Part 13

Having prepared 2 nice heads of head lettuce, arrange them in the salad bowl with 2 seedless oranges which have been neatly peeled, and cut into thin slices with a very sharp knife. Season with salt and pepper, and then mix thoroughly with French dressing. The oranges and lettuce should have been chilled so that the salad will be very cold.

LETTUCE SALAD

Pull apart a fresh head lettuce, breaking the leaves neatly from the stalk, and wash those that need it and shake them dry. Put in a salad bowl with French dressing or sauce vinaigrette, and mix well together before serving.

MACEDOINE SALAD

Open a glass or can of imported macedoine of vegetables, drain, and cover with French dressing. Arrange with lettuce leaves in a bowl or on separate plates. Freshness can be added by a tablespoon of chopped chives, or shallots, or parsley.

SPECIAL MIXED SALAD

Use 1 cup of chopped tomato, 1 cup of chopped cucumber, 1/2 cup of thinly sliced radishes, 1/2 cup of chopped apple, and 2 tablespoons of the German pearl pickled onions. Mix all together with 1 cup of mayonnaise, and arrange in a salad bowl with lettuce leaves, which should be used to hold the salad in serving.

MUSHROOM SALAD

Select fresh, firm mushrooms that are small, wash them carefully without peeling, and stir them in French dressing that contains rather more oil than usual. Put 1 crisp lettuce leaf on each plate, fill it with the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and a little paprika, and serve very cold.

NARRAGANSETT SALAD

Wash and shake dry the fine white centre of endive or chicory, and arrange with it quartered tomatoes from which the skin has been removed; serve with a French dressing to which a tablespoon of chopped parsley, 1/2 teaspoon of chopped onion, and 1 finely chopped egg has been added.

PHILADELPHIA SALAD

Select large tomatoes, remove the skins by putting in boiling water, cut out the inside, and refill with finely chopped pineapple, celery, and apple in equal proportions, all well blended with plain mayonnaise. Serve on lettuce leaves on separate plates, or use watercress instead of lettuce.

PIMENTO SALAD WITH CHEESE BALLS

Mix 2 Neufchâtel cheeses with 1 cup of grated cheese, and when creamed together add 6 olives stoned and chopped fine and 1 teaspoon of chopped pimento; season generously with salt and pepper, moisten with cream, and mould into balls an inch and a quarter through. Pimolas (which are olives stuffed with pimentos) can of course be used if more convenient, and a few drops of onion extract or a very little onion juice adds piquancy to the cheese balls. Take lettuce which has been in cold water and is therefore crisp, shake it dry, and arrange with it pimentos cut in long half-inch strips, mix thoroughly with a French dressing, and garnish with the cheese balls.

POLISH SALAD

Use boiled beets, sliced and mixed with French dressing, and over all sprinkle chopped white of hard-boiled egg.

A little grated horse-radish is sometimes used with good effect in beet salad.

GERMAN POTATO SALAD

Boil 6 medium-sized potatoes, and after draining shake them over the fire a moment or two to dry; then peel and slice while warm, and cover at once with a dressing made of 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 saltspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 1 chopped onion, 5 tablespoons of oil, and 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Mix and let stand on ice for an hour or so, then put with crisp lettuce leaves in a salad bowl, and garnish with chopped boiled or pickled beets.

AMERICAN POTATO SALAD

Mix cold sliced boiled potatoes with mayonnaise dressing and add 1 tablespoon of capers.

RED POTATO SALAD

Use equal quantities of boiled beets (canned ones are convenient) and boiled potatoes. Dice both and mix well together, adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Let stand until the potatoes are reddened, then add 1 tablespoon of grated onion, mix well with French dressing, and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg. Place in a salad bowl, with fine white cabbage or crisp lettuce leaves.

ROMAINE SALAD

Pick over crisp heads of romaine, let stand a few minutes in cold water, then shake until dry, and serve with French dressing to which grated onion is added, using 1 teaspoon of it to each cup of dressing.

SOUTHERN SALAD

To 2 cups of cold boiled rice add 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs and blend well with mayonnaise. Arrange on crisp lettuce leaves with a garnish of egg slices, and beet, and sliced olives.

SORREL SALAD

A refreshing salad may be made from the sorrel found growing wild. Wash it well, cut the stalks off, and dredge with salt, pepper, celery salt, and then mix with oil, and sprinkle well with tarragon vinegar and a little grated onion.

SPANISH SALAD

Remove the skins from large, solid tomatoes and 1 small cucumber, take the seeds from 1 small sweet green pepper, pare 1 small Spanish onion, and cut all in slices, making the peppers extremely thin. Mix with 1 tablespoon of chopped nasturtium leaves or stems or seeds, and cover with French dressing, mixing well. Let stand on ice an hour before serving. Serve with cheese balls.

SUNDAY-NIGHT SALAD

Wash 1 large head of crisp head lettuce, separate the leaves, rejecting all but perfect ones, and shake them dry. Put them in a large salad bowl, and with them put 1 onion chopped very fine, 5 sliced tomatoes, and the leaves from 3 or 4 sprigs of watercress. At the table dredge the salad generously with salt, and sprinkle with black pepper, covering the entire surface; then pour from an oil bottle 3 or 4 tablespoons of oil over the vegetables slowly, and follow this with about 2 tablespoons of vinegar; add 1 tablespoon of tarragon vinegar, then dredge with celery salt, and add a little cayenne, and mix all together with a wooden fork and spoon, turning the whole mass over and over ten or more times. The bowl may be well rubbed with garlic and the onion omitted.

RUSSIAN TOMATO SALAD

Slice 5 or 6 very small tomatoes, and put with them 2 onions sliced and divided into rings. Cover with French dressing.

SLICED TOMATO WITH CHIVES

Slice 4 tomatoes, put with them 3 tablespoons of chopped chives, and cover with French dressing. Serve on lettuce leaves.

WALDORF SALAD

Use 1 cup of shelled walnuts, broken or chopped, 1 cup of diced tart apple, 1 cup of crisp celery cut in small pieces, and mix well with mayonnaise dressing. Serve on curly lettuce leaves.

WATERCRESS SALAD WITH ORANGES

Cut two inches off the bottom of a bunch of watercress with a sharp knife, wash the cress thoroughly in ice-cold water, drain, and arrange in a salad bowl with 3 seedless oranges cut in thin slices, and mix all together with a dressing made of 1 tablespoon each of tarragon vinegar, olive oil, and brandy; season well with salt and pepper, and serve very cold.

Grape fruit can be substituted for the orange, or equal amounts of orange and grape fruit used.

YOKOHAMA SALAD

Cut into small cubes 2 fresh cucumbers that have been on ice until chilled and then peeled, and put with them 1 diced sour apple, 1 tablespoon of shredded pimentos, 1 small bunch of watercress (using the leaves only), and 2 tablespoons of chopped mint leaves. Mix with French dressing and serve on lettuce leaves.

A SALAD SUPPER

Use large dinner plates, and on each arrange 6 of the large light green leaves from the inner part of head lettuce, putting 5 of them with the stalk-end toward the centre of the plate, and another small one in the centre. Fill the centre leaf with radishes (cut like roses) and olives, and fill the others as follows: In one put 2 tablespoons of canned green beans, well mixed, before putting on the leaf, with a little grated onion and French dressing, on the second put 3 or 4 slices of tomato and 2 teaspoons of mayonnaise, on the third arrange 3 stalks of canned asparagus (white preferred) dipped in French dressing and sprinkled with chopped chives, on the fourth put 2 half-lengths of a quartered cucumber to be dipped in salt in eating, and on the fifth put 1 tablespoon of tiny German pearl onions, 2 pickled walnuts, and 2 gherkins. Serve nut or plain bread, or creamed cheese sandwiches, or all three. This supper may be varied in many ways; one is to use potato salad or beet and egg instead of the beans. This as it stands was the result of an emergency when six persons were suddenly to be served to a late supper and no preparation made. A well-stocked store-room of preserved goods and a small kitchen garden filled the need.

No flocks that range the valley free, To slaughter I condemn; Taught by the power that pities me, I learn to pity them.

Oliver Goldsmith.

SAVOURIES

The savoury begins a meal well, and is a convenient dainty for late suppers. The variety is practically endless, and those given here may be altered and added to indefinitely.

FRESH MUSHROOM "COCKTAILS"

Put a small handleless cup or glass in the centre of a plate and encircle it with 6 of the smallest white leaves of lettuce. On each leaf place 2 small white firm button mushrooms, which have been freshly gathered and carefully washed but not peeled. Fill the cocktail glass three quarters full of sauce made of 1/2 cup of tomato chutney, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 2 drops of tabasco (more if liked very hot), and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Set the plates in the refrigerator for half an hour. Deliciously prepared "Cocktail" sauce can be purchased in bottles.

CANNED MUSHROOM "COCKTAILS"

In each cocktail glass put 8 or 10 button mushrooms, and cover them well with the cocktail sauce. Or use canned cêpes and serve in green pepper cases.

PIMENTO "COCKTAILS"

Cut squares, an inch across, from sweet pimentos (canned), and put 8 or 10 of these in each glass; cover well with cocktail sauce and serve ice-cold, with celery.

BEET SAVOURY

Use 1 large pickled beet and arrange neat slices on squares of bread; in the centre of the beet put a ring of hard-boiled sliced egg, filled with the riced egg-yolk, and fill each corner with chopped chives.

BEET AND EGG SAVOURY

Chop equal parts of pickled beet and the whites of hard-boiled eggs together, and arrange on toast or bread with the riced yolks of the eggs, mixed with a little chopped chives or parsley, in a cone on the centre. Season well.

BROWN-BREAD SAVOURY

Cut brown bread into shapes, spread with butter, then heavily with cream cheese containing some salt, and cross two evenly cut strips of pimento on each piece of bread thus prepared. At the juncture of the strips of pimento place a slice of pimola, and put one in each space on the cheese. Sprinkle with paprika, and put a few capers here and there.

CUCUMBER SAVOURY

Cut bread in rounds and arrange on it neat slices of cucumber, the edges serrated before slicing by drawing a silver fork lengthwise of the cucumber. Sprinkle with salt and paprika, and on each slice put a ring from a small sliced onion, or arrange instead the tiny German pearl pickled onions between the slices of cucumber. Sprinkle a little lemon juice over to serve. A variation is made by using chopped chives only, or each ring of onion may be filled with them.

CREOLE SAVOURY

Toast one side of shaped pieces of bread, and butter the untoasted side, and on it spread a layer of chopped tomato mixed with half as much chopped green pepper and some salt. Put in the oven or under the gas flame for five minutes, and upon removing arrange a cone of finely chopped onion in the centre of each.

EGG SAVOURY

Use fresh bread slightly toasted or less soft bread without toasting. Cut in squares, diamonds, or rounds, and sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce, or any good sauce, then cover neatly with the chopped whites of hard-boiled, well-salted eggs, on which arrange a centre of the riced yolks. Put a round slice from a black pickled walnut on each corner, dot with capers, and sprinkle with paprika.

HORSE-RADISH SAVOURY

Spread oblong pieces of bread thinly with mustard, cover with a layer of chopped whites of hard-boiled eggs mixed with a little grated horse-radish, arrange capers in strips crosswise of the bread, and between these sprinkle the hard-boiled yolks of the eggs which have been riced or pressed through a sieve. At the corners and in the centre place thin slices of gherkins.

MUSTARD SAVOURY

Cut shaped pieces of bread and spread with made mustard. Cover them with chopped hard-boiled eggs mixed with a little chopped chives. Arrange capers in lines or any pattern on this. Season well.

NEUFCHÂTEL SAVOURY

Mix Neufchâtel cheese with 1/4 as much butter and rub to a cream, and then squeeze through a tube onto salted, hot crackers, forming star-like rosettes. Sprinkle with paprika, garnish with capers.

ONION SAVOURY

Use shaped pieces of bread and spread thinly with butter, then arrange a quarter-inch layer of finely minced Spanish onion mixed with chopped parsley and slightly dampened with tomato sauce; put in the centre of each the ring of a slice of hard-boiled egg, with a slice of pickled walnut fitted into it.

PICKLE SAVOURY

Spread any savoury sauce and then cream cheese on oblong pieces of bread, and arrange on this thin slices of small sour pickles in a neat row, lengthwise. Sprinkle with paprika.

STUFFED OLIVE SAVOURY

Arrange on squares of bread spread with tomato or any tart sauce strips of riced yolk of hard-boiled egg; form squares by placing them both ways of the bread, and in each put a ring of the white of hard-boiled egg sliced, and fill the centre with a slice of pimola or any other stuffed olive.

CAPER SAVOURY

Make same as the above using capers to fill the egg rings.

TOMATO MAYONNAISE SAVOURY

Chop tomatoes and mix with them a thick mayonnaise, either plain or flavoured with herbs. Spread on shaped pieces of bread, and garnish with thin rings sliced from green peppers.

TOMATO SAVOURY

Cut rounds of bread the size of the tomatoes to be used and toast one side; then butter the other side and arrange on each a slice of tomato, dredge with salt, pepper, and dry mustard, sprinkle with mushroom catsup or walnut catsup, and set under the burners of a gas stove for five minutes or until heated but not softened. Garnish with watercress to serve.

LIPTAUER SAVOURY

Spread shaped pieces of bread with "Liptauer cheese" and garnish with slices of pickle.

SWEET PIMENTO SAVOURY

Toast fresh bread slightly, cut into shapes and butter one side, and on this arrange a trimmed piece of canned Spanish pimento sprinkled with celery salt, and set under the gas flame of a gas stove for five minutes to heat.

ROUNDS OF TOAST

To make rounds of bread or toast take an empty tin the size required and press it firmly into a slice of bread, thus cutting the round evenly and neatly.

Cutters for cutting vegetables into fancy shapes are convenient for savouries.

One farmer said to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones, walking all the while he talks, behind his oxen, who, with vegetable made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of obstacles.

I have found repeatedly of late years that I cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect.

Henry David Thoreau.

SANDWICHES

The recipes given under Savouries can also be used in making sandwiches, and originality can have full play here as in the making of dainty and appetising savouries.

SAVOURY BUTTER SANDWICHES

Use unsalted or slightly salted butter, and with a silver knife press into it any flavour desired,--onion juice, paprika, various sauces, chopped peppers, or capers,--using 1 teaspoon of minced herbs, etc., to each tablespoon of butter. Spread in sandwiches.

PROVIDENCE HOUSE CLUB SANDWICHES

Cut fresh bread in medium thick slices, trim the four edges, and butter it with butter somewhat softened by warmth. On one side of two slices which belong next to each other put thinly sliced peeled tomatoes, filling in bits to cover the bread neatly. Press 4 or 5 slices cut from pickled walnuts into the juicy parts of the tomatoes, lay 6 or 7 capers also in, and use half a teaspoon of the tiny German pearl onion pickles to each sandwich. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and celery salt, and spread with mayonnaise. Press the other piece of bread firmly on, and wrap in waxed paper for picnics.

Vary with chopped chives, tarragon leaves, French dressing, etc.

APPLE SANDWICHES

Arrange thinly sliced, cored apples between layers of buttered bread from which the crust has been cut. Sprinkle with salt and spread with mayonnaise, into which a few chopped nuts have been mixed.

CREOLE SANDWICHES

Trim and butter squares of bread and fit to them thinly sliced tomatoes, and spread with thin mustard; slice green peppers very thin, and arrange sections of the rings here and there over the tomatoes. Use a little minced chives or shallot, or onions, and season with salt and pepper and lemon juice or some sauce.

BOMBAY SANDWICHES

Spread squares of bread with curry paste, and cover with chopped tomato to which is added a little chopped onion and the same amount of chopped sour apples. Season with salt.

PEANUT-BUTTER SANDWICHES

Spread small oblong pieces of bread, from which the crust is cut, with peanut butter blended with cream, and press firmly together.

EGG SANDWICHES

Break 2 eggs into a frying pan containing a little melted butter and let them spread, breaking the yolk with a spoon after they are in the pan; let them fry until the edges begin to brown, then season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with chopped chives. Cut pieces out to fit the bread slices to be used, and, after trimming and buttering the bread, arrange them on one side of the sandwich. Use with no other flavouring, or sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce, or spread with mustard. Wrap in waxed paper for picnics.

NUT SANDWICHES

Mix chopped nuts in thick cream or mayonnaise, and spread between slices of bread, either with or without a lettuce leaf. Sprinkle with cayenne.

LETTUCE SANDWICHES

Spread oblong slices of trimmed bread with butter, lay a lettuce leaf between, trimmed to size, and spread with plain or green mayonnaise.

PIMOLA SANDWICHES

Butter small squares of bread and arrange on them sliced pimolas or any stuffed olives, sprinkle with lemon juice, or spread with mayonnaise.

PICKLE SANDWICHES

Slice large pickles and arrange them between buttered bread slices. If German Dill pickles are used and German flavours liked sprinkle with caraway seeds, and use rye bread.

CHEESE SANDWICHES

Cut American or Swiss cheese very thin, spread with mustard, and place a piece, trimmed to the size of the bread used, between two pieces of buttered white or rye bread.

GERMAN SANDWICHES

Use rye or "black" bread, with caraway seeds baked in it, spread the two slices with unsalted butter, and on one arrange thin slices of Swiss cheese; spread this with German or French mustard, and arrange on it 2 or 3 slices of Dill pickles.

HONOLULU SANDWICHES

Pare and core 3 apples, stem and seed 2 sweet green peppers, and put them through a vegetable mill. Mix them into 2 Neufchâtel cheeses, and use as filling for brown or white bread sandwiches.

He prayeth well who loveth well Both man and bird and beast; He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.

Coleridge.

PASTRY, PATTY CASES, Etc.

PIE-CRUST

Shortened pie-crust is made by using for one pie 2/3 of a cup of flour, with 1/3 of a teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt in it. Sift this onto 1/2 a cup of cocoanut butter or 1/2 a cup of butter, or these two in equal proportions, dampen with ice-water, and roll out five or six times. Keep ice-cold until used.

EASY PUFF PASTE

Use a chopping bowl for mixing the paste, and into it put 4 cups of flour (sifted), 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt, adding it a spoonful at a time. Use 2 cups of butter, chopping it into the flour until it is as fine as possible. Beat 2 eggs for five minutes and add to them the juice of one lemon and 1/2 cup of very cold water, and stir this gradually into the paste. When mixed lift the paste to a well-floured pastry board, roll it into a rectangular shape, fold it over onto itself from the four sides, then roll again, and repeat this process four times. Now fold into a thin piece of linen, and place on a plate near the ice in the refrigerator, and let it stand half an hour or more. Roll out again and use for patties, or pie-crust.

TIMBALE CASES

Make a batter of 3/4 of a cup of flour, 1/2 cup of milk in which 1 egg has been beaten, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 saltspoon of salt, and at the very last add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Dip the timbale iron in the batter, then in hot vegetable fat, taking care it does not touch the bottom of the pan. When a golden brown remove and place on paper to drain, and proceed thus until a sufficient number has been made. Fill with chestnuts, mushrooms, etc., in sauce, and reheat in the oven after filling.

BATTER FOR FRITTERS

Make as for timbale cases and dip the vegetables or fruit to be fried in it, and fry until golden brown in hot fat.

PASTRY FOR PATTY PANS OR CASES

Instead of frying-batter for timbale cases a paste can be made with 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 egg-yolk, and 3 tablespoons of butter well-mixed and dampened to the proper consistency by using perhaps 1/2 cup of cold water. Roll out very thin, about 1/16 of an inch, and press into the small pans or moulds after buttering them. Trim neatly, and press a little cup of buttered tissue paper in each, fill this with rice to protect the inside from too much heat and to keep flat on the bottom, and bake in a rather slow oven. Do not turn out until cooled, and do not fill until wanted.

Ordinary pastry may be used also to line moulds for patty cases, timbales, etc.

POTATO CRUST

Boil good-sized potatoes with the skins on, peel while hot, and press through a ricer or sieve, mix with an equal quantity of white flour or whole wheat flour and a little salt, and dampen with cream. Press together and roll out for top crust of vegetable pies.

ESSEX PASTRY

Mix equal parts of mashed potato and flour pastry, and use baked in small squares as a garnish, or as a covering for deep vegetable pie.

DUMPLINGS

Sift 2 cups of flour, add to it 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and sift again. Stir into this 1 scant cup of milk, or just enough to make a dough that can scarcely be handled without sticking to the fingers. Drop in boiling vegetable stock or into a stew and let boil rapidly ten minutes, taking great care not to uncover the kettle until just as the dumplings are removed. Serve at once in the stew or with brown sauce.

CROUTONS

Cut slices 1/4 of an inch thick of stale bread, and with a knife cut across both ways to make tiny squares. Dry a few moments, then toss in a little hot butter to brown and serve warm.

BREAD CRUMBS

A jar of bread crumbs should always be kept on hand. Use stale bread, break it into bits, and brown it slightly in the oven. Then with a roller, or in a mortar, crumble it and crush it to powdered crumbs. If a jar of light crumbs and one of golden brown crumbs are kept ready, they will be found most convenient.

A small unkindness is a great offence.

Hannah More.

A FEW HOT BREADS

BAKING POWDER BISCUITS