Part 3

Cut off half inch tips from two bunches asparagus stalks. Cook the stalks until tender in boiling water. Rub through a colander, salt to taste; add three pints of boiling milk; smooth one teaspoonful of butter with one of flour and stir into the soup. Cook fifteen minutes; while this is in course of preparation boil the tips till tender, drain and put in tureen. When soup is done take from stove, add one half cupful of cream and pour over the tips. Serve with croutons.

SUMMER VEGETABLE SOUP.

Pare two medium sized onions and one turnip, place these with one cupful of finely chopped cabbage to cook in three quarts of boiling water. Season to taste with salt and cook till tender, then add one cupful of green corn, cut from cob, bring to a quick boil and cook five minutes, add one half cupful of cream just before serving.

BLACK BEAN SOUP.

Soak one quart of black beans over night; put them in a kettle with a gallon of cold water and two bay leaves; boil slowly until well done, rub through a colander, and return to the kettle; season with salt, white pepper, and, if liked, a little thyme; blend one tablespoonful of butter with one tablespoonful of flour and dissolve in one half cupful of warm water; stir into the soup. Serve with croutons.

CARROT SOUP.

Boil six carrots in water; when thoroughly done drain them and pass them through a fine sieve. Mix the pulp thus obtained with as much clear stock (water will answer, but the soup will not be so good) as will make it of the desired consistency. Add pepper, salt, and a pinch of sugar. Melt one ounce of butter and mix with it a tablespoonful of flour; then gradually add to the carrot purée; let it come to a boil, add a small piece of butter; serve with croutons.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

Boil a bay leaf and a scant cupful of lentils in salted water until tender. Mash through colander to remove husks. Put back in kettle and add water enough to make one quart of soup; blend one tablespoonful of butter with scant tablespoonful of flour and stir into the soup; let come to a boil. Just before serving add fine slices of lemon, and two sliced, hard boiled, eggs.

SCOTS BROTH.

Wash two ounces of barley; soak it for three hours; chop one half of a medium sized head of cabbage, and one onion, put over to boil with the soaked barley, in one quart of water; salt to taste. Let boil for two hours; adding more water if it becomes too thick, be careful not to add too much water; season with savory herbs, or soup powder; add a tablespoonful of butter, and serve with croutons.

WHITE TURNIP SOUP.

Peel and prepare turnips according to quantity of soup desired, put them over to cook in boiling water; when half done add one fifth as much of onions, chopped very fine, with pepper and salt to taste. When turnips are tender pour the liquid through a sieve and rub the turnips through with a spoon. Return to kettle and add as much milk as is required to bring soup to the proper consistency; add a little parsley, chopped fine; one cupful of cream, and one tablespoonful of butter blended with one teaspoonful of flour. Serve with croutons.

CREAM OF LIMA BEANS.

Soak one cupful of dried lima beans over night; in the morning drain and add three pints of cold water. Cook until tender and rub through a sieve. Cut two slices of onion and four slices of carrot into small cubes; cook in two tablespoonfuls of butter until yellow, add one cupful of cream or milk, two tablespoonfuls of butter, two tablespoonfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, and one saltspoonful of pepper; and stir into the boiling soup. Strain and serve.

BEAN PURÉE WITH TOMATO.

To one pint of cold Boston baked beans, add one chopped, small, onion, one bay leaf, and one cupful of tomato; boil in one quart of water until tender, then mash through a colander, put back in kettle over the fire and add one tablespoonful of butter blended with one teaspoonful of flour; season to taste, let come to a boil, and serve with croutons.

SAVORIES AND RELISHES.

SAVORY HASH.

Take one third of brown lentils (which have been cooked tender and rubbed through colander) to two thirds of chopped cold boiled potatoes, add one cupful of bread crumbs over which has been poured one tablespoonful of melted butter. Season, adding savory, soup powder or sage and chopped onion, as preferred; put tablespoonful of butter in frying pan, add the hash, cover until thoroughly heated, then remove cover and let brown, turn out on platter garnished with parsley.

NUT LOAF.

Grind or chop very fine one half pound of nuts--any kind you prefer; add one pound of broken bread, one fourth pound of butter; turn on one pint of boiling water and one egg, well beaten, salt, pepper, and sage to taste; chop very fine. Butter a pudding dish, cover the buttered surface with bread crumbs, pour in the mixture, and bake one hour or until well done. Turn out on a platter, garnish with parsley or celery tops. Serve with cranberry sauce.

VEGETABLE SWEET BREADS.

To six tablespoonfuls of lentils, previously boiled in salted water until tender and mashed through a colander, add three tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs and two beaten eggs, mix well together and fry by tablespoonfuls in plenty of hot butter. Serve hot, with green peas.

STUFFED SQUASH.

Boil or steam, a good sized summer squash, it needs to be of tender skin, leave on the skin and cut it once across before putting on to cook; let it cook until tender, be careful not to break in taking up; scoop out the seeds with a spoon, have ready some bread crumbs in which have been mixed one tablespoonful of melted butter and tablespoonful of finely minced onion and an equal quantity of chopped parsley or mint, as you prefer, with salt and pepper to taste; fill the cavity in squash with this stuffing and fasten together. Place in the oven and bake one half hour, basting frequently with butter and hot water.

STUFFED CUCUMBERS.

Take three medium sized cucumbers, pare, remove the seed centers and fill with stuffing. Bind the halves together with tape and steam until tender; remove all tapes, but one, that through the middle, lay them in a baking dish and brush them over with egg; then scatter fine bread crumbs and brown. Serve in long dish, with brown gravy.

The stuffing is made as follows: Put one tablespoonful of melted butter in stew pan, fry in the butter until brown one onion and two medium sized apples chopped fine. Drain from the fat and make into stuffing with bread crumbs flavored with a little mint, savory, or sage, as one prefers; whip one egg and stir in, with seasoning to taste.

VEGETABLE CUTLETS.

Use as a basis the vegetables from which the clear soup stock is made; after they have been thoroughly drained, set away, and chilled they will chop nicely without mushing. To the quantity of vegetables used for one gallon of soup stock, add one half can of peas, and one quart of chopped, cold, boiled potatoes; pepper and salt to taste. Mould in flat cutlet shapes, dip in fine bread crumbs, then in egg, again in bread crumbs, and fry in hot oil or butter. Serve hot. This will make about four dozen cutlets. If the chopped vegetables are placed in a cool place they will keep nicely several days.

CELERY ON TOAST.

After washing and removing green leaves, cut celery stocks into pieces about four inches long and cook in boiling, salted, water; when tender, lay on buttered toast, moistened with the water the celery was cooked in; add a brown sauce, and serve.

TURNIP SOUFFLÉ.

Make a white sauce of three tablespoonfuls of butter, three of flour, and enough milk to make a thick, white sauce; use three cupfuls of strained cooked turnip, whites of three well beaten eggs, a teaspoonful finely chopped onion; salt, and a dash of cayenne; mix all together, adding the whites of eggs last folding them carefully in, bake in a well buttered pan in slow oven until a delicate brown.

FARINA CROUSTADES.

Put one quart of water in double boiler and add one teaspoonful of salt; when scalding hot stir in gradually one and one half cupful of farina; let it cook till very thick; then spread out on a flat buttered dish about one and one half inches thick; when perfectly cold cut with a round cutter and scoop out some of the center so as to make a sort of cup; brush over with the yolk of egg and set in oven till a delicate brown.

For filling, cut into dice, three hard boiled eggs, season with salt, cayenne, and chopped parsley; add two tablespoonfuls of mushrooms cut in half; mix with enough well seasoned brown sauce to moisten well; fill the little croustades and serve; pass more of the filling or sauce in a gravy boat.

RICE CROQUETTES.

One cupful of rice, boiled in one pint of milk and one of water until tender. While boiling, add butter the size of an egg, two teaspoonfuls of sugar, three eggs, and the juice and grated peel of one lemon. Mix well, make into rolls a finger long, and dip first into yolks of two eggs, well beaten, then into cracker crumbs, and fry in hot cocoanut butter.

ITALIAN MACARONI.

Boil one third of a package of macaroni in salted water until tender, drain and rinse in cold water; heat and cover with tomato sauce (see sauces and gravies).

MACARONI PIE.

Boil a quarter of a pound of macaroni in water until quite soft; pour off the water; add half a pint of milk, a quarter of a pound of grated cheese, a piece of butter, a very little mustard, salt, a pinch of cayenne, and a dust of white pepper. Let it boil for a minute, then bake in a dish lined with rich crust. The crust should be brushed with the white of egg to keep it dry.

MACARONI CHEESE.

Take the quantity of macaroni required to fill a baking dish two thirds full, and boil until tender in salted water, drain through a colander and rinse in cold water, place in baking dish with half a cupful of milk if quantity used is small, a whole cupful if two quart dish is to be filled, add cupful of grated cheese, pinch of soda and dash of cayenne; bake a delicate brown.

VEGETABLE HOT-POT.

Use one turnip, one Spanish onion, one cupful of stewed tomato, one and one half pound of potatoes; one half cupful of tapioca previously soaked, butter, pepper, and salt to taste. Cut turnip into dice and boil until tender, at the same time let tapioca cook clear. Cut potatoes up fine, and chop onion fine and scald. Place a layer of onion at bottom of buttered baking dish, then tapioca, on top of this, potatoes, chopped turnip, and tomato,--with a little butter on each layer; repeat this until the dish is full, and have a layer of potatoes at the top. Bake in hot oven for one hour, the last quarter remove cover; add layer of bread crumbs and brown.

WINTER VEGETABLE PIE.

Place in baking dish, slices of cold boiled potatoes, onions, celery, and carrot, then add one scant cupful of stewed tomatoes and one half can of peas. Cover with stock, thickened to a gravy with butter and flour, cover with plain crust, and bake. A pie of this nature can be made with a great variety of ingredients; apples, boiled chestnuts, onions, and potatoes make a good combination. Rice, with a grating of cheese, celery, onion, and tomato, another variety.

VEGETABLE HASH.

Of cooked and chopped vegetables, use one carrot, one blood beet, two turnips, two quarts of finely sliced potatoes, one onion, and a stalk of celery; one sprig of parsley; put them in a stew pan, cover tight, and set in the oven. When thoroughly heated pour over a gravy of drawn butter and cream. Stir together and serve.

NUT CROQUETTES.

Shell and grind one pound of English walnuts, add one teaspoonful of salt, and the juice of half a lemon, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a dash of cayenne pepper; mix thoroughly. Place one cupful of milk in double boiler; rub one tablespoonful of softened butter with two tablespoonfuls of flour; when the cream is hot, stir in the flour and butter; cook until it thickens; season lightly.

Then turn the thickened cream into the nut mixture; have ready a well beaten egg and whip in; mix all together thoroughly. Set away to cool; when cold form into shapely rolls, dip in bread crumbs, then in beaten egg, again in bread crumbs, and fry quickly in hot fat. Be sure the fat is at right temperature,--see “Important Notes.”

BISCUIT PATES.

Make a nice light baking powder biscuit. Have ready, when the biscuits are done, one cupful of small mushrooms cooked tender and cut fine, dressed with one half cupful of cream, mixed with juice of mushrooms, and thickened with one teaspoonful of flour, blended with teaspoonful of butter; season to taste with salt and pepper. Take a thin slice off of the bottom of the biscuit, dig out the center, leaving reasonably thick walls, put little piece of butter in the shell and fill with mushrooms dressing; serve at once. Stale biscuit may be used by toasting them a few minutes in a hot oven after they have been hollowed out. These are crisp and some prefer them to fresh biscuit.

YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

To six large tablespoonfuls of flour, add one teaspoonful of baking powder and one half teaspoonful of salt; sift thoroughly; beat the yolks of three eggs, and add milk enough to mix with flour and make the consistency of soft custard; whip whites of eggs to stiff froth and fold into mixture lightly. Melt a heaping tablespoonful of butter in dripping pan, letting it brown slightly; pour in the mixture and place in oven; then pour over the top a half cupful of melted butter; brown another spoonful of butter, and when pudding is almost done baste with browned butter. When done cut in squares and serve with melted butter.

FRIED APPLES.

Wash apples and dry them, cut in circular slices through the core of the apples. Sprinkle liberally with sugar and fry in butter until well cooked. Serve on a platter.

VEGETABLE SAUSAGES NO. 1.

Take three cupfuls of grated bread crumbs and moisten with hot water; add salt, pepper, and mixed herbs. Beat till light, one egg and add to bind. Shape in small cakes, or rolls, and fry in hot grease.

SAUSAGES NO. 2.

Take one cupful of boiled, or Boston baked, beans; heat, and mash through sieve; chop two onions and boil very tender, mash, and add to beans. Place in oven one cupful of bread crumbs and let them dry and brown, then roll to powder; add to the mixture, bind with an egg, and use savory or sage to flavor, with salt and pepper to season. Roll in shape, dip in wheat meal, and brown in hot butter or oil.

CHINESE RICE.

Wash rice thoroughly, have agate kettle half filled with boiling salted water. Sprinkle rice in the boiling water; let cook until rice is thoroughly tender; then drain through a sieve.

CURRIED RICE WITH EGGS.

Prepare Chinese rice and serve with curried gravy made as follows: Put one teaspoonful of chopped onion in frying pan, with one heaping tablespoonful of butter; thicken with browned flour and add sufficient water to make gravy of right consistency. Season with salt, pepper, and curry powder enough to delicately flavor. Heap rice in center of shallow dish or platter, pour the gravy around the edge of rice, garnish with slices of hard boiled eggs, and lemon.

BANANA FRITTERS.

Slice bananas one half inch thick; squeeze over the slices some orange juice; stand for fifteen minutes; drain each piece, dip in fritter batter and fry.

CURRIED RICE.

Thoroughly wash one cupful of rice; let soak several hours in cold water; put two tablespoonfuls of butter in saucepan; add one teaspoonful finely chopped onion; when the onion begins to color drain the rice and add to onion and butter; stir a few minutes; add two teaspoonfuls curry powder, salt and pepper; then add two and one half cupfuls of boiling water; cover and cook rapidly for ten minutes; then move where it will cook very slowly three quarters of an hour.

IRISH STEW.

Chop fine a small onion, put over to stew in one pint of water; add a bay leaf and half a teaspoonful of salt; let simmer until onion is tender, take out the bay leaf; add pint of milk and one large potato, pared and sliced thickly; let simmer until potato is tender, then add one spoonful of flour blended with half a teacupful of butter; add chopped three hard boiled eggs, pour over split baking powder biscuit and serve on a platter, garnished with parsley.

CHESTNUT CROQUETTES.

Boil one quart of the large French chestnuts; remove the shells and thin brown skin; mash and run through a sieve; put into a double boiler, add enough sugar to sweeten, about two tablespoonfuls, the grated peel of one orange and juice of one half of a lemon, one tablespoonful of finely chopped citron; beat the yolk of one egg with one tablespoonful of cream; add to the chestnuts; turn out and when perfectly cold, form into croquettes; dip in egg, then in bread crumbs or fine cake crumbs may be used; fry in deep hot fat.

For the sauce, put into a double boiler one half cupful of thick cream, three fourths cupful of strong coffee, three tablespoonfuls of sugar and the yolks of four eggs well beaten; stir till it begins to thicken, remove from the fire; add juice of one half an orange, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, three teaspoonfuls Maraschino; serve with the croquettes.

MUSHROOMS.

GRILLED MUSHROOMS.

Prepared in this way the mushrooms must be large. After washing and peeling, score the tops with a knife and lay them for one hour in a pickle of oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Place them, tops down, on a close-barred gridiron and broil over a clear, slow fire. Serve on toast with a sauce made as follows:

Chop the stalks and pieces of mushrooms that have broken in the washing and stew in broth for ten minutes with a little minced parsley and onion. Beat the yolk of one egg with a gill of cream and add slowly to the sauce. Stir the whole until hot without boiling and pour it over the toast.

ESCALOPED MUSHROOMS.

Put the mushrooms in a buttered baking-dish with alternate layers of crumbs, seasoning each layer plentifully with butter; add salt, pepper and a gill of cream or gravy. Bake twenty minutes, keeping covered while in the oven.

MUSHROOM PIE.

Line a baking dish with rich crust. Drain the liquor from a can of small mushrooms, slice the mushrooms, add one cupful of cream, or rich milk, and tablespoonful of butter, to juice of mushrooms. Season to taste and thicken with tablespoonful of flour blended with butter; add the mushrooms, fill in the baking dish, cover with top crust and bake a rich brown. Brown sauce may be used if preferred.

AUNT SUSAN’S MUSHROOM PIE.

Line a deep pudding pan with rich paste; fill two thirds full of mushrooms (if raw they must be stewed a few minutes first), make a gravy of flour rubbed very smooth with thick cream, or with butter and milk, thin with boiling water, season with salt, pepper and soup powder, pour over the mushrooms, cover with paste and bake.

BAKED MUSHROOMS.

Toast for each person a large slice of bread and spread over with rich sweet cream; lay on each slice, head downward, a mushroom, or if small, more than one; season and fill each with as much cream as it will hold. Place over each a custard cup, pressing well down to the toast; set in a moderate oven and cook fifteen minutes. Do not remove the cups for five minutes after they come from the oven, as thereby the flavor of the mushroom is preserved in its entirety.

STEWED MUSHROOMS.

Drain off the juice from a can of small mushrooms; put a heaping tablespoonful of butter into a frying pan; add two tablespoonfuls of flour and brown well, stirring all the time; then pour in the juice of mushrooms with water enough to make a thin gravy; season with salt, pepper, and soup powder; add mushrooms and stew a few minutes, then serve.

MUSHROOMS IN WHITE SAUCE.

For stewing, the smaller mushrooms are preferable. Carefully peel the tops, cut the ends of the stalks level, wash and drain in colander. They should be stewed, till tender, in as little water as possible. When thoroughly cooked, add a pint of cream, or new milk, and thicken in usual way with flour blended in melted butter.

MUSHROOMS WITH LEMON.

Use the small canned mushrooms, separate the mushrooms from the liquor, put them, with one tablespoonful of butter in saucepan; add one tablespoonful of lemon juice, a pinch of white pepper, and one quarter of a teaspoonful of salt; place the saucepan over a slow fire and cook gently fifteen minutes, then serve.

EGGS.

CURRIED EGGS, NO. 1.

Put into saucepan two tablespoonfuls of butter, add one half teaspoonful onion juice; cook slowly till the onion begins to color; then add one tablespoonful flour and one teaspoonful curry powder; when perfectly smooth add three fourths of a cupful of clear stock and one half cupful of cream; cook for five minutes, stirring constantly; season with salt and pepper. Cut six hard boiled eggs into halves lengthwise; strain the sauce over them and let stand on the stove a few minutes till thoroughly heated. Serve on thin squares of toast.

CURRIED EGGS, NO. 2.

Boil half a dozen eggs hard and let them get cold. Fry in butter two large onions cut in thin slices, and let them get quite brown, season these with pepper and salt, and add a pint of boiling water; when the onions have stewed for a little while, put in a cupful of milk thickened with arrowroot, or flour, and flavor with curry powder, let it simmer, then put in the eggs cut in halves, making them hot, but do not let them boil. The amount of curry powder used is a matter of taste; garnish the dish with boiled rice, and serve very hot.

BAKED EGGS.

Butter gem pans and line with fine, buttered, bread crumbs. Break one egg carefully into each pan, season with bits of pepper, salt and butter, cover lightly with buttered bread crumbs, and bake in oven until delicate brown.

SCRAMBLED EGGS.

Break the eggs into a bowl and beat moderately light; add cream in proportion of one tablespoonful to every two eggs; season to taste. Have one tablespoonful of butter melted in hot frying pan and pour into the mixture. Stir until cooked solid, turn on hot platter and serve at once with toast.

SHIRRED EGGS.

Set a saucer on the stove--the heavy japanese ware stands the heat best--and put in it a teaspoonful of butter, when hot break two eggs into the dish, let cook until they bubble, and begin to set. Serve in the dish in which they are cooked, slipping the saucer on to a small plate. Serve at once.

HARD BOILED EGGS.

The eggs should be placed in boiling water, then set where they will simmer, rather than boil, and be left for fifteen minutes; the yolks will be dry and fine. To make them peel easily slip at once into cold water on removing from the fire.

LYONAISE EGGS.

Put one half tablespoonful butter in sauce pan, add one teaspoonful onion juice, cook slowly five minutes. Add one tablespoonful flour and, when well mixed, add one and one half cupfuls milk, stir till it thickens, season with salt and pepper, pour the sauce in a bake-dish, and break six eggs onto the sauce. Sprinkle quite thickly with bread crumbs, put bits of butter over all, and set in the oven for three or four minutes.

EGGS WITH MUSHROOMS.

Trim and peel the mushrooms; put them in stew-pan with butter, and cook until tender, season to taste. Place in shallow dish pouring the butter over them, then break over them eggs enough to cover, sprinkle thickly with bread crumbs and add bits of butter, place in hot oven long enough to set the eggs. Do not let the eggs harden; four or five minutes is the time usually required. Serve at once.

SAVORY EGGS.

Fry slices of Spanish onions until a delicate brown; add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, pepper and salt, blend fat with tablespoonful of flour; add a pint of hot milk. Have ready some hard boiled eggs, quarter, and heat in the prepared sauce. Serve on toast.

FRICASSEED EGGS.