Chapter 14

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 4 tablespoonfuls cooked spinach 3 small cooked potatoes 1 tablespoonful chopped onion Salt and pepper to taste 2 hard-cooked eggs 1 raw egg Breadcrumbs Crisco flake pastry

Rub spinach and potatoes through wire sieve; fry onion in Crisco, add spinach and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, fry a few minutes, then set aside till cold. Roll out pastry, cut out some small rounds, then place spoonful of vegetable mixture on half the number of pastry rounds, place slice of hard-cooked egg on each, brush round edges with beaten egg, press other round on this, dip in egg and breadcrumbs and fry in hot Crisco. Serve hot. Sufficient for six croquettes.

Mixed Vegetable Souffle

1 tablespoonful Crisco 1/4 lb. cooked carrots 1/2 lb. boiled potatoes 3/4 lb. boiled turnips 1/2 lb. stewed onions 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley Salt and pepper to taste 3 eggs

Chop onions, add vegetables mashed, then mix well, add Crisco, seasonings, and yolks of eggs. Beat up whites of eggs to stiff froth and fold them into mixture, then turn it into Criscoed fireproof dish and bake thirty minutes in moderate oven.

Nut and Macaroni Savory

4 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco 1/2 lb. chopped Brazil nuts 1 cupful boiled macaroni 1-3/4 cupfuls breadcrumbs 2 eggs 3 cupfuls milk 2 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley Salt, pepper, and powdered mace to taste Brown sauce

Cut macaroni into small pieces and put into bowl, add nuts, breadcrumbs, seasonings, eggs well beaten, and milk; turn into well greased earthenware dish, dot with tiny pieces of Crisco and bake in moderate oven forty-five minutes. Serve hot with brown sauce.

Potato and Nut Croquettes

2 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco 2 cupfuls riced potatoes 1 tablespoonful milk Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste Few drops onion juice 1 egg and 1 yolk of egg 1/3 cupful chopped nut meats 1/4 cupful cream 1/4 cupful breadcrumbs

Mix potatoes with Crisco, milk, yolk of egg, onion juice and seasonings, and mix well. Put cream and breadcrumbs into small saucepan and stir to thick paste, then cool; now add nuts, salt and pepper to taste and half yolk of egg. Inclose some of nut mixture in potato mixture, making ingredients into neat croquettes. Beat up remainder of egg with tablespoonful of water. Roll croquettes in fine breadcrumbs, brush over with egg, and again roll in crumbs. Fry in hot Crisco to golden brown, then drain. Crisco should be heated until a crumb of bread becomes a golden brown in forty seconds. Serve hot decorated with parsley.

Sufficient for eight croquettes.

Potato Sausage

1/2 cupful Crisco 1/4 lb. chopped onions 1/2 lb. cold boiled mashed potatoes 1/2 lb. breadcrumbs Salt and pepper to taste 2 beaten eggs

Mix all ingredients thoroughly well together with wooden spoon, then form into sausages; tie each well in cloth, and boil exactly as a roly-poly. If not to be eaten when newly cooked, put aside, and untie when wanted. This sausage is also good if oatmeal is added instead of breadcrumbs, or it may be made half oatmeal and half breadcrumbs.

Sufficient for twelve sausages.

Potatoes Sefton

1 tablespoonful Crisco 3 baked potatoes Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste 1 yolk of egg 1 tablespoonful cream Chopped parsley Watercress

Split potatoes in halves lengthways. Scoop out centers, rub them through a sieve, add seasonings, melted Crisco, yolk of egg, and cream. Beat well till light, then put mixture into forcing bag with tube, force into potato cases which should be dried. Heat in moderate oven. Sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top and serve decorated with watercress.

Sufficient for three potatoes.

Rice a la Maigre

4 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1 grated shallot 1/2 cupful boiled rice 4 chopped hard-cooked eggs 1 tablespoonful white sauce 1 raw egg 1 cupful thick tomato sauce Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste 3 baked tomatoes 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley

Fry shallot in Crisco, then add rice, two of the hard-cooked eggs, white sauce, raw yolk of egg, and seasonings. Stir over fire till very hot, then turn out on to hot dish; pour over tomato sauce, sprinkle with parsley and garnish with remainder of eggs, and baked tomatoes.

Rhubarb Pudding

4 tablespoonfuls Crisco 4 tablespoonfuls sugar 2 eggs 1 lemon 1/2 cupful flour 1 cupful stewed rhubarb 1/2 teaspoonful salt Few breadcrumbs

Crisco a pudding dish and dust it over with breadcrumbs. Put layer of breadcrumbs at bottom, then spread in rhubarb. Beat Crisco and sugar till creamy, beat in yolks of eggs, add grated rind of lemon, sift in flour and salt. Spread this mixture over rhubarb and bake in moderate oven twenty minutes. Beat up whites of eggs to stiff froth, add one tablespoonful of sifted sugar and half teaspoonful lemon juice. Drop in spoonfuls on top of pudding and return to oven to brown lightly.

Spanish Rice

1/2 cup Crisco 1/2 cupful grated cheese 6 tablespoonfuls rice 1 can tomatoes 5 small onions 1 cupful hot water Salt and red pepper to taste 1/4 cupful chopped olives

Wash rice and put it in bowl, add Crisco, seasonings, cheese, hot water, tomatoes, olives, and onions cut in small pieces. Turn into a Criscoed fireproof dish and bake in moderate oven one hour, or until rice is tender.

Timbale Molds

1 teaspoonful melted Crisco 3/4 cupful flour 1 egg 1/2 teaspoonful salt 1/2 cupful milk

Sift flour and salt into bowl, add egg well beaten, milk and Crisco. Beat five minutes then strain into cup. Have kettle of Crisco on fire and heat until cube of bread will become golden brown in sixty seconds. Heat timbale iron in hot Crisco, let stand two or three minutes, then drain and dip into batter to half inch of top of iron; submerge in Crisco and fry until batter is crisp and lightly browned. Remove from iron and drain on paper. If batter does not cling to iron, then iron is not hot enough. If Crisco sizzles considerably, and batter case spreads out and drops from the iron, mold is too hot. If iron is lowered too far into batter the case will come over top of iron and be difficult to remove. Creamed dishes of all kinds can be served in these cases. Cold custards, cooked vegetables, fruits or ices may be also served in the cases.

Sufficient for forty cases.

Vegetable Pie

1/4 cupful melted Crisco 6 potatoes 2 carrots 1 parsnip 1/2 head celery 1 cupful peas 1 egg 1 cupful sliced beans 2 onions 4 tomatoes Pepper and salt to taste Sufficient white vegetable stock to cover 1 teaspoonful powdered herbs

Peel and slice potatoes and partly boil them. Then prepare parsnip, carrots, celery and onions, and cook them for fifteen minutes. Grease large fireproof dish and place in all vegetables in layers, with herbs, Crisco, salt and pepper to taste. Pour in white stock, cover with layer of sliced potatoes and bake in moderate oven for one and a half hours.

Sufficient for one large savory pie.

EGGS

When there is any doubt as to the freshness of eggs, they may be tested in various ways. Quite fresh eggs will sink in a strong brine, and as they become stale they remain suspended at different depths in the brine, until an absolutely stale egg will float. Successful preservation depends in a great measure upon the condition of the egg at the time of preserving. Different methods of preserving all aim at the same thing, namely, at coating the porous shell with some substance which will prevent the air entering and setting up decomposition. See page 30.

When used as food, eggs should be cooked at a low temperature--about 160° F., or if in the shell at about 180° F. The time varies with the size of the egg, from two and a half minutes for poaching a medium-sized egg to four and a half minutes for boiling a large one. If too much cooked, or at too high a temperature, the white becomes tough, hard, and to many people, indigestible.

When required for salads, garnishing, etc., the eggs must be boiled from ten to twenty minutes, and if the yolks are to be powdered for sprinkling, they must be cooked for a longer time, or the centers will be somewhat tough and elastic, and useless for the purpose.

In beating eggs, a little salt added to the whites helps to bring them to a froth more quickly. When frothed whites are to be mixed with a heavier or more solid substance, great care must be taken not to break down the froth. The object of beating being to mix in air, rough handling afterwards would render the beating useless; the mixing must therefore be done very carefully. They should be folded or wrapped up in the other substance, but the mixing also must be thorough, for any pieces of white separated from the rest will toughen and taste leathery, besides failing in the special purpose of giving lightness to the mixture. After mixing lightly and perfectly all such preparations should be cooked at once. The white "speck" always should be removed from a broken egg, as it is easily distinguished after cooking, and in anything of a liquid nature, such as custards, sauces, etc., it would be hard and unpleasant.

Baked Omelet

1 tablespoonful melted Crisco 4 eggs 8 tablespoonfuls milk 1/2 teaspoonful cornstarch 2 tablespoonfuls water Salt and pepper to taste

Beat eggs well, add milk and beat again, add Crisco, seasonings, and cornstarch mixed with water. Turn into a Criscoed fireproof dish and bake in moderate oven fifteen minutes. Serve hot.

Creole Eggs

3 tablespoonfuls Crisco 2 tablespoonfuls flour 8 hard-cooked eggs 2 cupfuls tomato pulp Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste 1 small chopped onion 1 bay leaf 1 blade mace 2 cloves 2 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley Pinch of powdered thyme Slices of cooked ham Breadcrumbs

Fry onion, pepper, and parsley in Crisco till tender; add cloves, thyme, bay leaf, and mace, cook three minutes, then stir in flour, and tomato pulp. Let mixture boil stirring all the time then strain. Quarter the hard-cooked eggs. Put layer of tomato sauce in Criscoed baking dish, then layer of ham, then eggs sprinkled with salt, pepper, and paprika, then sauce, ham, and eggs, last layer being sauce. Cover with breadcrumbs, dot with Crisco and bake ten minutes in moderate oven.

Curried Eggs

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 6 hard-cooked eggs 1 small chopped onion 1 chopped sour apple 2 teaspoonfuls curry powder 1 lemon 4 chopped butternuts, or 6 chopped almonds 3 tablespoonfuls cornstarch 2 cupfuls milk 1/2 teaspoonful salt Croutons

Boil eggs till hard, peel and place in cold water until required. Fry onion in Crisco a few minutes, add curry powder, apple, nuts, and cornstarch moistened with milk. Simmer fifteen minutes. Stir from time to time. If too thick add a little white stock or water. Cut eggs in halves, and lay them in the sauce with the salt to get thoroughly hot through. Put eggs into deep hot dish, strain sauce over them, garnish with croutons and lemon slices.

Egg Croquettes

2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 2 tablespoonfuls flour 3/4 cupful milk 6 hard-cooked eggs 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley 1/2 cupful chopped cooked tongue or ham Salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg to taste 1 egg Breadcrumbs

Chop eggs and mix them with ham, parsley, and seasonings. Melt Crisco, stir in flour, then add the milk and boil three minutes stirring all the time. Now add egg mixture and if required add more seasoning. Cool mixture then divide it into nine portions and make each into a neat croquette; brush over with the egg beaten with a tablespoonful of water, roll in breadcrumbs and fry in hot Crisco. Drain and garnish with fried parsley. Crisco should be hot enough to brown breadcrumb in forty seconds.

Sufficient for nine croquettes.

Eggs with Cucumber

1 tablespoonful Crisco 3 eggs 1 large cucumber 1/2 cupful stock 1 tablespoonful tomato pulp Salt and pepper to taste 1 cupful tomato sauce

Peel cucumber, cut off ends and divide rest into two-inch pieces. Remove center portion of each with a cutter or small spoon. Place them in a Criscoed pan with stock; cover with greased paper and cook in oven till just tender. Great care must be taken so as not to break the shapes. Break eggs into saucepan, add Crisco and tomato pulp; season nicely and stir over fire until creamy and just set. Place cucumbers on hot platter and fill cavities with eggs. Cover with thick tomato sauce, and serve hot.

Sufficient for five pieces.

Eggs with Tomatoes

3 tablespoonfuls Crisco 4 even-sized tomatoes 8 rounds buttered toast 3 eggs 2 tablespoonfuls cream 1 tablespoonful chopped pimiento Salt and pepper to taste Parsley

Select ripe tomatoes but do not have them too large; remove stems and cut each in halves crossways; remove cores and pips, and fry lightly in two tablespoonfuls Crisco. Have rounds of buttered toast a little larger than tomatoes. Beat eggs in small saucepan, add cream, pimientoes, rest of Crisco, seasonings, and stir over fire until creamy and just setting. Place each half tomato on round of toast, divide egg mixture into tomatoes, garnish with parsley and serve hot.

Savory Eggs

Crisco 6 eggs 4 tablespoonfuls chopped cooked chicken, ham or tongue Salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley 6 rounds fried toast

Crisco six small molds. Mix ham, parsley, and seasonings together, throw a little into each mold, shake it well round sides; break into each mold one egg, taking care not to break yolk, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dot with Crisco. Steam four or five minutes, or until set. Turn out on rounds of fried toast and serve at once.

CANDIES

It is well to have a confectioner's thermometer for candy making, so that the syrup may be removed from the fire at exactly the right degree. Such thermometers are made of wood, brass, or copper, and the degrees on them should mark not less than 350°. A thermometer always should be gently lowered into the boiling sugar. When not in use, it should be kept hanging on a nail or hook. When required for candy making, place thermometer in pitcher of warm water, so that it may rise gradually, and return it to the warm water on removing it from the hot candy. This dissolves the clinging candy and protects the tube from breaking. The wooden thermometer can be used to stir with, and is very easy to keep clean.

If there is no thermometer handy it is better to make a list of the various stages in sugar boiling, and learn how to test the sugar. First there is the "thread" (216° F. to 218° F.) This is reached when, on dipping the finger and thumb first into cold water and then into the syrup, you can draw them apart, and an unbroken thread is formed, which gradually can be drawn wider apart on further testing as the degree of boiling is completed.

The next is the "pearl" (220° F.) To see if the syrup has reached this stage, after the sugar has dissolved let it boil for eight to ten minutes, then dip a wooden skewer into the syrup to obtain a drop of it. Dip the finger and thumb into cold water, then rub the drop of syrup between them; if it feels smooth, the syrup has reached the desired stage. The next is the "blow" (230° F.) Dip a spoon into the sugar, shake it, and blow through the holes; if sparks of light or bubbles be seen, you may be sure of the blow. This is followed by the "feather" (235° F.) To test this, dip a spoon into the boiling syrup, and when it may be blown easily from the spoon in long shreds it has reached the right degree.

Next comes the "ball" (240° F. to 250° F.) Dip the finger and thumb first into cold water, and then into the syrup, the latter then can be rolled into a soft ball between the finger and thumb. A little longer boiling gives the hard ball. This in turn is succeeded by the "crack" (290° F. to 300° F.) To test this, drop a little of the syrup into cold water; if it then breaks off sharp and crisp it has reached the crack. The final stage is the "caramel" (350° F.) which comes very quickly after the crack, the syrup becoming first a pale yellow, and then a rich golden brown, and finally black or burnt. When it first reaches this stage the pan should be removed from the fire, a little lemon juice or water added, and then the whole reboiled to the proper stage or shade. To prevent granulation, it often is advisable to add a pinch of cream of tartar, to the pound of sugar.

Chocolate Fudge

1 cupful milk Pinch of salt 2 squares (2 ozs.) chocolate 2 cupfuls sugar 1 tablespoonful Crisco 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract

Put Crisco, milk, sugar, salt, and chocolate into saucepan, and stir and boil until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water, or 240° F. Remove from fire, add extract, allow to stand a minute, and beat until creamy. Pour into Criscoed tin and mark off into squares.

Clear Almond Taffy

4 cupfuls sugar 1 cupful Crisco Pinch cream of tartar 1 cupful water 2 cupfuls almonds 1/2 teaspoonful almond extract 1/4 teaspoonful salt

Blanch, split, and bake almonds to golden brown. Crisco a tin, and sprinkle almonds on it split side down. Dissolve sugar and water together in saucepan, add Crisco, salt, and cream of tartar, and boil until when tested in cold water it will be brittle, or 300° F. Add almond extract and pour over nuts. When firm, cut in squares.

Sufficient for one large pan.

Cocoanut Caramels

1 cupful dessicated cocoanut 2 tablespoonfuls glucose 1 lb. brown sugar 3/4 cupful Crisco 1 cupful water 1 cupful milk 1 cupful cream 1 teaspoonful rose extract 1 teaspoonful almond extract 1/4 teaspoonful salt

Soak cocoanut in milk for twenty minutes, then put it into a saucepan with sugar, glucose, salt, and one-third of the Crisco, add second third of Crisco when it forms heavy thread, or registers 230° F., add third piece of Crisco, cream and extracts, when it again reaches 230° F. When it reaches the hard ball stage or 250° F., turn at once into a Criscoed tin. Cut when half cold. When all are cut, wrap each caramel in waxed paper.

Crisco Drops

1/2 cupful golden syrup 4 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1/4 cupful water 1/4 teaspoonful salt 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla extract

Put Crisco, golden syrup, water, and salt into saucepan and boil until it is almost brittle when tested in cold water, or 290° F., then add vanilla. Allow to cool down, and then drop on to Criscoed tin.

Sufficient for twenty drops.

Cream Candy

1/2 cupful water 2 cupfuls brown sugar 3 tablespoonfuls Crisco, melted 1 teaspoonful orange extract 1/4 teaspoonful salt

Dissolve sugar in water in saucepan over fire, and boil until it spins a heavy thread, add Crisco and salt and boil until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water, or 240° F. Remove pan from fire, add orange extract, allow to stand five minutes, then stir until the syrup begins to "grain." Pour quickly into wet tin. When half cold, mark into squares; leave till following day in a cool place; then break up. Keep in airtight tins.

Sufficient for twenty small squares.

Crisco Fruit Fudge

2 cupfuls sugar 1 cupful milk 2 tablespoonfuls cocoa 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract 1 teaspoonful lemon extract 1/2 cupful chopped English walnut meats 1/2 cupful sultana raisins 2 tablespoonfuls cream Pinch of salt

Put Crisco, sugar, cocoa, salt, and milk into saucepan, and stir till it boils to 240°, or until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water. Remove from fire, add raisins, cream, nut meats, and extracts, and beat mixture until thick and creamy. Put back on stove, and heat, stirring constantly until melted, then pour into Criscoed tins. When partly cool mark into neat squares.

Sufficient for thirty squares.

Everton Taffy

1 gill water 2 cupfuls brown sugar 4 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract Pinch cream of tartar 1/4 teaspoonful salt

Put sugar and water into saucepan; stir occasionally until it boils; then add cream of tartar. Put cover on pan and boil five minutes, add Crisco and salt and boil until, when tried in cold water it will snap, or 300° F. Add vanilla and pour into Criscoed tin. Mark in squares when half cold, and break up when quite cold. Wrap in waxed paper.

Fig Fudge

Pinch cream of tartar 1/4 lb. chopped figs 1 lb. brown sugar Pinch salt 1 tablespoonful Crisco 1 cupful water 1 teaspoonful lemon extract

Wash and dry figs, then chop them. Put sugar and water into saucepan, and dissolve, add Crisco and cream of tartar, and when it boils, add figs, and boil to a soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F., stirring all the time. Remove pan from fire, add lemon extract and salt, cool five minutes, then stir until it begins to grain, and quickly pour into Criscoed tin. When half cold mark in squares.

Honey Squares

1 cupful strained honey 1 cupful brown sugar 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1/2 cupful cream 1/4 teaspoonful salt Pinch cream of tartar 1 teaspoonful lemon extract

Put Crisco, salt, honey, cream and sugar into saucepan; stir over slow fire until dissolved, then add cream of tartar. Boil until it forms a hard ball when tested in cold water, or 252° F. Remove from fire, stir in lemon extract, and pour into Criscoed tin. Mark into squares before cold. Wrap in waxed paper.

Sufficient for twenty-five squares.

Maple Candy

1 cupful maple sugar 1/2 cupful brown sugar 1 tablespoonful Crisco 1/4 teaspoonful salt 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract 1 cupful water

Dissolve sugars in water in saucepan over fire, when boiling add Crisco and salt and boil until it hardens when dropped in cold water, or 258° F. Remove from fire and add vanilla. Pour into Criscoed tins. When half cold mark into squares. Wrap in waxed paper.

Molasses Candy

2 cupfuls brown sugar 1/4 cupful molasses 5 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1/4 teaspoonful salt 1 gill water 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract

Dissolve sugar in water in saucepan over fire, then add Crisco, molasses, and salt and boil until when tested in cold water it forms a hard ball, or 254° F. Now add vanilla and pour into Criscoed tin. When quite cold break into rough pieces.

Peanut Fudge

2 cupfuls brown sugar 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1 cupful milk 1/4 teaspoonful salt 1 cupful chopped peanuts 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract

Boil milk, sugar, Crisco, and salt until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water, or 240° F. Remove from fire, add nuts and vanilla, beat until creamy. Pour into Criscoed tins, and when cool cut into cubes.

_Calendar of Dinners_

January 1

_*Black Bean Soup Roast Leg of Mutton, Currant Jelly Stewed Tomatoes Baked Sweet Potatoes Macedoine Salad Cheese Straws Fruit Cake Coffee_

_*Black Bean Soup_--2 cups black beans, 3 tablespoons Crisco, 1 onion, 1 lemon, 2 quarts stock or water, 2 stalks celery, 2 hard-cooked eggs, 1-1/2 tablespoons flour, 3 cloves, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, red pepper, and mustard to taste.

Wash beans and soak over night; in morning drain, cover with boiling water and boil 30 minutes; drain, throwing away water. Slice onion, dice celery, and cook 5 minutes in half of Crisco in soup pot; add beans, stock or water, and cloves. Simmer until beans are soft, add more water as stock or water boils away. Rub through sieve, add remaining Crisco and flour rubbed together, then heat to boiling point, add seasonings. Cut lemon in thin slices, removing seeds, and cut eggs in thin slices. Put them into a hot soup tureen, and strain soup over them.

January 2

_Palestine Soup *Jugged Hare, Red Currant Jelly Brussels Sprouts Potato Puff Endive Salad Cheese Fingers Vanilla Souffle Coffee_