Chapter 4

=Rosemary.=--A distillation of the leaves makes a pleasant perfume and is also used medicinally. It is one of the sweet herbs for seasoning.

=Rue.=--This is one of the bitter herbs yet is sometimes used for seasoning.

=Saffron.=--The dried pistils are used for flavoring and dyeing. Some people use it with rice. It is often used in fancy cooking as a coloring material.

=Sage.=--The leaves both fresh and dried are used for seasoning, meats and dressings especially.

=Summer Savory.=--Summer savory is used for flavoring, and especially for flavoring beans.

=Tarragon or Esdragon.=--Esdragon with its fine aromatic flavor is a valuable adjunct to salads and sauces.

=Tarragon or Esdragon Vinegar.=--Strip the leaves from the fresh cut stalks of tarragon. Put a cupful of them in a wide mouthed bottle and cover with a quart of cider or wine vinegar, after fourteen days, strain, bottle and cork tightly.

=Tagetis Lucida.=--Its leaves have almost the exact flavor of tarragon and can be used as its substitute.

=Thyme.=--Thyme is one of the sweet herbs and its leaves are favorites for seasoning in cooking.

=Winter Savory.=--The leaves and young shoots, like summer savory are used for flavoring foods.

=Wormwood.=--Wormwood is used medicinally as its name implies.

HORSERADISH CREAM APPLE SAUCE.

Stew six sour apples and sift; let cool, and add two heaping tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish; when cold and ready to serve add double the amount of whipped cream, slightly sweetened.

CHICAGO RECORD.

KALE. (See Borecole.)

KOHL RABI.

Strip the leaves from the stem, put on in salted water and boil. Peel the tubers, slice thin and boil until tender; drain and chop very fine both leaves and tubers separately, then mix thoroughly; brown a tablespoonful of butter and a little flour in a saucepan, add the kohl rabi and cook for a moment, then add a cup of meat broth and boil thoroughly; serve very hot.

LEAVES FOR CULINARY PURPOSES.

In addition to sweet and bitter herbs, we have many leaves available for seasoning. The best known and most used are bay leaves, a leaf or two in custards, rice, puddings and soups adds a delicate flavor and aroma. A laurel leaf answers the same purpose. Bitter almond flavoring has a substitute in fresh peach leaves which have a smell and taste of bitter almond. Brew the leaves, fresh or dry, and use a teaspoonful or two of the liquid. Use all these leaves stintedly as they are strongly aromatic, and it is easy to get too much. The flowering currant gives a flavor that is a compound of the red and black currant; gooseberry leaves in the bottled fruit emphasize the flavor, and it is said keep the fruit greener. A fresh geranium or lemon verbena leaf gives a delightful odor and taste to jelly. A geranium leaf or two in the bottom of a cake dish while the cake is baking will flavor the cake. Nasturtium leaves and flowers find a place in sandwiches and salads. The common syringa has an exact cucumber flavor and can be a substitute for cucumber in salads or wherever that flavor is desired. Lemon and orange leaves answer for the juice of their fruits. Horseradish and grape leaves have use in pickles. Carrot, cucumber and celery leaves give the respective flavors of their vegetables. Tender celery leaves can be thoroughly dried and bottled for winter use. The use of leaves is an economy for a household, and a source of great variety.

LEEKS.

Leeks are generally used to flavor soups, sauces and salads and are seldom brought to the table as a separate dish. However, they are semi-occasionally served as follows:--Boiled and dressed with a cream sauce; or when two-thirds done are put to soak in vinegar seasoned with salt, pepper and cloves, then are drained, stuffed, dipped in batter and fried.

BOILED LETTUCE.

Take the coarser part of lettuce not delicate enough for a salad, boil in salted water until soft, then drain thoroughly. Slightly brown a tablespoonful of butter and a dessertspoonful of flour in a saucepan, put in the lettuce, let it cook up once or twice, then add a half-cup of stock and boil thoroughly, just before serving add a gill of cream and give a sprinkle of nutmeg if the flavor is liked.

LETTUCE SALAD.

Lettuce leaves whole or shredded are served with vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard and a little sugar, or with a French or mayonnaise dressing; or it is shredded and mixed with veal and egg, sweetbreads, shrimps, cress, cucumber, tomatoes or other salad material and is treated with the various salad dressings, mentioned above.

STEWED GREEN PEAS WITH LETTUCE.

Shell a half peck of peas, and shred two heads of lettuce; boil together with as little water as possible to keep it from burning, and stir often for the same purpose. Stew one hour, set back on the stove, and add one tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of sugar, salt, and a dash of cayenne pepper and just as it is taken up, one well beaten egg, which must not be allowed to boil. Serve at once.

STUFFED LETTUCE.

Use five clean heads of lettuce, wash thoroughly, open up the leaves and fill between with any highly seasoned meat--sweetbreads, chicken or veal preferred--or make a forcemeat stuffing. Tie up the heads, put into a saucepan with any good gravy, stock or sauce and cook until thoroughly heated through; serve in the gravy.

LETTUCE SOUP.

Use three small lettuce heads, clean, drain, chop and put into a saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter, cover and let steam for a few minutes, then add two quarts of good soup stock or one quart each of stock and milk, add a half-cup of rice and boil until the rice is soft. Strain through a sieve, or not, as one fancies, season with salt, pepper, return to the fire, add a pint of cream, let it come just to the boiling point and serve.

MANGOES.

Mangoes are made from cucumbers, melons, peppers, tomatoes and peaches. The following recipe applies to all but the peaches. Select green or half grown melons and large green cucumbers, tomatoes, or peppers. Remove a narrow piece the length of the fruit, and attach it at one end by a needle and white thread, after the seeds of the mango have been carefully taken out. Throw the mangoes into a brine of salt and cold water strong enough to bear up an egg, and let them remain in it three days and nights, then throw them into fresh cold water for twenty-four hours. If grape leaves are at hand, alternate grape leaves and mangoes in a porcelain kettle (never a copper one) until all are in, with grape leaves at the bottom and top. Add a piece of alum the size of a walnut, cover with cider vinegar and boil fifteen minutes. Remove the grape leaves and stuff the mangoes. Prepare a cabbage, six tomatoes, a few small cucumbers and white onions, by chopping the cabbage and tomatoes and putting all separately into brine for twenty-four hours and draining thoroughly. After draining chop the cucumbers and onions. Drain the mangoes, put into each a teaspoonful of sugar, and two whole cloves. Add to the vegetable filling, one-fourth ounce each of ground ginger, black pepper, mace, allspice, nasturtium seed, ground cinnamon, black and white mustard, one-fourth cup of horseradish and one-fourth cup sweet oil. Bruise all the spices and mix with the oil, then mix all the ingredients thoroughly and stuff the mangoes, fit the piece taken out and sew in with white thread or tie it in with a string around the mango. Put them into a stone jar and pour over them hot cider vinegar sweetened with a pound or more of sugar to the gallon to suit the taste. If they are not keeping properly pour over again fresh hot vinegar.

MARTYNIAS.

Gather the pods when young and tender enough to thrust a needle through them easily, later they become hard and useless for pickles. Leave half an inch of stem on each, and lay them in salt water a couple of days, then cook in weak vinegar until tender, but not so long as to break them. Drain well from this, place them in jars and prepare vinegar for them in the proportion of an ounce each of cloves, allspice and black pepper to a gallon of vinegar; scald all these together with half a teaspoonful of prepared mustard. Pour hot over the martynias, cover closely and keep in a cool place. They will soon be ready for use.

MRS. HOOD.

MELON, MUSK.

It is said a muskmelon can be chosen by its odor. If it has none, it is not good, if sweet and musky it is quite sure to be ripe. Another indication of ripeness is when the smooth skin between the rough sections is yellowish green. To serve, cut the melons crosswise and fill with chopped ice an hour before using. Try pouring a little strained honey into the melon when eating.

CANTALOUPE FRAPPE.

Select two large cantaloupes that are ripe and of fine flavor; cut into halves and scrape the pulp from same after removing the seeds (not using any of the rind); put the pulp through a potato ricer, which will keep out all the stringy parts; add to the pulp a pinch of salt, four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a gill of cherry juice (sweetened with a spoonful of sugar), or use some other nice tart juice. Soak a tablespoonful of gelatine in a quarter-cupful of water; then set cup in pan of boiling water until it is dissolved; add this to the prepared cantaloupe and when cold turn into a freezer and freeze slowly. Serve in sherbet glasses.

MRS. SADETTE HARRINGTON.

COOKED MUSKMELON.

Miss Corson, in one of her lectures, gives the following directions for making a very nice dessert from muskmelons:--Make a rich syrup from a pound of white sugar to half a pint of water. Pare and slice the melon and boil it gently in the syrup five to ten minutes flavoring with vanilla or lemon. Then take it up in the dish in which it is to be served, cool the syrup and pour it on the melon. To be eaten cold.

MELON MANGOES. (See Mangoes.)

MUSKMELON PICKLE.

Use ripe muskmelons, pare, remove seeds, and cut in pieces and put into a stone jar. Cover with scalded vinegar and let them stand until the next day, when the vinegar must be reheated and poured over them again; repeat this until the fourth day, then weigh the melons and to every five pounds of the fruit allow three pounds of sugar and one quart of vinegar with spices to suit. Let all simmer together until the fruit is tender. The second day pour off this syrup, and boil down until it shall only just cover the melons. The result justifies the pains taken.

MELON, WATER.

The following is said to be an infallible sign of a ripe watermelon, it takes close inspection to find sometimes, but the sign is there if the condition for it exists. When the flesh of the melon changes color and its seeds begin to turn black a small scale or blister appears on the rind. They increase in number and size as the melon ripens, until a ripe one shows them thickly strewn over the surface. A small crop of blisters indicates unripe fruit. A melon must be served ice cold. Cut it through the middle, scoop out the flesh with a tablespoon in a circle as much as possible that the pieces may be conical or egg shaped. Cover the platter with grape leaves and pile the fruit upon them, allowing the tendrils of the grapes to wander in and out among the melon cones.

WATERMELON ICE.

Cut a watermelon in halves, scoop out the entire center, taking out the seeds; chop in tray; add a cup of sugar. Pack the freezer, turn a few minutes. It will be like soft snow and delicious.

WATERMELON PICKLES.

Eat the flesh and save the rind. Cut the rind into finger lengths and about an inch in width, pare and cut out all the red flesh, throw into a strong salt brine and let stand over night. In the morning drain, boil in water until the pickles are clear, drain again and put into a stone jar. To one gallon of fruit, allow one quart of sugar and one pint of vinegar. Do up cinnamon and cloves in little bags, in ratio of two of cinnamon to one of cloves and boil them in the syrup. Pour the boiling syrup over the pickles, tie up close and in a few days they are ready for use.

MINT SAUCE.

Four dessert spoons of chopped mint, two of sugar, one quarter pint of vinegar. Stir all together; make two or three hours before needed.

MINT VINEGAR.

Fill a bottle loosely with fresh, clean mint, pour over good vinegar, cork tightly and let stand two or three weeks. Then pour off and keep well corked. Use this vinegar as a condiment, or put a small quantity into drawn butter sauce for mutton.

MUSHROOMS.

The highest authorities say an edible mushroom can easily be distinguished from a poisonous one by certain characteristics;--a true mushroom grows only in pastures, never in wet, boggy places, never in woods, never about stumps of trees, they are of small size, dry, and if the flesh is broken it remains white or nearly so and has a pleasant odor. Most poisonous varieties change to yellow or dark brown and have a disagreeable odor, though there is a white variety which grows in woods or on the borders of woods, that is very poisonous. The cap of a true mushroom has a frill, the gills are free from the stem, they never grow down against it, but usually there is a small channel all around the top of the stem, the spores are brown-black, or deep purple black and the stem is solid or slightly pithy. It is said if salt is sprinkled on the gills and they become yellow the mushroom is poisonous, if black, they are wholesome. Sweet oil is its antidote.

BAKED MUSHROOMS.

Hold the mushrooms by the stems, dip them in boiling hot water a moment to help loosen the skin, cut off their stems. Boil the parings and stems and strain. Pour this water over the mushrooms chopped fine, add parsley and stew about forty minutes. Then add six eggs well beaten. Pour this mixture into buttered cups and bake quickly. Serve with cream sauce.

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

Boil one peck of mushrooms fifteen minutes in half a pint of water, strain, or not, through a sieve to get all the pulp; add a pint of vinegar to the juice, two tablespoonfuls of salt, one half a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, two tablespoonfuls of mustard, one of cinnamon and one of cloves. Let the mixture boil twenty minutes; bottle and seal tightly.

FRIED MUSHROOMS.

Pare the mushrooms, cut off their stems, lay them on their heads in a frying pan in which a tablespoonful of butter has been melted, put a bit of butter into each cap, let them cook in their own liquor and the butter until thoroughly done. Season with salt and butter and serve hot.

MUSHROOMS WITH MACARONI.

Boil half a pound of macaroni. Put a pint of water, one small onion, a sprig of parsley, the juice of half a lemon, a teaspoonful of salt and a quarter as much pepper into a saucepan. When boiling add a quart of mushrooms and cook five minutes. Beat three eggs, stir in and take from the fire. Drain the macaroni, put a layer in the bottom of a baking dish, then a layer of the mushroom mixture, and thus alternately until the dish is full. Have mushrooms on top, and set in a hot oven for five minutes.

MRS. ELIZA PARKER.

MARROW WITH MUSHROOMS.

Procure a shinbone and have the butcher split it; remove the marrow and cut it into inch-thick slices; then boil it one and one-half minutes in a quart of salted water, using a teaspoonful of salt. Into a frying-pan put a tablespoonful of butter; when hot add five tablespoonfuls of chopped mushrooms and toss for five minutes, sprinkling them with three shakes of salt and a speck of cayenne. Drain the marrow; squeeze over it ten drops of lemon juice; then mix with it the mushrooms; spread on slices of hot, crisp toast and serve immediately.

CHICAGO RECORD.

MUSHROOM OMELET.

Cook a dozen small, even sized mushrooms in a saucepan with half an ounce of butter and half a saltspoonful of salt sprinkled over them. Make ready a plain omelet, as it cooks at the edges place the mushrooms over one half of it, fold over the other half, slip from the pan on to a hot dish and serve immediately.

MUSHROOMS ON TOAST.

Prepare enough mushrooms to measure one half-pint when chopped, and enough of raw ham to fill a tablespoon heaping full. Mix these and add a teaspoonful of parsley, a trifle of chopped onion if liked, a teaspoonful of lemon juice, pepper and salt. Fry in two tablespoonfuls of butter, add a half-cupful of milk or cream, boil up again, and add an egg thoroughly beaten. Serve on small squares of toast. This with the addition of bread crumbs before the milk is added and with the use of some of the relishing herbs makes an excellent stuffing.

MUSHROOM SOUP.

Get your butcher to crack for you a shank of beef. Put over it four quarts of water. Let it boil hard for a few moments until all the scum has risen and has been removed. Set it back on the stove now to simmer five hours. At the end of the fourth hour add one carrot, one turnip, one small onion, one bunch of parsley, two stalks of celery, twelve cloves and two bay leaves. Let all these boil together one hour, then strain and set away until the next day, when all the grease must be skimmed off. To every quart of the stock add a quart of milk thickened with two tablespoonfuls of flour and two tablespoonfuls of butter, one saltspoonful of salt and a dust of pepper, add to this a half-pint of canned mushrooms or small mushrooms stewed thoroughly in the liquor obtained from boiling and straining the stems and parings.

MUSTARD.

In early spring the young leaves are used as a garnish, or, finely cut, as a seasoning to salads. The Cabbage Leaved Mustard makes an excellent green, and is treated like spinach.

AROMATIC MUSTARD.

Upon one tablespoonful of grated horseradish, an ounce of bruised ginger root, and five long red peppers pour half a pint of boiling vinegar. Allow to stand, closely covered, for two days; then take five teaspoonfuls of ground mustard, one teaspoonful of curry powder, and a dessertspoonful of salt, and mix well together. Strain the vinegar upon this, adding a dash of cayenne if wanted very pungent. Mix very smoothly and keep in a corked bottle or jar.

NASTURTIUM.

The flowers are used to garnish salads, the young leaves and flowers make a lovely salad (See Flower Salad). The young buds and leaves when tender are made into pickles and are used like capers in sauces, salads and pickles.

NASTURTIUM PICKLES.

Gather the seeds as soon as the blossoms fall, throw them into cold salt water for two days, at the end of that time cover them with cold vinegar, and when all the seed is gathered and so prepared, turn over them fresh boiling hot vinegar plain or spiced with cloves, cinnamon, mace, pepper, broken nutmeg, bay leaves and horseradish. Cork tightly.

BOILED OKRA OR GUMBO.

The long seed pod is the edible part of this plant, it can be canned or dried for winter use. If dried let it soak an hour or so before using. To cook, cut the pods in rings, boil them in salted water until tender which will be in about twenty minutes. Add butter, salt, pepper and cream. Thin muslin bags are sometimes made to hold the whole pods without breaking. After boiling tender, pour them out, season with butter, salt and pepper and bake for five minutes.

FRIED OKRA.

Cut it lengthwise, salt and pepper it, roll it in flour and fry in butter, lard or drippings.

OKRA FRITTERS.

Boil the okra, cut in slices, make a batter as for batter cakes, dip the okra in and fry in plenty of hot lard.

MRS. E. C. DUBB.

OKRA GUMBO SOUP.

Use two quarts of tomatoes to one quart of okra cut in rings; put them over the fire with about three quarts of water and let the mixture come to a boil; take one chicken; cut it up and fry brown with plenty of gravy; put it in with the okra and tomatoes; add several small onions chopped fine, a little corn and lima beans, if they are at hand, and salt and pepper. Let all simmer gently for several hours. To be served with a tablespoonful of rice and a green garden pepper cut fine to each soup plate.

ONIONS.

Peel and slice onions under water to keep the volatile oil from the eyes. A cup of vinegar boiling on the stove modifies the disagreeable odor of onions cooking. Boil a frying pan in water with wood ashes, potash, or soda in it to remove the odor and taste of onions. To rub silver with lemon removes the onion taste from it. Leaves of parsley eaten like cress with vinegar hide the odor of onions in the breath. Onions to be eaten raw or cooked will lose their rank flavor if they are pulled and thrown into salt water an hour before use. Two waters in boiling accomplish the same purpose.

ONION FLAVORING.

To prepare onion flavoring for a vegetable soup, peel a large onion, stick several cloves into it and bake until it is brown. This gives a peculiar and excellent flavor.

FRIED APPLES AND ONIONS.

Take one part onion to two parts apple. Slice the apples without paring, and slice the onions very thin. Fry together in butter, keeping the frying pan covered, to hold the steam which prevents burning. A very slight sprinkling of sugar seems to give an added flavor. Add just as it is to be taken up or else it will burn.

ONION OMELET.

Put a lump of butter or dripping in a frying pan, then put in sliced onions, salt and pepper, cook slowly until done, but not brown. Beat the eggs, allowing two for each person, pour in the frying pan, add a little salt and stir until set. Serve hot.

ONION PICKLES.

Choose small uniform onions; make a brine that will hold up an egg, and pour over the onions boiling hot. Let them lie in this twenty-four hours, then drain and wipe dry and put into bottles. Pour over them cold cider vinegar, seasoned with sliced horseradish, whole pepper and mace. Put in bottles and seal.

BAKED ONIONS.

Boil in milk and water until just done, then drain and put them in a buttered frying pan. Put a bit of butter, salt, and pepper on each one, and add a little of the water in which the onions have boiled. Brown them quickly and serve at once.

CREAM ONIONS.

Boil onions in two waters and drain; pour over them a little boiling milk and set over the fire, add butter, cream, salt and pepper and serve hot.

ESCALLOPED ONIONS.

Boil onions in salted water with a little milk until they are tender. Put a layer of onions in a baking dish, scatter bread crumbs over them, dot with butter, season with pepper and salt and a dash of powdered sage, repeat this until the dish is full, pour over a half-cup of cream or milk. Cover the top with bread crumbs dotted with butter. Bake a light brown and serve.

STUFFED ONIONS.

Boil onions one hour in slightly salted water, and remove the centers. Make a stuffing of minced liver or chicken in these proportions; to one pound of meat one third of a cupful of gravy milk or cream, one half-cupful of fine bread crumbs, one egg, pepper and salt and some of the onion taken from the centers, mix well and fill the onion shells, dust over a few bread crumbs, dot with butter and bake until brown. Put the remaining onion into a stew pan, with a tablespoonful of butter, a half-tablespoonful of flour, and after it boils up once, add a half-cup of milk, a teaspoonful of parsley, salt and pepper, boil up again, pour over onions and serve. This is a good second course after soup served with apple sauce.

PARSLEY.

Parsley is the prime favorite of the garnishes. Its pretty curled leaves are used to decorate fish flesh and fowl and many a vegetable. Either natural, minced or fried, it is an appetizing addition to many sauces, soups, dressings and salads.

FRIED PARSLEY.

Wash the parsley very clean, chop fine and fry in butter in the proportion of one tablespoonful of butter to one pint of minced parsley. When soft, sprinkle with bread crumbs, moisten with a little water, and cook ten or fifteen minutes longer. Garnish it with sliced boiled egg. To be eaten with pigeon.

PARSLEY VINEGAR.