Chapter 9

SMOKED GOOSE BREAST

Dried or smoked goose breast must be prepared in the following manner: Take the breast of a fat goose; leave the skin on; rub well with salt, pepper and saltpetre; pack in a stone jar and let it remain pickled thus four or five days. Dry well, cover with gauze and send away to be smoked.

SMOKED GOOSE

Remove skin. Place legs, neck and skin of neck of geschundene goose (fat goose) to one side. Scrape the meat carefully from the bones, neck, back, etc., of the goose, remove all tendons and tissues and chop very fine. Fill this in the skin of the neck and sew up with coarse thread on both ends. Rub the filled neck, the legs and the breast with plenty of garlic (sprinkle with three-eighths pound of salt and one tablespoon of sugar and one teaspoon of saltpetre), and enough water to form a brine. Place the neck, legs and breast in a stone jar, cover with a cloth and put weights on top. Put aside for seven days, turn once in a while. Take out of the brine, cover with gauze and send to the butcher to smoke. When done, serve cold, sliced thin.

STEWED GOOSE, PIQUANTE

Cut up, after being skinned, and stew, seasoning with salt, pepper, a few cloves and a very little lemon peel. When done heat a little goose fat in a frying-pan, brown half a tablespoon of flour, add a little vinegar and the juice of half a lemon.

MINCED GOOSE (HUNGARIAN STYLE)

Take the entire breast of a goose, chop up fine in a chopping bowl; grate in part of an onion, and season with salt, pepper and a tiny piece of garlic. Add some grated stale bread and work in a few eggs. Press this chopped meat back on to the breast bone and roast, basting very often with goose fat.

DUCK

Singe off all the small feathers; cut off neck and wings, which may be used for soup; wash thoroughly and rub well with salt, ginger and a little pepper, inside and out. Now prepare this dressing: Take the liver, gizzard and heart and chop to a powder in chopping bowl. Grate in a little nutmeg, add a piece of celery root and half an onion. Put all this into your chopping bowl. Soak some stale bread, squeeze out all the water and fry in a spider of hot fat. Toss this soaked bread into the bowl; add one egg, salt, pepper and a speck of ginger and mix all thoroughly. Fill the duck with this and sew it up. Lay in the roasting-pan with slices of onions, celery and specks of fat. Put some on top of fowl; roast two hours, covered up tight and baste often. Stick a fork into the skin from time to time so that the fat will try out.

ROAST DUCK

Draw the duck; stuff, truss and roast the same as chicken. Serve with giblet sauce and currant jelly. If small, the duck should be cooked in an hour.

DUCK À LA MODE IN JELLY

One duckling of about five pounds, one calf's foot, eight to ten small onions, as many young carrots, one bunch of parsley. Cook the foot slowly in one quart of water, one teaspoon of salt and a small bay leaf. Put aside when the liquor has been reduced to one-half. In the meanwhile fry the duck and when well browned wipe off the grease, put in another pan, add the calf's foot with its broth, one glass of dry white wine, a tablespoon of brandy, the carrots, parsley and the onions--the latter slightly browned in drippings--pepper and salt to taste and cook slowly under a covered lid for one hour. Cool off for about an hour, take off the grease, bone and skin the duckling and cut the meat into small pieces; arrange nicely with the vegetables in individual earthenware dishes, cover with the stock and put on the ice to harden.

SQUABS, OR NEST PIGEONS

Pick, singe, draw, clean and season them well inside and out, with salt mixed with a little ginger and pepper, and then stuff them with well-seasoned bread dressing. Pack them closely in a deep stew-pan and cover with flakes of goose fat, minced parsley and a little chopped onion. Cover with a lid that fits close and stew gently, adding water when necessary. Do not let them get too brown. They should be a light yellow.

BROILED SQUABS

Squabs are a great delicacy, especially in the convalescent's menu, being peculiarly savory and nourishing. Clean the squabs; lay them in salt water for about ten minutes and then rub dry with a clean towel. Split them down the back and broil over a clear coal fire. Season with salt and pepper; lay them on a heated platter, grease them liberally with goose fat and cover with a deep platter. Toast a piece of bread for each pigeon, removing the crust. Dip the toast in boiling water for an instant. In serving lay a squab upon a piece of toasted bread.

PIGEON PIE

Prepare as many pigeons as you wish to bake in your pie. Salt and pepper, then melt some fat in a stew-pan, and cut up an onion in it. When hot, place in the pigeons and stew until tender. In the meantime line a deep pie plate with a rich paste. Cut up the pigeons, lay them in, with hard-boiled eggs chopped up and minced parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Put flakes of chicken fat rolled in flour here and there, pour over the gravy the pigeons were stewed in, cover with a crust. Bake slowly until done.

SQUAB EN CASSEROLE

Take fowl and brown in a skillet the desired color, then add to this enough water (or soup stock preferred), put it in casserole and add vegetables; add first those that require longest cooking. Use mushrooms, carrots, small potatoes and peas. If you like flavor of sherry wine, add small wine glass; if not, it is just as good. Season well and cook in hot oven not too long, as you want fowl and vegetables to be whole. You may add soup stock if it is too dry after being in oven.

ROAST TURKEY

Singe and clean the turkey the same as chicken. Fill with plain bread stuffing or chestnut stuffing. Tie down the legs and rub entire surface with salt and let stand overnight. Next morning place in large drippings or roasting-pan on rack and spread breast, legs and wings with one-third cup of fat creamed and mixed with one-fourth cup of flour. Dredge bottom of pan with flour. Place in a hot oven and when the flour on the turkey begins to brown, reduce the heat and add two cups of boiling water or the stock in which the giblets are cooking, and baste with one-fourth cup of fat and three-fourths cup of boiling water. When this is all used, baste with the fat in the pan. Baste every fifteen minutes until tender; do not prick with a fork, press with the fingers; if the breast meat and leg are soft to the touch the turkey is done. If the oven is too hot, cover the pan; turn the turkey often, that it may brown nicely. Remove strings and skewers and serve on hot platter. Serve with giblet sauce and cranberry sauce. If the turkey is very large it will require three hours or more, a small one will require only an hour and a half.

STUFFED TURKEY NECK (TURKISH STYLE)

Take neck of turkey, stuff with following: One-quarter pound of almonds or walnuts chopped fine and seasoned with chopped parsley, pepper and salt, put two hard-boiled eggs in the centre of this dressing; stuff neck, sew up the ends and when roasted slice across so as to have a portion of the hard-boiled egg on each slice; place on platter and surround with sprigs of parsley.

*STUFFINGS FOR MEAT AND POULTRY*

TO STUFF POULTRY

Use enough stuffing to fill the bird but do not pack it tightly or the stuffing will be soggy. Close the small openings with a skewer; sew the larger one with linen thread and a long needle. Remove skewers and strings before serving.

CRUMB DRESSING

Take one tablespoon of chicken fat, mix in two cups of bread crumbs, pinch of salt and pepper, a few drops of onion juice, one tablespoon of chopped parsley, and lastly one well-beaten egg. Mix all on stove in skillet, remove from fire and stuff fowl.

BREAD DRESSING FOR FOWL

In a fryer on the stove heat two tablespoons of drippings or fat, drop in one-half onion cut fine, brown lightly and add one-quarter loaf of stale baker's bread (which has previously been soaked in cold water and then thoroughly squeezed out). Cook until it leaves the sides of the fryer, stirring occasionally. If too dry add a little soup stock. Remove from the fire, put in a bowl, season with salt, pepper, ginger, and finely chopped parsley, add a small lump of fat, break in one whole egg, mix well and fill the fowl with it.

MEAT DRESSING FOR POULTRY

If you cannot buy sausage meat at your butcher's have him chop some for you, adding a little fat. Also mix in some veal with the beef while chopping. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg or thyme. Grate in a piece of celery root and a piece of garlic about the size of a bean, add a small onion, a minced tomato, a quarter of a loaf of stale bread; also grated, and mix up the whole with one egg. If you prefer, you may soak the bread, press out every drop of water and dry in a heated spider with fat.

POTATO STUFFING

Add two cups of hot, mashed Irish or sweet potatoes to bread stuffing. Mix well and stuff in goose, stuffed veal or lamb breast, or in beef casings, cleaned and dressed.

CHESTNUT STUFFING

Shell and blanch two cups of chestnuts. Cook in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and force through a colander or a potato ricer. Add one-fourth cup of melted chicken fat, one-fourth teaspoon of pepper, three-fourths of a teaspoon of salt, one cup of grated bread crumbs, and enough soup stock to moisten.

RAISIN STUFFING

Take three cups of stale bread crumbs; add one-half a cup of melted chicken fat, one cup of seeded raisins cut in small pieces, one teaspoon of salt and one-fourth teaspoon of white pepper. Mix thoroughly.

*VEGETABLES*

All vegetables should be thoroughly cleansed just before being put on to cook.

Green vegetables; such as cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, should be soaked heads down in salted cold water, to which a few spoons of vinegar may be added.

To secure the best results all vegetables except beans, that is the dried beans, should be put in boiling water and the water must be made to boil again as soon as possible after the vegetables have been added and must be kept boiling until the cooking is finished.

In cooking vegetables, conserve their juices.

The average housewife pours down the sink drainpipe the juices from all the vegetables which she cooks; she little realizes that she thus drains away the health of her family. Cook vegetables with just sufficient water to prevent them from burning, and serve their juices with them; else save the vegetable "waters" and, by the addition of milk and butter convert them into soups for the family use. Such soups, derived from one or several vegetables, alone or mixed together, make palatable and healthful additions to the family bill-of-fare.

ASPARAGUS

Cut off the woody part, scrape the lower part of the stalks. Wash well and tie in bunches. Put into a deep stew-pan, with the cut end resting on the bottom of the stew-pan. Pour in boiling water to come up to the tender heads, but not to cover them. Add one teaspoon of salt for each quart of water. Place where the water will boil. Cook until tender, having the cover partially off the stew-pan. This will be from fifteen to thirty minutes, depending upon the freshness and tenderness of the vegetable. Have some slices of well-toasted bread on a platter. Butter them slightly. Arrange the cooked asparagus on the toast, season with butter and a little salt and serve at once. Save the water in which the asparagus was boiled to use in making vegetable soup.

CANNED ASPARAGUS

Open one end of the can, as indicated on wrapper, so tips will be at opening. Pour off the liquid and allow cold water to run over gently and to rinse. Drain and pour boiling water over them in the can and set in a hot oven to heat thoroughly. When ready to serve, drain and arrange carefully on hot platter and serve same as fresh asparagus, hot on toast or cold with salad dressing, or with "Sauce Hollandaise", poured over.

ARTICHOKES (FRENCH OR GLOBE)

French artichokes have a large scaly head, like the cone of a pine tree. The flower buds are used before they open.

The edible portion consists of the thickened portion at the base of the scales and the receptacle to which the leaf-like scales are attached.

When the artichoke is very young and tender the edible parts may be eaten raw as a salad. When it becomes hard, as it does very quickly, it must be cooked. When boiled it may be eaten as a salad or with a sauce. The scales are pulled with the fingers from the cooked head, the base of each leaf dipped in a sauce and then eaten.

The bottoms (receptacles), which many consider the most delicate part of the artichoke, may be cut up and served as a salad, or they may be stewed and served with a sauce. To prepare the artichoke remove all the hard outer leaves. Cut off the stem close to the leaves. Cut off the top of the bud. Drop the artichokes into boiling water and cook until tender, which will take from thirty to fifty minutes, then take up and remove the choke. Serve a dish of French salad dressing with the artichokes, which may be eaten either hot or cold. Melted butter also makes a delicious sauce for the artichokes if they are eaten hot.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE

This vegetable is in season in the fall and spring, and may be cooked like kohl-rabi and served in a white cream or sauce. The artichoke may also be cooked in milk.

When this is done, cut the washed and peeled artichoke into cubes, put in a stew-pan, and cover with milk (a generous pint to a quart of cubes). Add one small onion and cook twenty minutes. Beat together one tablespoon of butter and one level tablespoon of flour, and stir this into the boiling milk. Then season with one teaspoon of salt and one-fourth teaspoon of pepper, and continue the cooking one-half hour longer. The cooking should be done in a double boiler. The artichoke also makes a very good soup.

FRENCH ARTICHOKES WITH TOMATO SAUCE

Pick off from the solid green globes the outer tough petals. Scoop out with a sharp-pointed knife the fuzzy centres, leaving the soft base, which is the luscious morsel. Cut each artichoke in halves, wash, drain and fry brown on each side in olive oil Make tomato sauce and cook thirty minutes in that mixture. Then serve.

BEET GREENS

Beets are usually thickly sowed, and as the young plants begin to grow they must be thinned out. These plants make delicious greens, and even the tops of the ordinary market beets are good if properly prepared. Examine the leaves carefully to be sure that there are no insects on them; wash thoroughly in several waters, and put over the fire in a large kettle of boiling water. Add one teaspoon of salt for every two quarts of greens; boil rapidly about thirty minutes or until tender; drain off the water; chop well and season with butter and salt.

BOILED BEETS

Carefully wash any earth off the beets, but every care is needed to avoid breaking the skin, roots or crown; if this is done much of their color will be lost, and they will be a dull pink. Lay them in plenty of boiling water, with a little vinegar; boil them steadily, keeping them well covered with water for about one and one-half to two hours for small beets and two to three and one-half hours for large ones. If they are to be served hot, cut off the roots and crown and rub off the skin directly, but if to be served cold, leave them until they have become cold and then cut into thin slices and sprinkle with salt and pepper and pour some vinegar over them. If to be eaten hot, cut them into thin slices, arrange them on a hot vegetable dish and pour over white sauce or melted butter, or hand these separately.

BAKED BEETS

Boil large beetroot about two hours, being careful not to pierce it. When cold mash very smooth, add a little drippings, pepper, salt and stock. Place in a greased pan and bake one hour.

SOUR BUTTERED BEETS

Wash as many beets as required and cook in bailing water until tender. Drain and turn into cold water for peeling. Remove the skins, slice and sprinkle with as much salt as desired. Melt one-half cup of butter in a large frying-pan and add two tablespoons of strained lemon juice. Stir the butter and lemon juice until blended, keeping the fire low. Now turn the beets into this sauce, cover the pan and shake and toss until the sauce has been well distributed. Serve hot at once.

CELERIAC

This vegetable is also known as "knot celery" and "turnip-rooted celery." The roots, which are about the size of a white turnip, and not the stalks are eaten. They are more often used as a vegetable than as a salad.

Pare the celeriac, cut in thin, narrow slices, and put into cold water. Drain from this water and drop into boiling water and boil thirty minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. The celeriac is now ready to be prepared and served the same as celery.

PURÉE OF CELERIAC

Boil as directed above and press through a sieve. To one quart take two tablespoons of butter blended with two tablespoons flour and cooked until smooth and frothy, add the strained celeriac and cook five minutes, stirring frequently. Add one teaspoon of salt and a half cup of cream, cook five minutes longer and serve hot on toast or fried bread.

CAULIFLOWER

Trim off the outside leaves and cut the stalk even with the flower. Let it stand upside down in cold salted water for twenty minutes. Put it into a generous quantity of rapidly boiling salted water and cook it uncovered about twenty minutes or until tender, but not so soft as to fall to pieces. Remove any scum from the water before lifting out the cauliflower. If not perfectly white, rub a little white sauce over it. Serve with it a white, a Bechamel, or a Hollandaise sauce; or it may be served as a garnish to chicken, sweetbreads, etc., the little bunches being broken off and mixed with the sauce.

SPANISH CAULIFLOWER

Finely chop one medium-size onion and a small bunch of parsley. Melt one tablespoon butter in a pan and fry the onion until it is brown. Season with celery salt. Blend in one tablespoon flour, add one cup boiling water and let simmer for half an hour. Carefully clean the cauliflower and boil for one-half hour. Drain the onion sauce, add three tablespoons tomato catsup, drain the cauliflower, turn into a baking-pan, pour over the sauce, place in a moderate oven for five minutes and serve hot.

CAULIFLOWER WITH BROWN CRUMBS

Drain and place the hot cauliflower in serving dish, and pour over it two tablespoons fine bread crumbs browned in one tablespoon of hot butter or fat. Serve hot. Asparagus may be served in this style.

CAULIFLOWER OR ASPARAGUS (HUNGARIAN)

Cook in salt water until tender. Spread with bread crumbs and butter. Pour some sour cream over the vegetable and bake until the crumbs are a golden brown.

SCALLOPED CAULIFLOWER

Boil and drain off the water, grease a baking-dish, line with a layer of cauliflower, add a layer of toasted bread crumbs, another of cauliflower and so on alternately, letting the top layer be of bread crumbs. Over all pour one cup of boiling milk, dot the top with butter and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

CAULIFLOWER (ROUMANIAN)

Brown a minced onion, add cauliflower cut in pieces with a small quantity of water; stew, add salt, white pepper, a little sour salt and red tomatoes; when half done add one-fourth cup of rice. Cook until rice is done. The onion may be browned either in butter, fat or olive oil, as desired.

CREAMED CELERY

Remove the leaves from the stalks of celery; scrape off all rusted or dark spots; cut into small pieces and drop in cold water. Having boiling water ready; put the celery into it, adding one-half teaspoon of salt for every quart of water. Boil until tender, leaving the cover partly off; drain and rinse in cold water. Make a cream sauce; drop the celery into it; heat thoroughly and serve.

LETTUCE

If lettuce has grown until rather too old for salad, it may be cooked, and makes a fairly palatable dish.

BOILED LETTUCE

Wash four or five heads of lettuce, carefully removing thick, bitter stalks and retaining all sound leaves. Cook in plenty of boiling salted water for ten or fifteen minutes, then blanch in cold water for a minute or two. Drain, chop lightly, and heat in stew-pan with some butter, and salt and pepper to taste. If preferred, the chopped lettuce may be heated with a pint of white sauce seasoned with salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg. After simmering for a few minutes in the sauce, draw to a cooler part of the range and stir in the well-beaten yolks of two eggs.

GREEN LIMA BEANS

Cover the shelled beans with boiling water; bring to a boil quickly; then let them simmer slowly till tender. Drain and add salt, pepper and butter or hot cream or cream sauce.

CARROTS

Scrape the carrots lightly; cut them into large dice or slices and drop them into salted boiling water, allowing one teaspoon of salt to one quart of water. Boil until tender; drain and serve with butter and pepper or with cream sauce.

LEMON CARROTS

Old carrots may be used for this dish, and are really better than the new ones. Pare and cut into dice, and simmer in salted water until tender, but not pulpy. Drain, return to the fire, and for one pint of carrots add one teaspoon of minced parsley, a grating of loaf sugar, one-half teaspoon of paprika, one tablespoon of butter and the juice of half a lemon. Heat through, shaking the dish now and then, so that each piece of the vegetable will be well coated with the mixture or dressing.

SIMMERED CARROTS

Wash, scrape and slice one quart carrots roundwise. Put them in a saucepan with one tablespoon of butter or drippings, three tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon salt. Cover closely and let simmer on a slow fire until tender.

FLEMISH CARROTS

Scrape, slice and cook one quart of carrots in one quart of boiling water to which has been added one teaspoon of salt, until tender; drain. Heat two tablespoons fat, add one small onion, brown lightly, add the carrots, season with one teaspoon of sugar, one-quarter teaspoon of salt, one-eighth teaspoon of white pepper and shake well over the fire for ten minutes, add one and one-half cups of soup stock, cover and simmer for one-half hour, then add one teaspoon chopped parsley and serve hot.

CARROTS WITH BRISKET OF BEEF

Salt and pepper two pounds of fat brisket of beef and let stand several hours. Wash and scrape two bunches of carrots and cut in small cubes. Place in kettle with meat, cover with boiling; water and cook several hours or until the meat and carrots are tender, and the water is half boiled away. Heat two tablespoons of fat in a spider, let brown slightly, add two tablespoons of flour and gradually one cup of carrot and meat liquid. Place in kettle with meat and carrots and boil until carrots become browned.

COMPOTE OF CARROTS (RUSSIAN STYLE)

Make a syrup of one cup of sugar and one cup of water by boiling ten minutes. To this syrup add two cups of carrots diced, which have previously been browned in two tablespoons hot fat or butter. Cook all together until carrots are tender. Brown in oven and serve.

CORN ON THE COB

Free the corn from husks and silk; have a kettle of water boiling hard; drop the corn into it and cook ten minutes (or longer if the corn is not young). If a very large number of ears are put into the water they will so reduce the temperature that a longer time will be needed. In no case, however, should the corn be left too long in the water, as overcooking spoils the delicate flavor.

CORN OFF THE COB