A LITTLE GIRL’S COOKERY BOOK

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A LITTLE GIRL’S
COOKERY BOOK

BY
CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
AND
MARY FLORENCE HODGE

MILLS & BOON, LIMITED
49 RUPERT STREET
LONDON, W.

Published 1911

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Margaret, and she wanted to cook, so she went into the kitchen and tried and tried, but she could not understand the cookery books, and she made dreadful messes, and spoiled her frocks, and burned her fingers till she cried and cried.

One day she went to her grandmother and her mother and her Pretty Aunt and her Other Aunt, who were all sitting sewing, and asked them to tell her about cooking.

“What is a roux,” she said, “and what’s a mousse and what’s an entrée? What are timbales and sautés and ingredients, and how do you mix them and how long do you bake them? Won’t somebody please tell me all about it?”

And her Pretty Aunt said, “See the flour all over that new frock!” and her mother said, “Dear child, you are not old enough to cook yet”; and her grandmother said, “Just wait a year or two, and I’ll teach you myself”; and her Other Aunt said, “Some day you shall go to the cookery-school and learn everything; you know little girls can’t cook.”

But Margaret said, “I don’t want to wait till I’m big; I want to cook now; and I don’t want to do cookery-school cooking, but little girl cooking, all by myself.”

So she kept on trying to learn, but she burned her fingers and spoiled her dresses worse than ever, and her messes were so bad they had to be thrown away, every one of them; and she cried and cried. And then one day her grandmother said, “It’s a shame that child should not learn to cook if she really wants to so much”; and her mother said, “Yes, it is a shame, and she shall learn! Let’s get her a small table and some tins and aprons, and make her a little cookery-book all her own, out of the old ones we wrote for ourselves long ago—just the plain, easy things anybody can make.” And both her aunts said, “Do! We will help, and perhaps we might put in just a few cookery-school things beside.”

It was not long after this that Margaret had a birthday, and she was taken to the kitchen to get her presents, which she thought the funniest thing in the world. There they all were, in the middle of the room: first her father’s present, a little table with a white oil-cloth cover and castors, which would push right under the big table when it was not being used. Over a chair her grandmother’s present, three nice gingham aprons, with sleeves and ruffled bibs. On the little table the presents of the aunties, shiny new tins and saucepans, and cups to measure with, and spoons, and a toasting-fork, and ever so many things; and then on one corner of the table, all by itself, was her mother’s present, her own little cookery-book, with her own name on it, and that was best of all.

When Margaret had looked at everything, she set out in a row the big bowl and the middle-sized bowl and the little wee bowl, and put the scalloped patty-pans round them, and the real egg-beater in front of all, just like a picture, and then she read a page in her cookery-book, and began to believe it was all true. So she danced for joy, and put on a gingham apron and began to cook that very minute, and before another birthday she had cooked every single thing in the book.

This is Margaret’s cookery-book.

PART I
BREAKFAST DISHES

PORRIDGE

1 quart of boiling water.
4 tablespoonfuls of oatmeal.
1 teaspoonful of salt.

When you are going to make porridge, always begin to cook it the night before. Put a quart of boiling water in the outside of a double saucepan, and another quart in the inside, and in this last mix the salt and oatmeal. Put the saucepan on the back of the kitchen range, where it will hardly cook at all, and let it stand all night. If the fire is to go out, put it on so that it will cook for two hours first. In the morning, if the water in the outside of the saucepan is cold, fill it up with hot, and boil hard for an hour without stirring the mixture. Then turn it out in a hot dish, and send it to the table with a jug of cream.

BOILED RICE

1 cup of rice.
2 cups of boiling water.
1 teaspoonful of salt.

Pick the rice over, taking out all the bits of brown husk; fill the outside of a porridge saucepan with hot water, and put in the rice, salt, and water, and cook for forty minutes, but do not stir it. Then take off the cover from the saucepan, and very gently, without stirring, turn over the rice with a fork; put the dish in the oven without the cover, and let it stand and dry for ten minutes. Then turn it from the saucepan into a hot dish, and put a cover on and serve with cream.

RICE CROQUETTES

1 cup of milk.
Yolk of 1 egg.
¼ cup of rice.
1 large tablespoonful of powdered sugar.
Small half-teaspoonful of salt.
½ cup of raisins and currants, mixed.
½ teaspoonful of vanilla.

Wash the rice and put it in a double saucepan with the milk, salt, and sugar and cook till very thick; beat the yolks of the eggs and stir into the rice, and beat till smooth. Sprinkle the washed raisins and currants with flour, and roll them in it and mix these in, and last the vanilla. Turn out on a plate, and let all get very cold. Then make into pyramids, dip in the yolk of an egg mixed with a tablespoonful of water, and then into sifted bread-crumbs, and fry in a deep saucepan of boiling fat, using a wire basket. As you take these from the fat, put them on paper in the oven with the door open. When all are done, put them on a hot plate and sift powdered sugar over them, and put a bit of red jelly on top of each. This is also a nice sweet for luncheon.

EGGS

TO BOIL EGGS

When the water boils, allow three and a half minutes for a lightly boiled egg, four minutes for better done, and five minutes for hard-boiled.

POACHED EGGS

Take a pan which is not more than three inches deep, and put in as many muffin-rings as you wish to cook eggs. Pour in boiling water till the rings are half covered, and scatter half a teaspoonful of salt in the water. Let it boil up once, and then draw the pan to the edge of the stove, where the water will not boil again. Take a cup, break one egg in it, and gently slide this into a ring, and so on till all are full. While they are cooking, take some toast and cut it into round pieces with the biscuit-cutter, then butter them. When the eggs have cooked ten minutes, take a slice and slip it under one egg with its ring, and lift the two together on to a piece of toast, and then take off the ring; and so on with all the eggs. Shake a very little salt and pepper over the dish, and put parsley round the edge. Sometimes a little chopped parsley is nice to put over the eggs, too.

POACHED EGGS WITH WHITE SAUCE

Poach what number of eggs you require. Place on rounds of buttered toast. Have ready a nice creamy sauce as follows:

1 tablespoonful of butter; when melted put in 1 oz. of flour. Mix both together, add enough milk to the thickness you require, stirring it all the time. A little cream added greatly improves it; serve with chopped ham, tongue, or parsley sprinkled over the eggs.

SCRAMBLED EGGS

4 eggs.
2 tablespoonfuls of milk.
½ teaspoonful of salt.

Put the eggs in a bowl and stir till they are well mixed; add the milk and salt. Make the frying-pan very hot, and put 1 oz. of butter in it; when it melts, stir it well from side to side, till the bottom of the pan is covered. Put in the eggs, and stir them, scraping them off the bottom of the pan until they begin to get a little firm; then draw the pan to the edge of the stove, and scrape up from the bottom all the time till the whole looks alike, creamy and firm, but not hard. Put them in a hot, covered dish.

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH PARSLEY

Chop enough parsley to make a teaspoonful, and mince half as much onion. Put the onion in the butter when you heat the pan, and cook the eggs in it; when you are nearly ready to take the eggs off the fire, put in the parsley.

After Margaret had learned how to make these perfectly, she began to mix other things with the eggs.

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH TOMATO

When Margaret had a few tomatoes she would take them, add a half-teaspoonful of salt, two shakes of pepper, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and simmer it all on the fire for five minutes; then she would cook half a teaspoonful of minced onion in the butter in the hot frying-pan as before, and turn in the eggs, and when they were beginning to grow firm put in the tomato. This made a very nice breakfast dish.

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH CHICKEN

Chop fine a cup of cold chicken, or any light-coloured meat, such as veal, and heat it with a tablespoonful of water, a half-teaspoonful of salt, two shakes of pepper, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Cook a half-teaspoonful of minced onion in the butter you put in the hot frying-pan, and turn in the eggs, and when they set, mix in the chicken.

Sometimes Margaret used tomato, as in the previous recipe, and the chicken in the eggs, when she wanted to make a large dish.

EGGS BALDWIN

Boil 5 or 6 eggs hard. Put them into cold water, then shell them, make a white sauce the same as already described on page 8, with pepper and salt to taste. Remove the yolk from the whites, cut up the whites in slices, and put into the sauce to boil up for a minute. Pass the yolks through a wire sieve, put the sauce and egg mixture into a dish, and decorate the top with the yolk and some chopped parsley.

CREAMED EGGS IN BAKING-DISHES

Cut six hard-boiled eggs into bits, mix with a cup of white sauce, and put in small baking-dishes which you have buttered. Cover over with fine, sifted bread-crumbs, and dot with bits of butter, about four to each dish, and brown in the oven. Stick a bit of parsley in the top of each, and put each dish on a plate, to serve.

BIRDS’ NESTS

Sometimes, when she wanted something very pretty for breakfast, Margaret used this recipe:

Break six eggs, putting the whites together in one large bowl, and the yolks into six cups on the kitchen table. Beat the whites till they are stiff, putting in half a teaspoonful of salt afterwards. Divide the whites, putting them into six patty-pans, or small baking-dishes. Make a little hole or nest in the middle of each, and slip one yolk carefully from the cup into the place. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over them, and put a bit of butter on top, and put the dishes into a pan and set in the oven till the egg-whites are a little brown.

OMELETTE

Making an omelette seems rather a difficult thing for a little girl, but Margaret made hers in a very easy way. Her recipe said:

Break four eggs separately. Beat the whites till they are stiff, and then wash and wipe dry the egg-beater, and beat the yolks till they foam, and then put in half a teaspoonful of salt. Pour the yolks over the whites, and mix gently with a large spoon. Have a frying-pan hot, with a piece of butter melted in it, and spread the butter over the whole surface; pour the eggs on and let them cook for a moment. Then take a kitchen palette-knife and slip under an edge, and look to see if the middle is getting brown, because the colour comes there first. When it is a nice even colour, slip the knife well under, and turn the omelette half over, covering one part with the other, and then slip the whole off on to a hot plate.

The cook had to show Margaret how to manage this the first time, but after that she could do it alone.

OMELETTE WITH MUSHROOMS

Take a few mushrooms or a bottle of champignons, and slice half of them into thin pieces. Make a cup of very rich white sauce, using cream instead of milk, and cook the mushrooms in it for one minute. Make the omelette as before, and cover with the sauce when you turn it over.

EGGS IN CASES

Butter some ramekin cases (china or paper) and put a small piece of butter and a pinch of chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and break an egg carefully into each case; add a tablespoonful of cream and a few browned bread-crumbs. Bake about five minutes.

EGGS WITH CHEESE

6 eggs.
2 full tablespoonfuls Parmesan cheese.
½ teaspoonful salt.
Pinch of red pepper.

Beat the eggs without separating till light and foamy, and then add the cheese, salt, and pepper. Put a tablespoonful of butter in the frying-pan, and when it is hot put in the eggs, and stir till smooth and firm. Serve on small pieces of buttered toast.

Parmesan cheese is very nice to use in cooking; it comes in bottles, all ready grated to use.

FRIED EGGS AND BACON

Take some bacon and put in a hot frying-pan, and cook till it crisps. Then lift it out on a hot dish and put in the oven. Break six eggs in separate cups, and slide them carefully into the fat left in the pan, and let them cook till they are rather firm and the bottom is brown. Then take a strainer and take them out carefully, and put in the middle of the dish, and arrange the bacon all around, with parsley on the edge.

HAM AND EGGS, MOULDED

Take small, deep tins, such as are used for timbales, and butter them. Make one cup of white sauce; take a cup of cold boiled ham which has been put through the mincing-machine, and mix with a tablespoonful of white sauce and one egg, slightly beaten. Press this like a lining into the tins, and then gently drop a raw egg in the centre of each. Stand them in a pan of boiling water in the oven till the eggs are firm—about ten minutes—and turn out on a round dish. Put round them the rest of the white sauce. You can stand the little moulds on circles of toast if you wish.

This recipe was given Margaret by her Pretty Aunt, who got it at the cookery-school; it sounded harder than it really was, and after trying it once Margaret often used it.

SCOTCH EGGS

3 hard-boiled eggs.
½ lb. of sausages.
1 raw egg.
Bread-crumbs.

Shell the eggs and put them in cold water for a few minutes, then take out and dry them. Roll them out in flour, then coat each over with sausage meat, keeping the shape. Next break an egg on a plate, brush the eggs over with the raw egg and roll them in bread-crumbs, and fry in the hot fat till a golden brown. To be served on fried bread.

DEVILLED EGGS

Fry four eggs lightly, then trim them neatly with a round cutter and dish them up. Pour over them the following, put together in a stewpan: 1 oz. of butter, 1 tablespoonful cream, 1 teaspoonful of mustard, 1 teaspoonful of flour, 1 tablespoonful chutney, 1 teaspoonful Worcester sauce, 4 tablespoonfuls stock. Stir till it comes thick, and pour over the eggs.

FISH

One day some little fish came home from market, and Margaret felt sure they must be meant for her to cook. They were called smelts, and, on looking, she found a recipe for cooking them, just as she had expected.

FRIED SMELTS

Put a deep kettle on the fire, with two cups of lard in it, to get very hot. Wipe each smelt inside and out with a clean wet cloth, and then with a dry one. Have a saucer of flour mixed with a teaspoonful of salt, and another saucer of milk. Put the tail of each smelt through its gills—that is, the opening near its mouth. Then roll the smelts first in milk and then in flour, and shake off any lumps. Throw a bit of bread into the fat in the kettle, and see if it turns brown quickly; it does if the fat is hot enough, but if not you must wait. Put four smelts in the wire basket, and stand it in the fat, so that the fish are entirely covered, for only half a minute, or till you can count thirty. As you take them out of the kettle, lay them on heavy brown paper in a pan in the oven, to drain and keep hot, and leave the door open till all are done. Lay a folded napkin on a long, narrow dish, and arrange the fishes in a row, with slices of lemon and parsley on the sides.

FISH CAKES

2 eggs, bread-crumbs, and cold fish.

They are made from any cold fish, by making a nice white sauce, very thick. Take all the fish from the bones and mash up with salt and pepper, then put it into the sauce. Stir all up together, turn out in a dish, and let it get quite cold and hard.

Have ready your boiling fat; roll the fish mixture in your hands the shape you want the cakes; beat up 2 eggs and brush them over with the eggs and place in the bread-crumbs. This must be done twice, as then the fish cakes will not burst. Cook for five minutes.

SCALLOPED FISH

The fish is done just as the fish cakes are, in sauce, but it is turned out into a dish or pie-dish, which must be buttered, and a layer of bread-crumbs sprinkled over, with bits of butter put on the top. Place in an oven till it browns on the top.

PICKLED HERRINGS OR MACKEREL

Split open four or five herrings. Wash them and remove the back-bone. Roll up from the head end, with their roes inside. Place in a dish, cover them with vinegar, two bay-leaves, and a few peppercorns and a few slices of onions; put in the oven with a plate over the dish and cook till the onion is done; turn them out in any dish and pour the liquor over them.

DRIED HADDOCK

Place your haddock in a baking-tin and cover it with half milk and half water. If there is no milk use only water. Put a plate or dish over the top and put in the oven until it is done. Do not boil it over the fire, as you lose half the flavour.

SCOTCH DRIED HADDOCK

Hold the haddock in front of the fire till it is warm, then remove the skin at the back, beginning at the tail. Put it into a grill and let it cook in front of the fire for five or six minutes. Put butter and pepper; serve very hot.

FRIED PLAICE OR SOLE

Have the plaice filleted. Wash and dry it, then brush it over with raw eggs and place it in bread-crumbs. Have your frying fat boiling and put the plaice in to cook for five minutes. Take out and put on kitchen paper to drain the fat off. Serve on hot dish, with fish paper under, and decorate with parsley.

FILLETS OF SOLES WITH WHITE WINE SAUCE

Boil the fillets of soles till done, then make the white sauce. Add a sherry glass of wine, then put the fillets into the sauce. Allow them to simmer two or three minutes, then add the yolk of an egg to the sauce and serve.

HOW TO GRILL ANY FISH FOR BREAKFAST

Split them open. Wash and dry any fish, such as herrings, mackerel, fresh haddock; kippers are also done this way. Place in the grill and do in front of the fire; put butter and pepper on to taste. They will take about ten minutes.

HOW TO BOIL FISH

Rub the skin of the fish with lemon and put salt in water. Wash the fish first and place it in the fish-kettle with enough water to well cover it. Let it come up to the boil and afterwards let it gently simmer until cooked.

FRIED BACON

Margaret’s mother believed there was only one very nice way to cook bacon. It was like this: Slice the bacon very, very thin, and cut off the rind. Put the slices in a hot frying-pan for about three minutes. When both sides are cooked, lay it on a hot dish.

GRILLED CHOPS

Rub the grill with some of the fat, so that the chops will not stick. Lay in the chops and put over a clear, red fire without flame, and toast one side first and then the other; do this till they are brown. Lay on a hot dish, and dust both sides with salt and a tiny bit of pepper. Put bits of lemon and parsley round, and send to the table very hot.

FRIED CHOPS

If the fire is not clear, so that you cannot grill the chops, you must fry them. Take a frying-pan and make it very hot indeed; then lay in the chops and cook one side very quickly, and then the other, and after that let them cook more slowly. When they are done—you can tell by picking open a little place in one with a fork and looking in the inside—put them on a dish as before, with pepper and salt. If they are at all greasy, put on kitchen paper in the oven first, to drain, leaving the door of the oven open. Be careful not to let them get cold.

LIVER AND BACON

Buy half a pound of calf’s liver and half a pound of bacon. Cut the liver in thin slices and pour boiling water over it, and then wipe each slice dry. Slice the bacon very thin and cut off the rind; put this in a hot frying-pan and cook very quickly, turning it once or twice. Just as soon as it is brown take it out and lay it on a dish. Take a saucer of flour and mix in it a teaspoonful of salt and a very little pepper; dip the slices of liver in this, one at a time, and shake them free of lumps. Lay them in the hot fat of the bacon in the pan and fry till brown. Put on a hot dish, and then put one slice of bacon on each slice of liver. Put parsley all round, and sometimes use slices of lemon, too, for a change.

BACHELOR BREAKFAST

Two slices of bacon fried. Place on them a fried egg and on the top a cooked tomato which has been fried in a little butter.

GRILLED STEAK

See that the fire is clear and red, without flames. Trim off most of the fat from the steak, and rub the wires of the grill with it and heat it over the coals. Then put in the meat and turn over and over as it cooks, and be careful not to let it get burnt. When brown, put it on a hot dish, dust over with salt and a very little pepper, and dot it with tiny lumps of butter. Put parsley round. Steak ought to be pink inside; not brown and not red. Put a fork in as you did with the chops, and twist in a little, and you can see when it gets the right colour.

VEAL CUTLET

Dust the meat over with salt, pepper, and flour. Put a tablespoonful of dripping in a hot frying-pan, and let it heat till it smokes a little. Lay the meat in and turn it over twice as it cooks, until it is brown, for veal cutlets must not be eaten red or pink inside. Put in a hot oven and cover it up while you make the gravy, by putting one tablespoonful of flour into the hot fat in the pan, stirring it till it is brown. Then put in a cup of boiling water, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a very little pepper; put this through the strainer, pressing it with a spoon, and pour over the meat. Put parsley round the cutlet, and send hot to the table.

Margaret’s father said he could not possibly manage without potatoes for breakfast, so sometimes Margaret made something nice out of the cold potatoes she found in the larder.

CREAMED POTATOES

Cut cold boiled potatoes into pieces as large as the end of your finger; put them into a pan on the back of the stove, with enough milk to cover them, and let them stand till they have drunk up all the milk; perhaps they will slowly cook a little as they do this, but that will do no harm. In another saucepan, or in the frying-pan, put a tablespoonful of butter, and when it bubbles put in a tablespoonful of flour, and stir till they melt together; then put in two cups of hot milk, and stir till it is all smooth. Put in one teaspoonful of salt, and lastly the potatoes, but stir them only once while they cook, for fear of breaking them. Add one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and put them in a hot covered dish. You can make another sort of potatoes when you have finished creaming them in this way, by putting a layer of them in a deep buttered baking-pan, with a layer of white sauce over the top, and bread-crumbs and bits of butter for a crust. Brown well in a hot oven. When you do this, remember to make the sauce with three cups of milk and two tablespoonfuls of flour and two of butter, and then you will have enough for everything.

HASHED BROWNED POTATOES

Chop four cold potatoes fine, and add one teaspoonful of salt and a very little pepper. Put a tablespoonful of butter in the frying-pan, and turn it so that it runs all over; when it bubbles put in the potatoes, and smooth them evenly over the pan. Cook till they are brown and crusty on the bottom; then put in a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and fold over like an omelette.

CHIPPED POTATOES

Wash and peel four potatoes and cut them into thin pieces. Heat two cups of lard very hot, till when you drop in a bit of bread it browns at once. Wipe the potatoes dry and drop in a handful. Have a slice ready, and as soon as they brown take them out and lay on brown paper in the oven, and put in another handful.

POTATO CAKES

Take two cups of mashed potato, and mix well with the beaten yolk of one egg, and make into small flat cakes; dip each into flour. Heat two tablespoonfuls of nice dripping, and when it is hot lay in the cakes and brown, turning each with the slice as it gets crusty on the bottom.

TO KEEP FRYING FAT

The fat can be used to fry in a great many times if strained after using, and put in a clean jar.

How to know when fat is boiling: Drop a few bread-crumbs in the fat. They should turn brown at once.

BUTTERED TOAST

Toast is very difficult for grown-up people to make, because they have made it wrong all their lives, but it is easy for little girls to learn to make, because they can make it right from the first.

Cut bread that is at least two days old into slices a third of an inch thick. Be sure the fire is red, without any flames. Take the toasting-fork and move the slices of bread backwards and forwards across the coals, but do not let them brown; do both sides this way, and then brown first one and then the other afterward. Trim off the edges, butter a little quickly, and send to the table hot.

BAKING-POWDER BISCUIT

Margaret’s Other Aunt said little girls could never, never make biscuits, but this little girl really did, in this way:

1 pint of sifted flour.
½ teaspoonful of salt.
4 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
¾ cup of milk.
1 tablespoonful of butter.

Put the salt and baking-powder in the flour and sift well, and then rub the butter in with a spoon. Little by little put in the milk, mixing all the time, and then lift out the dough on a floured board and roll it out lightly, just once, till it is one inch thick. Flour your hands and mould the little balls as quickly as you can, and put them close together in a shallow pan that has had a little flour shaken over the bottom, and bake in a hot oven about twenty minutes, or till the biscuits are brown. If you handle the dough much, the biscuits will be tough, so you must work fast.

MUFFINS

2 cups of sifted flour.
2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
½ teaspoonful of salt.
1 cup of milk.
2 eggs.
1 large teaspoonful of melted butter.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking-powder, and sift. Beat the yolks of the eggs, put in the butter with them and the milk, then the flour, and last the stiff whites of the eggs. Have the muffin-tins hot, pour in the batter, and bake fifteen or twenty minutes. These must be eaten at once, or they will fall.

There was one little recipe in Margaret’s book which she thought must be meant for the smallest girl who ever tried to cook, it was so easy. But the little biscuits were good enough for grown people to like. This was it:

CREAM CRACKERS

Quarter-pound of flour, yolks of two eggs; beat them well with a quarter of a pint of cream and pinch of salt. Stir into the flour, roll out very thin, cut into any shape with a knife, prick with a fork, and bake a few at a time in a good oven. They must be straw colour. In a good oven they should take five minutes. Put on a sieve till cold.

GRIDDLE-CAKES

2 eggs.
1 cup of milk.
1½cups of flour.
2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
½ teaspoonful of salt.

Put the eggs in a bowl without separating them, and beat them with a spoon till light. Put in the milk, then the flour mixed with the salt, and last the baking-powder all alone. Bake on a hot, buttered griddle. This recipe makes delicious cakes, especially if eaten with sugar and thick cream.

Last of all the things Margaret learned to make for breakfast came coffee, and this she could make in two ways; sometimes she made it this first way, and sometimes the other, which is called French coffee.

COFFEE

First be sure your coffee-pot is shining clean; look in the spout and in all the cracks, and wipe them out carefully, for you cannot make good coffee except in a perfectly clean pot. Then get three heaped tablespoonfuls of ground coffee, and mix in one tablespoonful of cold water. Pour in one quart of boiling water, and let it boil up once. Then stir down the grounds which come to the top, put in two tablespoonfuls of cold water, and let it stand for a minute on the back of the stove, and then strain it into the silver pot for the table. This pot must be made very hot, by filling it with boiling water and letting it stand on the kitchen table while the coffee is boiling. If this recipe makes the coffee stronger than the family like it, take less coffee, and if it is not strong enough, take more coffee.

FRENCH COFFEE

Get one of the pots which are made so that the coffee will drip through; put three tablespoonfuls of very finely powdered coffee in this, and pour in a quart of boiling water. When it has all dripped through, it is ready to put in the hot silver pot.

PART II
LUNCHEON OR SUPPER DISHES

So many things in this part of Margaret’s book called for white sauce, or cream sauce, that the recipe for that came first of all.

WHITE OR CREAM SAUCE

1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
1 cup hot milk or cream.
⅓ teaspoonful of salt.

Melt the butter, and when it bubbles put in the flour, shaking the saucepan as you do so, and rub till smooth. Put in the hot milk, a little at a time, and stir and cook without boiling till all is smooth and free from lumps. Add the salt, and, if you choose, a little pepper.

Cream sauce is made exactly as is white sauce, but cream is used in place of milk. What is called thick white sauce is made by taking two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour, and only one cup of milk.

CREAMED OYSTERS

1 pint of oysters.
1 large cup of cream sauce.

Make the sauce of cream if you have it, and if not use a very heaping tablespoonful of butter in the white sauce. Keep this hot.

Drain off the oyster juice and wash the oysters by holding them under the cold-water tap. Strain the juice and put the oysters back in it, and put them on the fire and let them just simmer till the edges of the oysters curl; then drain them from the juice again and drop them in the sauce, and add a little more salt (celery-salt is nice to use if you have it), and just a tiny bit of cayenne pepper. You can serve the oysters on squares of buttered toast, or put them in a large dish, with sifted bread-crumbs over the top and tiny bits of butter, and brown in the oven. Or you can put them in small dishes as they are, and put a sprig of parsley in each dish.

PANNED OYSTERS

Take the oysters from their juice, strain it, wash the oysters, and put them back in it. Put them in a saucepan with a little salt—about half a teaspoonful to a pint of oysters—and a little pepper, and a piece of butter as large as the end of your thumb. Let them simmer till the edges curl, just as before, and put them on squares of hot buttered toast.

PIGS IN BLANKETS

These were great fun to make, and Margaret often begged to get them ready for company.

15 large oysters.
15 very thin slices of bacon.

Sprinkle each oyster with a very little salt and pepper. Trim the rind from the bacon and wrap each oyster in one slice, pinning this “blanket” tightly on the back with a tiny Japanese wooden toothpick. Have ready a hot frying-pan, and lay in five oysters, and cook till the bacon is brown and the edges of the oysters curl, turning each over once. Put these on a hot plate in the oven with the door open, and cook five more, and so on. Put them on a long, narrow dish, with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley round. Or you can put each one on a strip of toast which you have dipped in the gravy in the pan; this is the better way. This dish must be eaten very hot, or it will not be good.

CREAMED FISH

2 cups of cold fish.
1 cup of white sauce.

Pick any cold fish left from dinner into even bits, taking out all the bones and skin, and mix with the hot white sauce. Stir until smooth, and add a small half-teaspoonful of salt, two shakes of pepper, and sometimes a half-teaspoonful of chopped parsley.

You can put this in a buttered baking-dish and cover the top with crumbs and bits of butter, and brown in the oven, or you can put it in small dishes and brown also, or you can serve it just as it is, in little dishes.

CREAMED LOBSTER

1 lobster, or the meat from 1 tin.
1 large cup of white or cream sauce.

Take the lobster out of the shell and clean it; the cook will have to show you how the first time. Or, if you are using tinned lobster, pour away all the juice and pick out the bits of shell, and find the black string which is apt to be there, and throw it away. Cut the meat in pieces as large as the end of your finger, and heat it in the sauce till it steams. Put in a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of cayenne, and a squeeze of lemon. Do not put this in a large dish, but in small ones, buttered well, and serve at once. Stand a little claw up in each dish.

DRESSED CRAB

Crack all the claws of the crab, and pick out all the fish into a basin. Take all the yellow part out of the body of the crab and mix it with the other. Mix together one teaspoonful of mustard in a quarter-pint of salad oil, one tablespoonful of vinegar, and two tablespoonfuls of cream; salt and pepper to taste. Scrape and wash the body shell of the crab, then put in the crab which has been mixed in the sauce; pile it up, put it on a dish, and serve with parsley round it.

HOT CRAB

Buy a very nice, fresh crab. A very delicious dish is made by mixing a cup of rich cream sauce with the crab meat, seasoning it well with salt and pepper, and putting in the crab-shells; cover with crumbs, dot with butter, and brown in the oven. This is a nice thing to have for luncheon when there are visitors.

CREAMED CHICKEN OR TURKEY

2 cups of cold chicken.
1 large cup of white or creamed sauce.
½ teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
Salt and pepper.

Pick the chicken or turkey off the bones and cut into small bits before you measure it. Heat it in the sauce till very hot, but do not let it boil, and add the seasoning: about half a teaspoonful of salt, and a tiny bit of cayenne, or as much celery-salt in the place of the common kind. Put in a large buttered dish and serve, or in small dishes, either with crumbs on top or not.

SCALLOPED EGGS

6 hard-boiled eggs.
1 cup cream or white sauce.
1 cup fine bread-crumbs.
Salt and pepper.

Cook the eggs twenty minutes, and while they are cooking make the white sauce, and butter one large or six small dishes. Peel the eggs and cut them into bits as large as the end of your finger. Put a layer of bread-crumbs on the bottom of the dish; then a layer of egg; then a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and bits of butter; then a layer of white sauce. Then more crumbs, egg, and seasoning, till the dish is full, with crumbs on top. Put bits of butter over all, and brown in the oven.

EGGS IN DOUBLE CREAM

This is a recipe Margaret’s Pretty Aunt got in Paris, and it is a very nice one. Have half a pint of very thick cream—the kind you use to whip; the French call this double cream. Cook six eggs hard and cut them into bits. Butter a baking-dish, or small dishes, and put in a layer of egg, then a layer of cream, then a sprinkling of salt, and one of paprika, which is sweet red pepper. Put one thin layer of fine, sifted crumbs on top with butter, and brown in the oven. Or you can put the eggs and cream together and heat them, and serve on thin pieces of buttered toast, with one extra egg put through the sieve over the whole.

CREAMED EGGS ON TOAST

Make small pieces of nice toast and dip each one in white sauce. Boil hard four eggs, and cut in even slices and cover the toast, and then spread the rest of the white sauce over all in a thin layer.

EGGS IN BEDS

Chop a cupful of nice cold meat, and season with a little salt, pepper, and chopped parsley. Add enough stock or hot water just to wet it, and cook till rather dry. Put this in buttered baking-dishes, filling each half-full, and on top of each gently slip from a cup one egg. Sprinkle over with salt and pepper, and put in the oven till firm.

COTTAGE PIE

This was a dish Margaret used to make on washing-day and house-cleaning-day, and such times when everybody was busy and no one wanted to stop and go to market to buy anything for luncheon.

Put one ounce of butter into a saucepan, and when melted add a tablespoonful of flour, and when mixed add half a pint of stock and colour it with gravy browning. Have ready any cold meat which has been minced. Flavour it with salt, pepper, a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce, and a little chopped parsley and onion if liked. Put it all into the sauce and stir it well round. If too thick, add a little more stock. Turn it out into a pie-dish and cover it over with very soft-mashed potatoes, and put in the oven to brown.

MINCED CHICKEN

1 cup of cold chicken, cut in small, even pieces.
½ cup of chicken stock.
1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
½ teaspoonful of salt.
A pinch of pepper.
1 oz. of butter.

Put the chicken stock—which is the water the chicken was cooked in—or good stock into the saucepan, and mix in the chicken and seasoning, and cook and stir till it is rather dry. Serve as it is, or on squares of buttered toast. You can make any cold meat into hash in this way, having it different every time. Sometimes you can put in the chopped onion, or a cup of hot peas.

SARDINES ON TOAST

Split the sardines, take out back-bone, and remove all skin; put on each a little butter and pepper. Dish on squares of buttered toast, and serve very hot.

CHEESE FONDU

This was a recipe her Aunt put in Margaret’s book out of the one she had made at the cookery-school.

1 cup of fresh bread-crumbs.
2 cups of grated cheese.
1 cup of milk.
1 bit of soda as large as a pea.
½ teaspoonful of salt.
1 pinch of red pepper.
1 teaspoonful of butter.
2 eggs.

Put the butter in a saucepan to heat while you beat the eggs light, without separating them; let these stand while you stir everything else into the pan, beginning with the milk. Cook this five minutes, stirring all the time, and then put in the eggs and cook three minutes more. Put six pieces of toast on a hot plate, and pour the whole over them, and send at once to the table to be eaten very hot.

WELSH RAREBIT

Cut one or two slices of bread half-inch thick, and toast it on both sides and well butter it. Take half-pound of good Cheddar cheese, cut it up in very thin slices, and put in a stewpan, with two tablespoonfuls of thick cream, a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, and a little pepper. Stir all these over the fire till the mixture is like cream; cut the toast in square pieces and place on a hot dish, and pour the cheese mixture all over them, and brown quickly with a red-hot salamander.

PLAIN DRESSED LOBSTER

Lay the lobster out flat, with the back up. Get a knife into the middle of the head and cut right down the middle of the lobster. Break the claws from the body and crack the shell, also cut the body away from the head. Stick the head up in the middle of the dish; place the two halves of the body round it, and the claws each side. Decorate with parsley. Vinegar must be handed with it.

VEAL LOAF

1½ lbs. of veal and
2 strips of bacon, chopped together.
½ cup of bread-crumbs.
1 beaten egg.
½ teaspoonful of grated nutmeg.
½ teaspoonful of black pepper.
1½ teaspoonfuls of salt.

Bake three hours.

Chop the meat all together; then put everything in a dish and stir in the egg, beaten without separating, and mix very well. Press it into a bread-pan and put in the oven for three hours by the clock.

Every half-hour pour over it a tablespoonful hot water and butter mixed. You can put a tablespoonful of butter into a cup of water, and keep it on the back of the stove ready all the time. After the meat has baked two hours, put a piece of heavy brown paper over the top, and keep it there till the meat is done, or it may get too brown. This is to slice cold; it is very nice for a picnic.

PRESSED CHICKEN

This was one of the things Margaret liked to make for Sunday-night supper. Have a good-sized chicken cut up. Put it in a saucepan and cover with cold water, and cook very slowly and gently, till the meat falls off the bones. When it begins to grow tender, put in a half-teaspoonful of salt. Take it out, and cut it up in nice, even pieces, and put all the bones back into the saucepan, and let them cook till there is only about a pint and half of broth. Add a little more salt, and a sprinkling of pepper, and strain this through a jelly bag. Mix it with the chicken, and put them both into a mould, and when cold put it on ice over night. After it has stood for an hour, put a weight on it, to make it firm. Slice with a very sharp knife, and put on a dish with parsley all round. This is a nice luncheon dish for a summer day, as well as a supper dish.

When you have bits of cold meat which you cannot slice, and yet which you wish to serve in some nice way, make this recipe, which sounds difficult, but is really easy and very nice:

MEAT SOUFFLÉ

1 cup of white sauce.
1 cup of chopped meat.
2 eggs.
Teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
Half a teaspoonful of minced onion.

Put the parsley and onion in the meat, and mix with the white sauce. Beat the yolks of the eggs and stir in, and cook one minute, and then cool. Beat the whites of the eggs and fold in, and bake half an hour, or a little more in a deep, buttered baking-dish. You must serve this immediately, or it will fall.

LUNCH ROLL

Half a pound of beefsteak, all lean; half a pound of cooked ham, quite lean; both to be passed through the mincing-machine; half a pound of bread-crumbs, two sprigs of mace, half a nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste; two eggs, the yolks and whites well beaten; two hard-boiled eggs.

Mix all together and make in the shape of a sausage. Tie very tightly in a cloth and boil for two hours.

Glaze it and serve cold. The ham usually makes it salt enough, and cayenne is a great improvement.

HASH

Remove all fat and sinews from the meat, and cut it into neat pieces and leave these to marinate.[A] Take a wineglassful of stock, half a wineglassful of white wine, a dessertspoonful of lemon juice or vinegar, a teaspoonful of Harvey’s or Worcester sauce, a teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley, and a finely chopped onion. Leave the meat in this for two or three hours, then make the following sauce:

For each half-pound of meat used, peel and mince a small onion, and a mushroom if at hand, and fry these lightly in half an ounce of butter or dripping. Next sprinkle in half an ounce of flour. Then gradually add half-pint of stock, using the marinate also. Allow to cool a little. Lay in the meat and let it stand by the fire until quite hot, but not to boil.

[A] To soak up the flavour.

Some of the things Margaret made for breakfast she made for lunch or supper, too, such as scalloped eggs and omelettes. She had some vegetables besides, such as—

BAKED TOMATOES

6 large tomatoes.
1 cup of bread-crumbs.
½ teaspoonful of salt.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 slice of onion.

Put the butter in the frying-pan, and when it bubbles put in the bread-crumbs, the salt, and onion, with a dusting of pepper, and stir till the crumbs are a little brown and the onion is all cooked; then take out the onion and throw it away. Wipe the tomatoes with a clean wet cloth, and cut out the stem and a round hole or little well in the middle; fill this with the crumbs, piling them up well on top; put them in a baking-dish and stand them in a hot oven; mix a cup of hot water with a tablespoonful of butter, and every little while take out the baking-dish and wet the tomatoes on top. Cook them about half an hour, or till the skins get wrinkled all over. Serve them in the dish they are cooked in, if you like, or put each one on a small plate; pour some of the juice in the baking-dish over it, and stick a sprig of parsley in the top.

STUFFED POTATOES

Wash six large potatoes, and scrub them with a little brush till they are a nice clean light brown, and bake them for half an hour in a hot oven; or, if they are quite large, bake them till they are soft and puffy. Cut off one end from each and take out the inside with a teaspoon, holding the potato in a towel as you do so, for it will be very hot. Mix well this potato with two tablespoonfuls of rich milk or cream, a half-teaspoonful of salt and just as much butter, and put this back into the shells. Stand the potatoes side by side in a pan close together, the open ends up, till they are browned.

PASTRY FOR PORK PIES

6 ozs. of lard to 1 lb. of flour.
Pinch of salt.
1 pint of boiling milk.

Six pounds of flour generally makes seven pies.

Put the flour into a deep pan, rub in the lard till not a bit is left, add the salt. Make a hole in the centre of flour, take the boiling milk, pour with the left hand and stir with a large wooden spoon with the right hand. Work all together into a stiff paste. It may want a little more milk, so it is best to have more ready.

When all the flour is well worked in, knead it for twenty minutes (near the fire), it should then be quite smooth. Cover over to keep warm, but not too near the fire, and in an hour’s time it will be ready for use.

FRENCH DRESSING

3 tablespoonfuls of oil.
½ tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar.
½ teaspoonful of salt.
3 shakes of pepper.

Stir together till all is well mixed.

Many people prefer this dressing without pepper and with a saltspoonful of sugar in its place; you can try it both ways.

TOMATO AND LETTUCE SALAD

Peel four tomatoes; you can do this most easily by pouring boiling water over them and skinning them when they wrinkle, but you must drain off all the water afterward, and let them get firm in the refrigerator; wash the lettuce and gently pat it dry with a clean cloth; slice the tomatoes thin, pour off the juice, and arrange four slices on each plate of lettuce, or mix them together in the large bowl, and pour the dressing over.

EGG SALAD

Cut up six hard-boiled eggs into quarters, lay them on lettuce, and pour the dressing over.

HAM MOUSSE

Whip two gills of cream stiffly, and stir into this one gill of liquid aspic and half-pound of cold cooked minced ham, and just enough cochineal to make it all a very delicate pink. Whip this together for two or three minutes, pack it into a tall slender mould, and set it on ice for two or three hours.

CAULIFLOWER SALAD

Take cold boiled cauliflower and pick it up into nice pieces; pour the dressing over, and put on the ice till you need it.

PORK-PIE MEAT

One pound of pork meat and about three ounces of pork fat. Cut this up into small squares. Flavour this with a quarter-ounce of salt and a quarter-ounce of pepper. Put this into your pie-crust and bake for three hours. The paste must be brushed over with egg, so that it looks yellow when it is cooked. Be careful it does not burn.

Have some stock made from pork bones which has been flavoured with about one ounce of whole mixed spice and pepper and salt. When the pie is warm, cut a small hole in the top and pour into it as much of the stock as the pie will hold. When cold it will have jelly inside it.

HASH (ORDINARY)

Cut up into slices any cold meat, removing all fat and sinews. Put in a saucepan an ounce of butter and a tablespoonful of flour. Mix together when hot, and add a pint of stock; colour it with browning, and add salt and pepper to taste and a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce.

BRAWN

To a pig’s head weighing six pounds, add one and a half pounds of lean beef, two tablespoonfuls of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, three pounded cloves, and half a blade of mace. Boil the beef and head three hours. Take away all the bones, chop the meat up, add the seasoning and some of the liquor it is boiled in, to make it moist, and put it in a mould and turn out when cold.

MAYONNAISE

Yolk of 1 egg.
½ cup of olive-oil.
1 tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar.
½ teaspoonful of salt.
Pinch of red pepper.

Put the yolk of the egg into a very cold bowl; it is better to put the bowl, the egg, the oil, and the beater all on the ice a half-hour before you need them, for then the mayonnaise comes quicker. Beat the egg till the yolk is very light indeed; then let some one else begin to put in the oil, one drop at a time, till the mayonnaise becomes so thick it is difficult to beat; then put in a drop or two of lemon or vinegar, and this will thin it so that you can use the oil again; keep on doing this till you have nearly a cup of the dressing. If you need more oil than the recipe calls for, use it, and towards the last add two or three drops at a time. When you have enough, and it is stiff enough, put in the pepper and salt and it is done. Never use mustard except with lobster, as this will spoil the taste. Some salads, especially vegetable, need very thick mayonnaise, and then it is better to make it with lemon juice, while one to use with meats may be thinner, and then the vinegar will do; the lemon juice makes it thick. Always taste it before using it, to see if it is just right, and, if not, put in more salt, or whatever it needs. You will soon learn. Most people think mayonnaise is very difficult to make, but, really, it is as easy as baking potatoes, after you have once learned how. Every salad given before is just as nice with mayonnaise as with French dressing, and you can try each one both ways; then there are these, which are better with mayonnaise:

CHICKEN SALAD

1 cup of chicken, cut in large bits.
½ cup of celery, cut up and then dried.
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into good-sized pieces.
6 olives, stoned and cut up.
½ cup of mayonnaise.

Mix all very lightly together, as stirring will make the salad messy; put on lettuce.

LOBSTER SALAD

1 cup of lobster, cut in large bits.
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut in pieces.
½ teaspoonful of dry mustard, stirred in.
½ cup of mayonnaise.

Mix and put on lettuce.

CELERY SALAD

2 heads of celery.
3 hard-boiled eggs (or else 1 cup of English walnuts).
½ cup of very stiff mayonnaise.

Wash, wipe, and cut the celery into pieces as large as the first joint of your little finger, and then rub it in a clean towel till it is as dry as can be. Cut up the eggs, sprinkle all with salt, and add the mayonnaise and lay on lettuce. Or mix the celery and the walnuts and mayonnaise; either salad is nice.

SCOTCH WOODCOCK

Cut one or two slices of bread half an inch thick, toast it and butter it well. Spread over it some anchovy paste and cut into as many pieces as you require. Have a saucepan ready and one egg for each person; just break the yolks and half an ounce of butter to each egg. Put salt and pepper into it, put it on the fire and stir till it becomes thick, then add one tablespoonful of cream. Put the buttered eggs on the top of the anchovy toast and serve very hot. The buttered egg must not be too thick.

SHRIMP TOAST

Mix in a stewpan the yolks of two eggs, a tablespoonful cream, one teaspoonful anchovy sauce. Soak in this a thick round of buttered toast. Peel some shrimps and place on the toast and serve very hot.

TO PICKLE BEEF OR TONGUE

Put into a large saucepan four quarts of cold water, two pounds common salt, two ounces of saltpetre, half-pound brown pickling sugar, a few peppercorns, four bay-leaves, six cloves.

Let it all boil up well; then skim. When cold pour into an earthenware pan; then put in the meat and turn it every day for ten or fourteen days.

TONGUE TOAST

Grate finely the remains of a tongue, and mix it with the yolk of an egg, a tablespoonful of cream, finely chopped parsley, pepper, and a little salt.

Make it very hot, but not boiling, and pour it on to fingers of well-buttered toast.

Grated ham can also be prepared exactly the same, with a little fine chopped onion if liked.

CHEESE STRAWS

One ounce grated cheese, one ounce butter, slightly over one ounce of flour, a little pepper and salt.

Put all into a basin and work into a stiff paste; then roll out and cut them evenly with a knife in lengths. Place on a baking-sheet, a little distance apart, and bake in a warm oven about ten minutes, but they must be watched, so as not to get too brown. They should be a pale straw colour.

POTATO SALAD

3 cold boiled potatoes.
3 hard-boiled eggs.
½ cup of English walnuts.
12 olives.