Part 7

_Roast Spanish Chestnuts._—Cut a bit off of each, and roast them in the oven. Peel, and eat with butter and salt.

FAMILY LUNCHES FOR WINTER

1.

Curried Oysters. Rice Croquettes. Cold Slaw. Crackers and Cheese.

_Curried Oysters._—Heat to boiling the liquor from one quart of oysters; lay the oysters in it, and let them simmer just long enough to plump them. Take them out with a skimmer, put them where they will keep hot, and thicken the liquor by adding to it a tablespoonful of butter rubbed smooth with two of browned flour. Into this stir a teaspoonful of curry-powder wet up in a little cold water. Salt and pepper to taste, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, return the oysters to the sauce, and serve.

_Rice Croquettes._—Two cups cold boiled rice, one well-beaten egg, one teaspoonful butter, one teaspoonful sugar, salt to taste. Work the butter, egg, salt, and sugar into the rice, make into croquettes with the floured hands, and fry in deep fat.

_Cold Slaw._—Shred half a fine white cabbage, and pour over it a dressing made as follows: Four tablespoonfuls vinegar, half-cup milk, one tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful sugar, one egg, pepper and salt. Beat the egg; stir the melted butter, the milk, salt, pepper, and sugar into this. Put the vinegar boiling hot into it, a little at a time. Pour the sauce over the cabbage, and let it become ice-cold before serving.

2.

Turkey Hash. Fried Potatoes. Milk Toast. Macaroons. Cocoa.

_Turkey Hash._—Remove the meat from the bones of a turkey, and cut it into neat bits; stir two cups of this into two cups of white sauce; season to taste. Make the stuffing of the turkey into neat cakes, fry them, and arrange them on the dish around the hash.

_Macaroons._—One and a half cups powdered sugar, whites of two eggs, six ounces almond paste. Beat the whites very stiff; add the sugar and the almond paste, the latter chopped fine. Make into balls with the fingers, and bake in very well greased pans in a moderate oven. Take out when they are a delicate brown, but do not remove them from the pans until they are perfectly cold. These little cakes are so delicious and so easily made that it is strange they are not more generally manufactured at home.

3.

Jellied Chicken. Hominy Croquettes. Toasted Muffins. Orange Cake.

_Jellied Chicken._—Cut up a chicken as for fricassee, and stew until the meat slips from the bones. Take out the chicken, and cut it into neat pieces when it has become cold. Let the gravy simmer half an hour with an onion sliced, a small bunch of parsley, a couple of stalks of celery, and a bay-leaf. Strain it, and return it to the fire with the white and freshly broken shell of an egg. Let it boil up, and strain it again, this time through a cloth. While still hot pour three cups of this liquor upon a half-box of gelatine which has soaked an hour in one cupful of cold water. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, and add a glass of pale sherry and a couple of tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Pour part of this jelly into a wet mould, and when it begins to form lay in slices of hard-boiled egg and pieces of the chicken. More jelly follows, and more chicken, until all are used up. Turn out when the jelly is perfectly firm.

_Hominy Croquettes._—Make as directed for rice croquettes, using hominy instead of rice.

_Toasted Muffins._—Split and toast English muffins, and butter them on the inside.

_Orange Cake._—Two cups sugar, half cup butter, four eggs, three cups flour, one cup cold water, one large or two small oranges, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder. Work the butter and sugar together; add the yolks of the eggs, the juice and grated peel of the orange, the water, the whites, and the flour with the baking-powder. Bake in small cakes. If you like, reserve one of the whites of the eggs, and make an orange icing by beating with this a cup of powdered sugar and a little orange juice.

4.

Cold Ham. Celery Salad. Batter Muffins. Baked Apples with Cream.

_Batter Muffins._—Two cups flour, two cups milk, two tablespoonfuls butter, three eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately; one heaping teaspoonful baking-powder, saltspoonful salt. Put in the whites last of all, and bake the muffins in a quick oven.

5.

Baked Sausages. Stuffed Potatoes. Toasted Crackers. Cheese. Olives.

_Baked Sausages._—Make small cakes of sausage-meat, or prick the sausages, if you use those in skins, before putting them into the baking-pan. Bake until they are of a good brown. Take them out and thicken the fat left in the pan with a tablespoonful of flour, add a small cup of milk, boil up, and pour over the sausages in the dish.

6.

Broiled Oysters. Thin Bread-and-Butter. Cold Chicken. Raised Waffles.

_Raised Waffles._—One egg, two cups flour, two cups milk, one tablespoonful butter, saltspoonful salt, half yeast cake. Set a sponge early in the morning, and just before baking at noon beat in the butter and egg.

7.

Beefsteak. Baked Sweet Potatoes. Lunch Cakes. Chocolate.

_Lunch Cakes._—One cup milk, four cups flour, two tablespoonfuls butter, half-cup sugar, two eggs, two tablespoonfuls currants, one teaspoonful baking-powder. Cream the butter and sugar, and stir them into the beaten eggs and milk. Add the flour and baking-powder, and last of all the currants, washed, dried, and dredged with flour. Roll out the dough, cut into rounds, and bake in a moderate oven. Split, butter, and eat while hot.

8.

Broiled Sardines on Toast. Omelet. Nursery Muffins. Sugar Cakes. Chocolate.

_Broiled Sardines on Toast._—Broil the sardines on a fine wire broiler, lay two on each slice of toast, and squeeze over them a few drops of lemon juice.

_Nursery Muffins._—Two cups milk, two cups fine bread-crumbs, one cup flour, saltspoonful salt, one egg, one tablespoonful butter, three teaspoonfuls baking-powder. Beat the egg light, stir in the butter, the bread soaked in the milk, and the flour and baking-powder. Bake in a steady oven, greasing the muffin tins well, so that the batter may not stick to them.

_Sugar Cakes._—One cup butter, one cup sugar, four cups flour, two eggs, one teaspoonful vanilla. Cream butter and sugar, mix with the beaten eggs, add the flour and the flavoring, roll out _very_ thin, and bake in a moderate oven, sprinkling the cakes with granulated sugar just before baking.

9.

Veal Hamburg Steaks. Light Rolls. Apple-Sauce. Jumbles.

_Veal Hamburg Steaks._—One pound lean veal, chopped fine; two teaspoonfuls onion juice; salt and pepper to taste. Mix all well, form with the hands into flattened cakes, and broil over a clear fire. Lay on each a half-teaspoonful of _maître d'hôtel_ butter, or a bit of butter the size of a hickory nut, first squeezing a few drops of lemon juice on the meat. Let them stand covered a minute before serving.

_Jumbles._—Half-cup butter, three quarters of a cup of sugar, one heaping cup flour, two eggs (the yolks only), two tablespoonfuls sherry, extract of rose to taste. Beat the yolks, cream the butter and sugar; mix these, and add the flour and the flavoring. Make into round balls with the fingers, and place them on a well-buttered tin so far apart that when they flatten they may not run into each other. Stick a raisin, a slip of citron, or a blanched almond on top of each. Bake in a steady oven to a pale yellow. Do _not_ brown. While still warm, loosen them from the pan with a sharp knife, as they become very brittle when cold.

10.

Ham and Eggs. Baked Potatoes. Graham Biscuit. Stewed Prunes. Fancy Cakes.

DINNER AT NIGHT

Twenty or thirty years ago the late dinner was not nearly so popular as it is now. The majority of the people dined in the middle of the day, and not a few of them considered a six-o'clock dinner as an effort after fashion that was unworthy the imitation of sensible men and women. Even in large cities servants rebelled against an alteration of the time-honored custom of serving the principal meal of the day at or near noon, while in small towns the late dinner was so unusual that it was almost impossible to persuade domestics to consent to it.

A marked change has taken place in the fashion. The evening dinner has for years been steadily gaining in popularity, and promises to become even more common than it is now. Thoughtful men and women recognize the wisdom of eating lightly at midday, when they are in the full tide of business, and reserving the heartiest repast for an hour when it can be discussed leisurely and digested peacefully. Mistresses have learned that there is a gain in keeping the morning free for house-work, instead of devoting most of it to the preparation of the dinner. The light lunch eaten in most homes demands much less time in cooking and eating than does a dinner, and leaves those who have partaken of it more fit for work than they would be were their stomachs burdened with the task of digesting soup, meat, vegetables, and dessert.

The late dinner is a more dignified meal than can possibly be made of a similar repast eaten at noon. The festal appearance imparted by the gleam of candles, lamps, or gas upon silver, china, and glass cannot be acquired by daylight. The pleasant reunion around the board of the members of the family, whose positions and interests have been divergent since morning, the happy consciousness that the work of the day is done, the knowledge that there is no toil waiting at the door of the dining-room, all bear their share in rendering the meal cheerful and care-free. More ceremony can and should be preserved at the evening dinner than is feasible at noon. The orderly sequence of courses and careful serving have a part in adding to the dignity of the meal.

These suggestions should not frighten the housekeeper who contemplates introducing the late dinner in her household. Very little extra work is involved in bestowing the touch of state referred to, and, after all, it consists chiefly in a slight additional care in waiting and serving, and to these the mistress can readily accustom the maid.

The dinner-table should be spread with a plain white cloth, under which the sub-cover of felt or canton flannel must never be lacking. Any one who has observed the thin and sleazy appearance even handsome damask presents without this felt under it, and has noticed the noise the dishes and silver make when moved about where there is but the one thickness between them and the board, will not voluntarily be long without so simple and inexpensive an addition to the elegance of her table.

It is sometimes a rather costly luxury to keep a vase of fresh flowers always ready for the table. In summer it is comparatively easy, even in the city, to get a few blossoms every day or two; but in winter, with flowers at exorbitant prices, a single spray, renewed twice a week, is an extravagance which the housewife does not always feel she can afford herself. Cheaper and quite as pretty in effect is it to have a pot of primroses, or of cyclamen, or of some other hardy house plant that will bloom for two or three weeks, and of which the first cost is but small.

In setting the table, the knife and the napkin, with a piece of bread folded in the latter, should lie at the right of the plate, the fork at the left, the spoon at right angles to both of these; between the plate and the middle of the table, the glass, butter-plate, and salt-cellar near the point of the knife, within easy reach of the right hand. An extra knife or fork may be added for each course, where either may be needed. A plate must stand at each place, although it is usually removed to make room for a hot one after the family are seated and the dinner brought on.

The space in front of the hostess is left free for the soup-tureen, and before the host is spread the carving-cloth. The carving knife and fork are laid upon this. At the corner of the table stand the large salts, if these are used instead of the individual cellars, and the pepper-cruets. Near them are the tablespoons. The water-pitcher, or carafe, the ice bowl, and any relishes in the shape of jellies, pickles, etc., are all else that is put on the table at the beginning of the meal, except the soup tureen and plates.

When the latter have been removed, the principal meat dish is set in front of the carver, and a hot plate is laid for each guest. At family dinners the carver generally does the helping, although sometimes after the meat is cut it is passed, and each person allowed to help himself.

The vegetables are next passed by the waitress, and offered at the left of each person, and after them the jelly or pickles are served. If, before the meat course, a fish dish or an _entrée_ is offered, it is passed usually in the same fashion. Next comes the salad, which is always passed, after each guest has been supplied with a clean plate. This course removed, all the soiled dishes and the small silver are removed, the table is crumbed, and the dessert is brought in. If fruit succeeds this, a fresh plate and a finger-bowl are given to each one. With the fruit comes the coffee.

Of course there are many families in which the daily _menu_ is simpler than that outlined above. In large families each added course means a perceptible increase of cost, and although the judicious manager who has a fixed allowance for household expenses may so dovetail the retrenchment of one day that it will balance the undue outlay of another, yet in most instances she will feel that if she can feed her household well and satisfy them, without providing them with five or six courses at an ordinary dinner, more than this would savor of extravagance. In some homes soup each day is considered an expensive luxury. So it is when fresh meat must be purchased to make it, or even when fresh or canned vegetables have to be bought for it; but when there are bones or trimmings from raw or cooked meats, or vegetables left over—a half-can of tomatoes, a cupful or two of mashed potato, a saucer of pease, or other similar remnants—or when fish and eggs are plentiful, the soup need be but a small item in the expense, and is really economical, as, by blunting the edge of the appetite, it renders the attack upon the next course less vigorous. There is a large variety of bean, pea, lentil, and cream soups that are cheap, palatable, and nourishing.

Salad is not a frequent dish in many homes, but in warm weather it may well be substituted sometimes for soup and cost little more. Still that may be a good dinner at which neither soup nor salad is seen. The final cup of tea or coffee adds a graceful finish to a simple dessert, and is generally enjoyed by the adult members of the family.

A word concerning the dinner toilette may not be amiss. In England, donning full dress for a late dinner is a matter of course. Not so in America. Our independent citizen usually thinks he honors the home meal quite enough if he washes the dust of the day from his hands and face, and brushes his hair and his coat. Yet there are few homes in which the mistress does not change her gown for dinner, or at least brighten or freshen her attire so as to make it differ decidedly from that in which she appeared at breakfast. The question involuntarily suggests itself why it is easier for a tired woman to dress than it is for a tired man, and one wonders if the husband would not find in a change of toilette the refreshment his wife experiences from a similar operation. Even without putting on full dress, a man should, at least by exchanging his office for a house coat, and assuming fresh collar, cuffs, and cravat, do his share in giving to the dinner-table the look of a pleasant social gathering, instead of a mere stopping-place for food.

DINNER AT NOON

In some homes it seems out of the question to have a late dinner. There may be several reasons for this. Possibly the mistress of the house does all her own work, and finds it easier to dispose of the bulk of her cooking in the morning than later, since she thus leaves free the afternoon hours for leisure or social duties. Or she may, if she keeps servants, live in a neighborhood where late dinners are so far the exception that she finds it impossible to induce her cook to accede to her desire to change the hour of dinner. Or, still again, it may seem expedient to dine at noon, because that hour better suits her husband and children. In any one of these cases, instead of repining over the inevitable, she should set herself to work to make the best of circumstances, and do all in her power to impart every possible charm to the midday meal.

In some parts of the South a one-o'clock dinner is almost unheard of, while the—to Northerners—singular hour of two, or half after two, or three, is chosen. This has the advantage of giving the children plenty of leisure for eating, as their schools have closed by this hour; but the same necessity for haste is laid upon the head of the house that must always prevail when a busy man is obliged to take the time for dinner out of the most active part of the day. Whenever, for any reason, the meal must be only an interlude in work, instead of coming at the close of the day's labors, it should be made a comparatively simple repast.

There is no doubt that the average American eats too rapidly. No one who has witnessed the feats of deglutition performed by commercial travellers at a railway station will cavil at this assertion. It is safe to attribute the national disease of dyspepsia to this cause fully as much as to the indigestible viands of which the ordinary citizen makes his chief diet. And this haste is not confined to the hotel dining-room or the railway eating-house. In private households as astonishing and disgusting exhibitions of rapid gorging may be seen as are ever witnessed in public restaurants.

No one who had once beheld the spectacle could ever forget the fashion in which meals were conducted in a certain home where wealth and every evidence of outward refinement gave promise of better things. The father, a man of business from his sixteenth year, plainly considered eating the duty to be accomplished at the table, and quite ignored such minor considerations as the interchange of thought or observation, or any of the social features usually connected with the operation of dining. If he could not quite equal Napoleon the First, who was said to have often devoured his entire dinner in six minutes, he did not fall far behind the great warrior. Soup, meat, vegetables, dessert, were swallowed in rapid succession and in almost utter silence. The slight delay inseparable from a change of courses was endured impatiently. Almost before the last mouthful was down, the eager man would push back his chair, spring to his feet, and, with a muttered word of farewell, make a rush for the street. In an instant the slam of the front door would announce that he was on his way back to his office.

His children were not backward in imitating him, and all the pleadings of their refined, care-worn mother were powerless to check the influence of the father's example. With such a rush at meal-times, elegant or even tolerably decent table manners were impossible, and the visitor in the home found eating a difficult business when accompanied by the sight of the haste and habits that often could only be described as revolting.

If the midday meal must be hurried, let it also be simple. There is no rhyme or reason in attempting to dispose of a three or four course dinner in thirty or forty minutes. If only half an hour can be allowed for the repast, let this consist of two courses only, either a soup and a meat course, a meat course and a salad, or a meat course and a dessert. These should be served promptly, but in an orderly fashion, and both the conduct of the dinner and the gastric powers will be benefited by such simplicity.

Upon this point the house mother must insist. Even if her husband will not conform to her wishes in this regard, she should require from servants and children a certain amount of propriety in serving the meal and decorum in its discussion. After seeing that the dinner is punctually served, and that the courses follow one another promptly, she should herself set the example of deliberate eating, and should strive, by the introduction of interesting subjects, to encourage the pleasant chat that is a potent aid to digestion. It will cost an effort to do this when she is weary and harassed by household worries, but she will enjoy her own meal more if her mind is, by any agreeable means, distracted for a little while from her cares.

For the midday dinner the table should be laid as it is at night, and the waiting should be performed in the same fashion. The vegetables should, if possible, be served from the side, although in a family where no waitress is employed they may be set upon the table. The custom of having four or five vegetables at dinner appears rather absurd. Where there are only two courses, several kinds may be desired, but as a rule two vegetables, or at the most three, are quite enough. Only a few of these should ever be served in saucers. Even at the tables of people who ought to know better it is nothing unusual to see two or three or more small sauce-plates given to each person. One will contain pease, another tomatoes, another stewed corn, another pickles or jelly. While there may be some sense in having separate little dishes for holding such semi-fluid compounds as stewed tomatoes, stewed corn, or cranberry sauce, there is no cause for using them for pease, string-beans, spinach, cauliflower, and the like. The appearance of such an array suggests a hotel table, and detracts from the home-look which should always be studied by the housekeeper.

Of course there is no possibility of dressy toilettes at midday, but cleanliness and neatness at least may be attained, and it should be one of the unwritten laws of the home that no one may come to the table looking untidy, or in _négligé_ of curl-papers and collarless wrappers for the women and shirt sleeves for the men.

Possibly it may seem strange to many people to learn that there are classes among whom it is considered no breach of etiquette for a man to come to the table not only coatless, but even without his collar, cravat, or vest; this, too, not among farmers alone, but in cities and in ranks of life much above those of the ordinary mechanic or common day laborer. Often in the same families the wives and daughters will appear well-bred, and will dress neatly and tastefully themselves, even while they seem to perceive nothing shocking in the dishabille of the men of the house. Perhaps, since those most interested do not complain, no one else has a right to criticise; and yet it does seem as though the regard for appearances and for the small sweet courtesies of life had some claims.

In most cases where one notes such carelessness, it will be found that the trouble began very far back, when the boys who are now men were allowed a similar license in their parents' homes. For the sake of the families of the future, if for no other reason, the mothers of the rising generation should exact appropriate apparel at meals as well as correct behavior and careful table manners from their growing boys and girls, even if the children's fathers refuse to conform to what they deem over-niceness in dress and demeanor.

THE SUNDAY DINNER