Chapter 5

Heat one teaspoon of oil, add one tablespoon of flour, add slowly one-half cup of vinegar diluted with water; season with salt and sugar. If no other fish can be procured, salt herring may be used.

SHAD ROE

Parboil the roe in salted water ten minutes. Drain; season with salt, pepper and melted butter; form into balls, roll in beaten egg and cracker crumbs and fry in hot oil or any butter substitute.

The roe can be baked and served with tomato sauce.

BAKED SHAD

Clean and split a three-pound shad. Place in a buttered dripping pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, brush with melted butter and bake in a hot oven thirty minutes.

SCALLOPED FISH ROE

Boil three large roes in water with a little vinegar for ten minutes. Plunge into cold water; wipe the roe dry. Mash the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs into a cup of melted butter, teaspoon of anchovy paste, tablespoon of chopped parsley, juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Add a cup of bread crumbs and then mix in lightly the roe that has been broken into pieces. Put all in baking dish, cover with bread crumbs and flakes of butter, and brown in oven.

BAKED MACKEREL

Split fish, clean, and remove head and tail. Put in buttered pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper and dot over with butter (allowing one tablespoon to a medium-sized fish), pour over two-thirds of a cup of milk. Bake twenty-five minutes in a hot oven.

STUFFED HERRING

Make a dressing of two tablespoons of bread crumbs, one tablespoon of chopped parsley, two tablespoons of butter, juice of one-half lemon, and pepper and salt to taste. Add enough hot water to make soft. Fill the herrings, roll up, tie in shape. Cover with greased paper and bake ten to fifteen minutes.

FISH WITH GARLIC

Clean, salt fish one half hour, wash and dry with a clean cloth; cut garlic very thin, rub over fish; place in oven to bake; bake until odor of garlic has disappeared; then let fish cool.

BAKED CHOPPED HERRING

Soak herring one hour in water and then one and a half in sweet milk, skin, bone and chop; cut up a medium-sized onion, fry in butter until golden brown, add a cup of cream, two egg yolks and one-fourth cup of white bread crumbs, then put in a little more cream. Butter pan, sprinkle with crumbs or cracker dust, then put in herring, pepper slightly. Bake in moderate oven three-quarters of an hour.

MARINIRTE (PICKLED) HERRING

Take new Holland herring, remove the heads and scales, wash well, open them and take out the milch and lay the herring and milch in milk or water over night. Next day lay the herring in a stone jar with alternate layers of onions cut up, also lemon cut in slices, a few cloves, whole peppers and a few bay leaves, some capers and whole mustard seed. Take the milch and rub it through a hair sieve, the more of them you have the better for the sauce; stir in a spoon of brown sugar and vinegar and pour it over the herring.

SALT HERRING

Soak salt herring over night in cold water, that the salt may be drawn out. Drain and serve with boiled potatoes, or bone and place in kettle of cold water, let come to a boil and let simmer a few minutes until tender, drain and pour melted butter over them and serve hot with boiled or fried potatoes.

BROILED SALT MACKEREL

Freshen the fish by soaking it over night in cold water, with the skin uppermost. Drain and wipe dry, remove the head and tail; place it upon a butter broiler, and slowly broil to a light brown. Place upon a hot dish, add pepper, bits of butter, a sprinkling of parsley and a little lemon juice.

BOILED SALT MACKEREL

Soak mackerel over night in cold water, with the skin side up, that the salt may be drawn out, change the water often, and less time is required. Drain. Place mackerel in shallow kettle, pour water over to cover and boil ten to fifteen minutes or until flesh separates from the bone. Remove to platter and pour hot, melted butter over and serve with hot potatoes.

They may also be boiled and served with a White Sauce.

MARINIRTE FISH

Take pickerel, pike or any fish that is not fat, cut into two-inch slices, wash well, salt and set aside in a cool place for a few hours. When ready to cook, wash slightly so as not to remove all salt from fish. Take heads and set up to boil with a whole onion for twenty-five minutes, then add the other pieces and two cups of vinegar, one cup of water, four bay leaves and twelve allspice, a little pepper and ginger. Cook for thirty-five minutes longer. Taste fish, add a little water or a little more vinegar to taste. Then remove fish carefully so as not to break the pieces and let cool. Strain the sauce, return fish to same, adding a few bay leaves and allspice. Set in a cool place until sauce forms a jelly around the fish. Can be kept covered and in a cool place for some time.

SOUSED HERRING

Split and half three herrings, roll and tie them up. Place them in a pie plate, pour over them a cup of vinegar, add whole peppers, salt, cloves to taste and two bay leaves. Bake in a slow oven until soft (about twenty minutes).

SALMON LOAF

Blend together one can of salmon, one cup of grated bread crumbs, two beaten eggs, one cup of milk, one teaspoon of lemon juice, one-half teaspoon of paprika, one-half teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of chopped parsley and one tablespoon of onion juice. Place in a greased baking dish. Sprinkle top with thin layer of bread crumbs. Bake in hot oven for thirty minutes or until the crumbs that cover the dish are browned. Serve with a white sauce.

CREAM SALMON

Remove salmon from the can, place it in a colander and wash under running water or scald with boiling water. Break into small pieces, stir into one cup of hot cream sauce; bring all to a boil and serve in patty cups or on toasted bread or crackers.

PICKLE FOR SALMON

Take equal parts of vinegar, white wine and water. Boil these with a little mace, a clove or two, a bit of ginger root, one or two whole peppers and some grated horseradish. Take out the last named ingredient when sufficiently boiled, and pour the pickle over the salmon, previously boiled in strong salt and water.

KEDGEREE

Cut up in small pieces about a pound of any kind of cooked fish except herring. Boil two eggs hard and chop up. Take one cup of rice and boil in the following manner:--After washing it well and putting it on in boiling water, with a little salt, let it boil for ten minutes, drain it almost dry and let it steam with the lid closely shut for ten minutes longer without stirring. Take a clean pot and put in the fish, eggs, rice, a good dessertspoon of butter, and pepper and salt to taste. Stir over the fire until quite hot. Press into a mould and turn it out at once and serve.

SWISS CREAMED FISH

Mix smoothly in one cup of cold water a teaspoon of flour. Stir it into one cup of boiling milk and when thick and smooth add the meat of any cold fish, picked free from skin and bones. Season with salt, pepper and a tablespoon of butter. If the cream is desired to be extra rich one well-beaten egg may be added one minute before removing from the fire. Serve hot. A pinch of cayenne or a saltspoon of paprika is relished by many.

COD FISH BALLS

Put the fish to soak over night in lukewarm water. Change again in the morning and wash off all the salt. Cut into pieces and boil about fifteen minutes, pour off this water and put on to boil again with boiling water. Boil twenty minutes this time, drain off every bit of water, put on a platter to cool and pick to pieces as fine as possible, removing every bit of skin and bone. When this is done, add an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, a tablespoon of butter, a very little salt and pepper, beat up one egg and a little milk, if necessary, mix with a fork. Flour your hands well and form into biscuit-shaped balls. Fry in hot oil.

FINNAN HADDIE

Parboil ten minutes and then broil like fresh fish.

To bake, place the fish in a pan, add one cup of milk and one cup of water; cover. Cook ten minutes in hot oven. Remove cover, drain, spread with butter and season with pepper.

FINNAN HADDIE AND MACARONI

Break up and cook until tender about a package of macaroni. Pick up the finnan haddie until you have about three-quarters as much as you have macaroni. Mix in a greased baking-dish and pour over a drawn butter sauce, made with cornstarch or with any good milk or cream dressing, then cover with bread or cracker crumbs or leave plain to brown in oven. Bake from twenty to thirty minutes.

SCALLOPED FISH, No. 1

Line a buttered baking-dish with cold flaked fish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; add a layer of cold cooked rice, dot with butter; repeat and cover with cracker or bread crumbs. Bake fifteen to twenty minutes.

SCALLOPED FISH, No. 2

Butter a dish, place in a layer of cold cooked fish, sprinkle with bread crumbs, parsley, salt, butter and pepper; repeat. Cover with white sauce, using one tablespoon of flour to two tablespoons of butter and one cup of milk. Sprinkle top with buttered bread crumbs and bake.

*SAUCES FOR FISH AND VEGETABLES*

These sauces are made by combining butter and flour and thinning with water or other liquid. A sauce should never be thickened by adding a mixture of flour and water, as in that case the flour is seldom well cooked; or by adding flour alone, as this way is certain to cause lumps. The flour should be allowed to cook before the liquid is added.

All sauces containing butter and milk should be cooked in a double boiler.

If so desired, any neutral oil--that is, vegetable or nut oil--may be substituted for the butter called for in the recipe.

Care in preparation of a sauce is of as much importance as is the preparation of the dish the sauce garnishes.

DRAWN BUTTER SAUCE

Melt two tablespoons of butter and stir in two tablespoons of flour. Add carefully one cup of boiling water, then season with one-half teaspoon of salt and a dash of pepper and paprika.

Many sauces are made with drawn butter as a foundation. For caper sauce add three tablespoons of capers.

For egg sauce add one egg, hard-boiled and chopped fine.

BEARNAISE SAUCE

There are several ways of making Bearnaise sauce. This is one very simple rule: Bring to the boil two tablespoons each of vinegar and water. Simmer in it for ten minutes a slice of onion. Take out the onion and add the yolks of three eggs beaten very light. Take from the fire, add salt and pepper to season, and four tablespoons of butter beaten to a cream, and added slowly.

*Quick Bearnaise Sauce.*--Beat the yolks of four eggs with four tablespoons of oil and four of water. Add a cup of boiling water and cook slowly until thick and smooth. Take from the fire, and add minced onion, capers, olives, pickles, and parsley and a little tarragon vinegar.

CUCUMBER SAUCE

Pare two large cucumbers; remove seeds, if large; chop fine and squeeze dry. Season with salt, vinegar, paprika and add one-half cup of cream.

SAUCE HOLLANDAISE

Mix one tablespoon of butter and one of flour in a saucepan and add gradually half a pint of boiling water. Stir until it just reaches the boiling point; take from the fire and add the yolks of two eggs. Into another saucepan put a slice of onion, a bay leaf, and a clove of garlic; add four tablespoons of vinegar, and stand this over the fire until the vinegar is reduced one-half. Turn this into the sauce, stir for a moment; strain through a fine sieve; add half a teaspoon of salt and serve. This sauce may be varied by adding lemon juice instead of vinegar, or by using the water in which the fish was boiled. It is one of the daintiest of all sauces.

MUSTARD SAUCE

Mix two tablespoons of vinegar and one of mustard, one teaspoon of oil or butter melted, pepper and salt to taste. Add this to two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, with a small onion and about the same quantity of parsley as eggs; and mix all well together.

MAÎTRE D'HÔTEL BUTTER

Work into one-half cup of butter all the lemon juice it will take, and add a teaspoon of minced parsley.

PICKLE SAUCE

Cream two tablespoons of butter, add one teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of chopped pickle. A speck of red pepper may be added.

SARDELLEN, OR HERRING SAUCE

Brown a spoon of flour in heated fat, add a quantity of hot fish stock and a few sardellen chopped fine, which you have previously washed in cold water, also a finely-chopped onion. Let this boil a few minutes, add a little vinegar and sugar; strain this sauce through a wire sieve and add a few capers and a wineglass of white wine and let it boil up once again and thicken with the yolk of one egg.

SAUCE VINAIGRETTE

Rub the mixing bowl with a clove of garlic, add one-half teaspoon of salt, dash of white pepper, and a teaspoon of cold water or a bit of ice, then four tablespoons of oil. Mix until the salt is dissolved, remove the ice and add ten drops of tabasco sauce, two tablespoons tarragon vinegar, one tablespoon grated onion, one tablespoon chopped parsley and one chopped gherkin.

ANCHOVY SAUCE

Mix six tablespoons of melted butter and one and one-half teaspoons anchovy paste, place in double boiler and allow to boil for about six minutes. Flavor with lemon juice.

SAUCE PIQUANTE

To one pint of drawn butter add one tablespoon each of vinegar and lemon juice and two tablespoons each of chopped capers, pickles, and olives, one-half teaspoon onion juice, a few grains cayenne pepper.

SAUCE TARTARE

Add to a half pint of well-made mayonnaise dressing two olives, one gherkin and one small onion, chopped fine. Chop sufficient parsley to make a tablespoonful, crush it in a bowl and add it first to the mayonnaise. Stir in at least a tablespoon of drained capers and serve with fried or broiled fish.

WHITE SAUCE (FOR VEGETABLES)

Place two tablespoons of butter in a saucepan; stir until melted: add two tablespoons of flour mixed with one-fourth of a teaspoon of salt and a few grains of pepper. Stir until smooth. Add one cup of milk gradually and continue to stir until well mixed and thick. Chopped parsley may be added. Used for creamed vegetables--potatoes, celery, onion, peas, etc.

CREAM MUSTARD SAUCE

Make white sauce as directed above. Mix one tablespoon of mustard with a teaspoon of cold water and stir into the sauce about two minutes before serving. The quantity of mustard may be increased or diminished, as one may desire the flavor strong or mild.

CURRY SAUCE

Use one teaspoon of curry in the flour while making white sauce.

SPANISH SAUCE

Cook one onion and green pepper chopped fine in hot butter; add four tablespoons of flour, stir until smooth. Add two cups of strained tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

TOMATO SAUCE

Brown one tablespoon butter with one minced onion, then add one tablespoon of flour. When brown stir in two cups of tomatoes which have previously been cooked and strained, add also one teaspoon of sugar, a pinch of salt, pepper, and red pepper, also one tablespoon of vinegar and one tablespoon of tomato catsup.

*SAUCES FOR MEATS*

APPLE SAUCE

Pare and quarter tart apples. Put them in a saucepan with just enough water to keep them from burning; bring to a boil quickly and cook until the pieces are soft. Then press through a colander and add four tablespoons of sugar (or less) to each pint of apples.

If desired, cinnamon or grated nutmeg may be sprinkled over the top after the apple sauce is in the serving dish, or a little stick cinnamon or lemon peel may be cooked with the apples. Serve with goose.

BROWN SAUCE

Fry one tablespoon chopped onion in one tablespoon fat. Add one tablespoon of flour, one cup of soup stock, one teaspoon lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Strain before serving.

The following sauces can be made by using brown sauce as a foundation:

*Mushroom Sauce.*--Add one-half cup mushrooms.

*Olive Sauce.*--Add a dozen olives, chopped fine.

*Wine Sauce.*--Add one-half cup wine and one tablespoon currant jelly. Thicken with flour.

CRANBERRY SAUCE

To one pint of cranberries take one and one-quarter cups of water.

Put the cranberries on with the water and cook until soft; strain through a cloth; weigh and add three-fourths of a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Cook ten minutes; pour into molds and set aside to cool. Serve with poultry, game or mutton.

STEWED CRANBERRIES

Boil together one and one-half cups of sugar and one cup of water for seven minutes, then add three cups of cranberries, well washed and picked, and cook until the berries burst. Serve the same as cranberry sauce.

SAUCE BORDELAISE

Nice for broiled steaks. Take one medium-sized onion, chopped very fine and browned in fat; add a cup of strong beef gravy and a cup of claret or white wine; add pepper, salt and a trifle of finely-chopped parsley; allow this to simmer and thicken with a little browned flour.

CARAWAY, OR KIMMEL SAUCE

Heat a tablespoon drippings in a spider; add a little flour; stir smooth with a cup of soup stock, added at once, and half a teaspoon of caraway seeds.

ONION SAUCE

Stew some finely-chopped onions in fat; you may add half a clove of garlic, cut extremely fine; brown a very little flour in this, season with salt and pepper and add enough soup stock to thin it.

LEMON SAUCE

Boil some soup stock with a few slices of lemon, a little sugar and grated nutmeg; add chopped parsley; thicken with a teaspoon of flour or yolk of egg. Mostly used for stewed poultry.

MINT SAUCE

Chop some mint fine; boil half a cup of vinegar with one tablespoon of sugar; throw in the mint and boil up once; pour in a sauceboat and cool off a little before serving.

RAISIN SAUCE

Brown some fat in a spider, stir in a tablespoon of flour; stir until it becomes a smooth paste; then add hot soup, stirring constantly; add a handful of raisins, some pounded almonds, a few slices of lemon, also a tablespoon of vinegar; brown sugar to taste: flavor with a few cloves and cinnamon, and if you choose to do so, grate in part of a stick of horseradish and the crust of a rye loaf. Very nice for fat beef.

HORSERADISH SAUCE, No. 1

Grate a good-sized stick of horseradish; take some soup stock and a tablespoon of fat, salt and pepper to taste, a little grated stale bread, a few pounded almonds. Let all boil up and then add the meat.

HORSERADISH SAUCE, No. 2

Heat one tablespoon of fat in a frying-pan, when hot cut up one-quarter of an onion in it, and fry light brown, then brown one tablespoon cracker meal or flour and add two tablespoons of grated horseradish; let this brown a bit, then add some soup stock, one tablespoon of brown sugar, two cloves, two bay leaves, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of vinegar. Let cook a few minutes then add one more tablespoon of horseradish and if necessary a little more sugar or vinegar. Lay the meat in this sauce and cover on back of stove until ready to serve. If gas stove is used, place over the simmering flame.

KNOBLAUCH SAUCE (GARLIC)

Heat a tablespoon of drippings, either of meat or goose in a frying-pan; cut up one or two cloves of garlic very fine and let it brown slightly in the heated fat; add a tablespoon of flour, a cup of soup stock or warm water, salt, pepper to taste.

MAÎTRE D'HÔTEL SAUCE

Take a heaping tablespoon of drippings or goose-fat, heat it in a spider, stir two teaspoons of flour into this, then add gradually and carefully a small cup of hot soup or water, the former is preferable; add some chopped parsley, also the juice of a lemon; salt and pepper; stir up well. May be used either with roast or boiled meats.

*FRYING*

PREPARED BREAD CRUMBS FOR FRYING

All scraps of bread should be saved for crumbs, the crusts being separated from the white part, then dried, rolled, and sifted, and put away until needed in a covered glass jar.

The brown crumbs are good for the first coating, the white ones for the outside, as they give better color. Cracker crumbs give a smooth surface, but for most things bread crumbs are preferable.

For meats a little salt and pepper, and for sweet articles, a little sugar, should be mixed with the crumbs. Crumbs left on the board should be dried, sifted, and kept to be used again.

FRYING

Frying is cooking in very hot fat or oil, and the secret of success is to have the fat hot enough to harden the outer surface of the article to be fried immediately and deep enough to cover these articles of food. As the fat or oil can be saved and used many times, the use of a large quantity is not extravagant.

To fry easily one must have, in addition to the deep, straight-sided frying-pan, a frying-basket, made from galvanized wire, with a side handle. The bale handles are apt to become heated, and in looking for something to lift them, the foods are over-fried. The frying-pan must be at least six inches deep with a flat bottom; iron, granite ware or copper may be used, the first two are preferable. There must be sufficient fat to wholly cover the articles fried, but the pan must not be too full, or there is danger of overflow when heavy articles are put in. After each frying, drain the fat or oil, put it into a receptacle kept for the purpose, and use it over and over again as long as it lasts. As the quantity begins to lessen, add sufficient fresh fat or oil to keep up the amount.

Always put the fat or oil in the frying-pan before you stand it over the fire.

Wait until it is properly heated before putting in the articles to be fried.

Fry a few articles at a time. Too many will cool the fat or oil below the point of proper frying and they will absorb grease and be unpalatable.

Put articles to be fried in the wire frying-basket and lower into the boiling hot fat or oil. Test the fat by lowering a piece of stale bread into it, if the bread browns in thirty seconds the fat is sufficiently hot.

Fry croquettes a light brown; drain over the fat, lift the frying-basket from the hot fat to a round plate, remove the articles from the basket quickly to brown paper, drain a moment and serve.

When frying fish or any food that is to be used at a milk meal, use oil. Olive oil is the best, but is very expensive for general use. Any other good vegetable oil or nut oil will do as substitute.

When the food is intended for a meat meal; fat may be prepared according to the following directions and used in the same manner as oil.

TO RENDER GOOSE, DUCK OR BEEF FAT

Cut the fat into small pieces. Put in a deep, iron kettle and cover with cold water. Place on the stove uncovered; when the water has nearly all evaporated, set the kettle back and let the fat try out slowly. When the fat is still and scraps are shriveled and crisp at the bottom of the kettle, strain the fat through a cloth into a stone crock, cover and set it away in a cool place. The water may be omitted and the scraps slowly tried out on back of stove or in moderate oven. When fat is tried out, pour in crock.

Several slices of raw potato put with the fat will aid in the clarifying.

All kinds of fats are good for drippings except mutton fat, turkey fat and fat from smoked meats which has too strong a flavor to be used for frying, but save it with other fat that may be unsuitable for frying, and when six pounds are collected make it into hard soap.

TO MAKE WHITE HARD SOAP

Save every scrap of fat each day; try out all that has accumulated; however small the quantity. This is done by placing the scraps in a frying-pan on the back of the range. If the heat is low, and the grease is not allowed to get hot enough to smoke or burn, there will be no odor from it. Turn the melted grease into tin pails and keep them covered. When six pounds of fat have been obtained, turn it into a dish-pan; add a generous amount of hot water, and stand it on the range until the grease is entirely melted. Stir it well together; then stand it aside to cool. This is clarifying the grease. The clean grease will rise to the top, and when it has cooled can be taken off in a cake, and such impurities as have not settled in the water can be scraped off the bottom of the cake of fat.