED WITH CHERRIES 558

WOODCOCK, ROAST 416

Marion Harland’s

Complete Cook Book

DEDICATORY PREFACE

_To My Fellow Housekeepers, North, East, South and West_:

Thirty-one years ago I wrote, dedicated to you, and sent to press, COMMON SENSE IN THE HOUSEHOLD.

The daring step was taken in direct opposition to the advice of all who knew my purpose. I was assured that I should lose the modest measure of literary reputation I had won by novels, short stories and essays if I persisted in the ignoble enterprise.

One critic forewarned me that “whatever I might write after this preposterous new departure would be tainted, for the imaginative reader and reviewer, with the odor of the kitchen.”

He may have been right. I do not know nor do I care whether his judgment or mine was the better. I gave my first cook-book to you because I knew from my own experience, as a young, raw and untaught housekeeper, that you needed just what I had to say. The hundreds of thousands of copies which have been sold, the thousands of grateful letters received from my toiling sisters, testify to that need and that to me was appointed the gracious task of supplying it.

Under the impulse of a conviction as solemn and as strong I offer you now a work embodying the best results of mature Housewifery. Or, as I would rather name it, Housemotherhood. Before I put pen to paper I stipulated that the contract with the publishers of THE COMPLETE COOK BOOK should contain a clause forbidding me to prepare and issue any book of a similar character during the next ten years.

Whatever I have to say to you through the medium of a printed and bound volume in all these years must be said here.

I have had this thought in my mind with the writing of every page. In every page, in every line, in every word I have done my best to serve you. I know you well enough to be assured that you will not forget this. If such a thing might be I would have every dish compounded according to my directions a souvenir to each of you of one who has given thirty-odd of the best years of a busy life to the task of dignifying housewifery into a profession, and ennobling the practice of it in your eyes.

For the fair degree of success which has followed these efforts I am thankful. Thankful, too, to those of you whose appreciation of my aim and my work has held up weary hands and stayed the failing heart.

This talk, made purposely as “familiar” as if I were face-to-face with each of you, is not a valedictory, but an _au revoir_. The book in your hands contains the gleanings of an active decade. Housewifery keeps pace with other professions in the swinging march of an Age of Wonders. I have faith in it and in myself to believe that I shall go on with the fascinating work of accumulating. I add, hopefully, I have also faith in you that, in the future as in the thirty years overpast, you will aid me in that accumulation.

MARION HARLAND.

MARKETING

MUTTON and BEEF may be called the Marketer’s Perennials. They are in season all the year round.

In buying mutton see that the fat is clear, very firm and white; the flesh close of grain, and ruddy. Buy your meat fresh, even if you mean to hang it in the cellar for a week—or longer in cold weather. “Begin fair!”

The best cuts of mutton are loin, saddle and leg. French chops are cut from the rib, the fat taken off and several inches of the bone cleaned from meat. They are nice to look at, good to eat—and expensive. You can do the trimming at home when you have once seen it done and save the extra cent or two paid for the word “French.” Loin chops are cheaper and usually more tender and better-flavored.

A more economical piece than the leg for the housewife who does her own marketing is the fore-quarter. You can bone and stuff part of it for a roast; the chops are almost as good as those cut from the loin, and the bones, when removed, make good stock for broth. The meat is really more juicy and sweet than that of the leg, and the cost from two to three cents a pound less.

LAMB is in season from May to November. What is sold under that name in winter is undersized mutton, and usually tough and dry.

BEEF—the Englishman’s main-stay—is quite as important in the American kitchen. Seek, in purchasing, for rosy, red meat, “shot” with cream-colored suet, dry and mealy, and a good outer coat of fat. Press the meat hard with the tip of your thumb. If it be flabby, and, after yielding to pressure, retains the dent, let it alone.

The rib roast is a choice cut. It is more comely when the bones are removed, the meat rolled and bound into a round. In which case insist upon having the trimmings sent home. You pay for them, and, when you order soup-meat, for that as well. Have the bones cracked, buy one pound of coarse lean beef for perhaps ten cents, and you have foundation for a good gravy soup, or stock enough for several hashes and stews.

The round costs about two-thirds as much as a rib-roast and half as much as a sirloin, and serves admirably for _à la mode_ beef, or a pot-roast.

The sirloin steak is far more economical than a porterhouse. Remove the bone before cooking. This cut often contains really more of the coveted tenderloin than the porterhouse, and the rest of the steak is more tender, as a rule, than the dearer cut. Have the steak cut at least an inch thick.

Summer FRESH PORK is less desirable than winter lamb. It should be barred from the market after the first of May, and not allowed there before December first, if then. The lean should be pink, the fat pure white and solid, the skin like white, translucent parchment. That it is cheap and “goes far” recommends it to many people.

The chine, the spare-ibiss and loin are the best cuts for roasting. Pork chops are popular, and pork tenderloins much affected, even by epicures. Children and invalids should never touch unsalted pork at its best estate.