Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks, Juliet
Sutherland, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
THINGS MOTHER USED TO MAKE
By LYDIA MARIA GURNEY
A COLLECTION OF OLD TIME RECIPES, SOME NEARLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD AND NEVER PUBLISHED BEFORE
New York 1914
AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
Good food depends as largely upon the judgment of the cook, as upon the materials used. These recipes and Household Hints are written very plainly, for those who have had no experience, no practice and possibly have little judgment.
They are very simple, not expensive, and if followed closely, will ensure success. It is the hope of the writer of this book that the young and inexperienced housekeeper may find it a real help.
L.M. GURNEY.
INTRODUCTION
The Things Mother Used To Make consist of old fashioned recipes, which have been for the most part handed down by word of mouth from one generation to another, extending over a period of nearly one hundred years. The author, a New England woman, has during her life tested out in her own kitchen the greater part of these recipes, which represent the best cookery of those times.
This material was originally published in Suburban Life, where it obtained such recognition as seemed to warrant its preservation in book form. The original material has accordingly been amplified, and it is here presented as one of the volumes in the series of Countryside Manuals.
FRANK A. ARNOLD
NEW YORK
September 15, 1913
=BREADS=
=Bannocks=
1 Cupful of Thick Sour Milk 1/2 Cupful of Sugar 1 Egg 2 Cupfuls of Flour 1/2 Cupful of Indian Meal 1 Teaspoonful of Soda A pinch of Salt
Make the mixture stiff enough to drop from a spoon. Drop mixture, size of a walnut, into boiling fat. Serve warm, with maple syrup.
=Boston Brown Bread=
1 Cupful of Rye Meal 1 Cupful of Graham Meal 1 Cupful of Indian Meal 1 Cupful of Sweet Milk 1 Cupful of Sour Milk 1 Cupful of Molasses 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Heaping Teaspoonful of Soda
Stir the meals and salt together. Beat the soda into the molasses until it foams; add sour milk, mix all together and pour into a tin pail which has been well greased, if you have no brown-bread steamer.
Set the pail into a kettle of boiling water and steam three or four hours, keeping it tightly covered.
=Brown Bread (Baked)=
1 Cupful of Indian Meal 1 Cupful of Rye Meal 1/2 Cupful of Flour 1 Cupful of Molasses (scant) 1 Cupful of Milk or Water 1 Teaspoonful of Soda
Put the meals and flour together. Stir soda into molasses until it foams. Add salt and milk or water.
Mix all together. Bake in a tin pail with cover on for two and a half hours.
=Coffee Cakes=
When your dough for yeast bread is risen light and fluffy, cut off small pieces and roll as big as your finger, four inches long. Fold and twist to two inches long and fry in deep fat. Serve hot with coffee.
=Corn Meal Gems=
2 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Cupful of Corn Meal (bolted is best) 2 Cupfuls of Milk 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Baking Soda 1 Egg 1/2 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Salt
Stir the flour and meal together, adding cream of tartar, soda, salt and sugar. Beat the egg, add the milk to it, and stir into the other ingredients. Bake in a gem-pan twenty minutes.
=Cream of Tartar Biscuits=
1 Pint of Flour 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1/2 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Tablespoonful of Lard
Stir cream of tartar, soda, salt and lard into the flour; mix with milk or water, handling as little as possible. Roll and cut into rounds. Baking-powder can be used in place of soda and cream of tartar.
=Crullers=
Use the recipe for doughnuts, adding one egg and a little more butter. Roll a small piece of the dough to the size of your finger, and eight inches long, double it, and twist the two rolls together. Fry in boiling fat.
=Delicious Dip Toast=
Cut slices of bread, one-half inch thick; toast each side to a delicate brown. Dip these into hot, salted milk, letting them remain until soft. Lay them on a platter and spread a little butter over each slice.
Take one quart of milk more or less according to size of family; heat in a double boiler, salt to taste. Wet two tablespoonfuls of flour with a little water; stir until smooth, and pour into the milk when boiling. Make this of the consistency of rich cream; add a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and pour over the toasted bread. Serve hot.
=Doughnuts=
1 Egg 1 Cupful of Milk 1 and 1/3 Cupfuls of Sugar 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda Piece of Butter the Size of a Walnut 1/4 Teaspoonful of Cinnamon or Nutmeg Salt, and Flour enough to roll soft
Beat the egg and sugar together and add the milk and butter. Stir the soda and cream of tartar into the flour, dry; mix all together, with the flour and salt. Cut into rings and fry in deep fat. Lay them on brown paper when you take them from the fat.
=Fried Bread=
After frying pork or bacon, put into the fat slices of stale bread. As it fries, pour over each slice a little milk or water and salt to taste, turn and fry on the opposite side. This is a very appetizing dish.
=German Toast=
1 Cupful of Milk 1 Egg Pinch of Salt 4 or 5 Slices of Bread
Beat together one egg, one cupful of milk, and a little salt. Dip slices of stale bread into this mixture, and fry on a griddle in butter or pork fat. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.
=Soft Gingerbread=
1 Cupful of Molasses 1 Cupful of Sour Milk 1/2 Cupful of Butter or Lard 1 Teaspoonful of Ginger 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1/2 Teaspoonful of Salt
Stir the soda into the molasses until it foams, add sour milk, ginger, salt and melted butter. Last of all, add flour enough for quite a stiff batter, and bake. This makes one sheet.
=Huckleberry Cake=
Pick over and wash and flour well one cupful of fresh huckleberries.
Add these to the batter for soft gingerbread. Serve hot, with butter.
=Quick Graham Bread=
1 Pint of Graham Meal 1/2 Cupful of Molasses 1 Cupful of Sour Milk 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Salt
Stir soda into the molasses, add sour milk and salt; add all to the meal, beating well. Sweet milk will do with a little less soda. Bake thirty minutes, or according to heat of the oven. A moderate oven is best.
=Graham Bread (raised over night)=
3 Cupfuls of Flour 3 Cupfuls of Graham Meal 3 Tablespoonfuls of Sugar 1 Tablespoonful of Lard 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Yeast Cake
Mix flour and meal together and rub in lard, sugar and salt. Add yeast cake which has been dissolved in one-half cup of cold water. Mix with warm water at night. Set in a warm place to rise. In the morning stir and let rise to twice its bulk. Knead and put in baking pans. Raise again and bake forty-five minutes.
=Graham Muffins=
1 Pint of Graham Flour 1/2 Cupful of Molasses 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1/2 Pint of White Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Soda
Put the salt into the flour and soda into the molasses. Stir all together and mix with milk or water. Drop into muffin tins and bake twenty minutes.
=Sour Milk Griddle Cakes=
2 Cupfuls of Sour Milk 2 Teaspoonfuls of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Salt
Stir the soda and salt into the milk and add flour enough to make thin batter. Fry on a well-greased griddle. One spoonful for each cake. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.
=Sweet Milk Griddle Cakes=
1 Egg 1 Pint of Sweet Milk 2 Level Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Level Teaspoonful of Soda Pinch of Salt Flour enough for thin batter
Mix soda and cream of tartar with flour. Beat the egg, add milk and stir into flour. Fry in small cakes on a griddle.
=Jenny Lind Tea Cake=
3 Cupfuls of Flour 1/2 Cupful of Sugar 1 Egg 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Tablespoonful of Melted Butter 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar
Stir salt, soda and cream of tartar into the dry flour. Beat the egg, add sugar and butter, stir into the flour and mix with enough milk to make batter as thick as a cake. Bake in a moderate oven. To be eaten hot with butter.
=Real Johnny Cake=
2 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Cupful of Yellow Meal 4 Tablespoonfuls of Sugar 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda or 2 Teaspoonfuls of Baking-powder
Add enough milk or water to make a thin batter, and bake.
=New England Buns=
1 Cupful of Milk 1 and l/3 Cupfuls of Sugar 2/3 Cupful of Butter or Lard 1/2 Cupful of Currants 1 Teaspoonful of Extract of Lemon 1/4 Teaspoonful of Soda 1/2 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Yeast Cake Flour enough for Soft Dough
Dissolve the yeast in a half-cupful of cold water. Scald the milk and, when nearly cold, add the yeast, half the sugar, and flour enough to make a thin batter; let it rise to twice its bulk. When light and foamy, add the rest of the ingredients; sprinkle a little flour over the currants, stir the soda into the flour, using flour enough to make stiff dough. Set again, then roll, cut with a cooky-cutter, about an inch thick, and let rise again. Bake in a moderate oven twenty-five minutes. Mix in the morning, if wanted for the evening meal. When done, brush over the top, while warm, with equal parts of milk and molasses.
=Nut Bread=
2 1/2 Cupfuls of Flour 3 Teaspoonfuls of Baking-powder 1/4 Teaspoonful of Salt 1/2 Cupful of Sugar 1 Egg 1 Cupful of Milk 3/4 Cupful of English Walnut Meats, chopped fine
Beat egg and sugar together, then add milk and salt. Sift the baking-powder into the dry flour, and put all the ingredients together. Add the nuts last, covering with a little flour, to prevent falling, and bake in a moderate oven one hour.
=Oatmeal Bread=
2 Cupfuls of Rolled Oats 3 1/2 Cupfuls of Boiling Water 1/2 Cupful of Molasses 1 Yeast Cake Pinch of Salt
Let the rolled oats and boiling water stand until cool, then add the molasses, salt, and yeast cake which has been dissolved in cold water. Stir in flour enough to make a stiff dough. Let it rise over night. In the morning, stir it down and let it rise again. Mold into loaves and let rise again.
Bake forty-five minutes in a moderate oven.
This will make three small loaves.
=Parker House Rolls=
1 Quart of Flour 1 Tablespoonful of Lard 3 Tablespoonfuls of Sugar 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1/2 Pint of Milk 1 Yeast Cake
Scald the milk. When nearly cold add the yeast cake which has been dissolved in one-half cup of cold water. Rub into the flour, the lard, sugar and salt. Stir all together with a knife and knead. Let rise to twice its bulk and knead. Let rise again and knead. Roll half an inch thick, cut into rounds, spread with butter and double over. Rise again, bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. Mix at ten o'clock in the morning if wanted for supper, a little earlier in cold weather.
=Popovers=
1 Egg 1 Cupful of Milk 1 Cupful of Flour
Beat the egg, and stir flour and milk in slowly, a little flour, then a little milk. Salt a little. This will make a very thin batter. Drop into well-buttered muffin pan, bake in a very hot oven and serve with hot sauce for a pudding, or eat with butter.
=Rye Muffins=
2 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Cupful of Rye Meal 3 Tablespoonfuls of Sugar 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1/3 Cupful of Yeast or 1 Yeast Cake dissolved in Water
Mix with warm water at night. In the morning add one-quarter teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in two tablespoonfuls of boiling water; stir well. Bake in a gem-pan for twenty or thirty minutes.
=Breakfast Sally Lunn=
1 Egg 1 Quart of Flour Piece of Butter the size of an Egg 4 Tablespoonfuls of Sugar 2 Teacupfuls of Milk 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda A little Salt
Mix salt, sugar, cream of tartar and soda, with the flour. Beat the egg, stir into it the melted butter and milk. Stir all together and bake in a muffin pan, fifteen or twenty minutes.
=Sour Milk Biscuits=
1 Pint of Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Lard 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Cupful of Sour Milk
Put lard and salt into the flour and soda with the sour milk. Mix together, roll thin and cut into rounds. Bake twenty minutes.
=Spider Cake=
2 Cupfuls of Bread Flour 1/3 Cupful of Lard 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Salt
Put the soda, salt and cream of tartar into the dry flour. Rub in the lard and mix with water into a soft dough. Roll to the size of the spider or griddle. When the spider is hot and well greased with lard, lay on the cake and cover. Bake ten minutes on one side, then ten on the other. This can be made quickly without waiting for the oven to heat. Serve hot with butter.
=White Bread=
3 Cupfuls of Flour 3 Teaspoonfuls of Sugar 1 Teaspoonful of Lard 1 Pinch of Salt 1/2 Yeast Cake
Rub sugar, salt and lard into the flour. Dissolve the yeast in half a cupful of cold water. Put all together and mix to a stiff dough with milk or water, at night. In the morning, push it down and let rise again. Then knead and place in a pan. Let it rise to twice its bulk and bake thirty minutes.
* * * * *
=CAKES=
=Filled Cookies=
1 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Butter or Lard 1 Cupful of Milk 3 1/2 Cupfuls of Flour 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Tablespoonful of Vanilla
Roll thin and cut with a cooky-cutter.
=Filling for Cookies=
1 Cupful of Chopped Raisins 1/2 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Water 1 Teaspoonful of Flour
Cook this until thick, being careful not to burn it. Place cookies in a well-buttered pan, spread on a teaspoonful of the filling and cover with another cooky. Bake in a moderate oven.
=Sugar Cookies=
1 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Butter 2 Tablespoonfuls of Milk 1 Egg 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Lemon Extract Flour enough to roll
Beat the butter, sugar and egg together, add the milk, stir the cream of tartar and soda into the flour dry. Stir all together and roll.
=Cream Cake=
2 Eggs 1 Cupful of Cream (sour preferred) 1 Cupful of Sugar 2 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1/2 Teaspoonful of Salt Flavor with Lemon
Stir the soda into the cream; beat the eggs; add sugar, salt, flour and cream; last of all, the flavoring.
=Delicious Cake without Eggs=
1 Cupful of Thick, Sour Milk 1 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Butter 2 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Cupful of Chopped Raisins Pinch of Salt 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Cinnamon 1/2 Teaspoonful each of Cloves and Nutmeg
Stir the soda into the sour milk, add melted butter and sugar, salt and spices. Put the flour over the raisins and stir all together. This will make one loaf or twelve little cakes in gem-pans.
=Feather Cake=
2 Cupfuls of Sugar 3 Eggs Butter the size of an Egg 1 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda 3 Cupfuls of Flour Flavor with Almond Beat fifteen minutes
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the well-beaten eggs, then the milk. Beat together. Put soda and cream of tartar into the flour, dry. Stir all together with the flavoring. This will make two small loaves.
=Old-time Gingersnaps=
1 Cupful of Molasses 1/2 Cupful of Butter or Lard 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Ginger
Boil the molasses five minutes. Remove from the fire, and add soda, butter and ginger. When cooled a little, stir in the flour until thick enough to roll, then roll thin as a postage-stamp. Cut with a cooky-cutter, and bake in a hot oven, being careful not to burn. Shut in a tin pail. These will keep for a long time.
=Gold Cake=
1 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Butter Yolks of 4 Eggs Whites of 1 Egg 1/2 Cupful of Milk 1/2 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/4 Teaspoonful of Soda 1-3/4 Cupfuls of Flour Flavoring
Cream butter and sugar together. Add the well-beaten eggs, milk, flavoring and flour into which the cream of tartar and soda have been stirred. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven.
=Hermits=
1 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Molasses 2/3 Cupful of Butter 2 Eggs 1 Cupful of Raisins, Chopped Fine 2 Tablespoonfuls of Milk 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Cinnamon 1 Teaspoonful of Nutmeg 1/2 Teaspoonful of Cloves Flour enough to roll
Cream the butter and sugar together, beat the eggs, add to the butter and sugar, then stir in the molasses, milk and spices. Add the raisins which have been covered with flour, and, last of all, the flour into which the dry soda has been sifted. Roll thin and cut with cooky-cutter.
=Jumbles=
2 Cupfuls of Sugar 1 Cupful of Butter 1/2 Cupful of Milk 2 Eggs 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Lemon Flour enough to roll
Cream together the butter and sugar. Stir into the well-beaten egg. Add milk. Stir cream of tartar and soda into the flour, dry. Beat all together and flavor. Cut into rings and bake in a well-greased pan.
=Nut Cake=
1 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Butter 1/2 Cupful of Milk 2 Eggs 2 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Cupful of Hickory Nut Meats, or English Walnuts
Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the well-beaten eggs and milk and put the soda and cream of tartar into the flour. Stir all together, adding nut meats, covered with flour, last.
=Oatmeal Cookies=
2 Eggs 1 Cupful of Sugar 1 1/2 Cupfuls of Oatmeal or Rolled Oats 2/3 Cupful of Cocoanut 1/4 Teaspoonful of Salt 1/2 Teaspoonful of Vanilla 2 Tablespoonfuls of Butter
Cream the butter and sugar together and add the well-beaten eggs. Add the remainder of the ingredients and drop on a well-greased baking-pan. Bake in a moderate oven, from fifteen to twenty minutes.
=One, Two, Three, Four Cake=
1 Cupful of Butter 2 Cupfuls of Sugar 3 Cupfuls of Flour 4 Eggs 2/3 Cupful of Milk 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda
Cream the butter and sugar together and add the well-beaten eggs; beat all and add milk; beat again. Sift the cream of tartar and the soda into the flour; stir all together. Bake in a slow oven. This will make two loaves.
=Ribbon Cake=
3 Eggs 2 Cupfuls of Sugar 2/3 Cupful of Butter 1 Cupful of Milk 3 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1 Tablespoonful of Molasses A little Salt and flavor, Lemon or Almond 1 Large Cupful of Raisins 1/4 Pound of Citron 1 Teaspoonful of Cinnamon and Cloves A little Nutmeg 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda
Cream the butter and sugar together, and add the well-beaten eggs and the milk. Mix the salt, soda and cream of tartar, with the flour. Stir all together. Put half of this mixture into two oblong pans. To the remainder add one tablespoonful of molasses, one large cupful of raisins, stoned and chopped, a quarter of a pound of citron sliced thin, one teaspoonful of cinnamon and cloves, a little nutmeg, and one tablespoonful of flour. Bake in two pans of the same size as used for the first half. Put the sheets together while warm, alternately, with jelly between.
=Roll Jelly Cake=
4 Eggs 1 Cupful of Sugar 1 Cupful of Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda Pinch of Salt 1 Teaspoonful of Extract of Lemon
Beat together eggs and sugar, add salt and extract. Stir into the dry flour the soda and cream of tartar. Mix all together. Bake in a moderate oven, in a large pan, and turn out, when done, on a clean towel, which has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Spread with jelly and roll while warm.
=Silver Cake=
1 Cupful of Sugar 1/3 Cupful of Butter 2 Cupfuls of Flour Whites of 3 Eggs 1/2 Cupful of Milk 1 Scant Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda Almond Flavoring
Cream together the butter and sugar, add milk and flavoring. Stir cream of tartar and soda into dry flour. Last of all add whites of eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. To make a very good cake, the butter and sugar should be creamed with the hand. Citron also makes it very nice.
=Sponge Cake, No.1=
3 Eggs 1 1/2 Cupfuls of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Water Pinch of Salt 1 1/2 Cupfuls of Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda
Beat eggs and sugar together, add water and salt, then put soda and cream of tartar into the dry flour. Beat all together. Bake slowly.
=Sponge Cake, No. 2, Grandmother's Rule=
4 Eggs Pinch of Salt 1 Cupful of Sugar 1 Cupful of Flour 1 Teaspoonful of Baking-powder
Beat the eggs ten minutes, add sugar, and beat again. Then add the flour, into which has been stirred the baking-powder. Stir all together and flavor. Bake in a moderate oven.
* * * * * *
=SOME OLD-FASHIONED CANDIES=
=Chocolate Taffy=
1 1/2 Cupfuls of Molasses 1 1/2 Cupfuls of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Milk 2 Squares of Chocolate 1 Small Teaspoonful of Flour Butter the size of a Walnut
Stir the sugar, flour and grated chocolate into the molasses and milk.
When hot add the butter. Boil until it strings. Pour into buttered tin.
When nearly cold mark into squares.
=Molasses Candy=
2 Cupfuls of Molasses 2 Teaspoonfuls of Vinegar Butter the size of a Walnut 1/4 Teaspoonful of Soda
Put the molasses, vinegar and butter into a saucepan. Boil until it strings when dropped from a spoon, or until it is brittle when dropped into cold water. Stir the soda in briskly and pour into a buttered tin. When nearly cold, pull until nearly white. Cut into small pieces or sticks and lay on buttered platter.
=Butter Scotch=
1/2 Cupful of Molasses 1/2 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cupful of Butter
Boil until it strings. Pour into buttered tin and when cold break into pieces. This is very nice when cooled on snow.
=Pop Corn Balls (very old recipe)=
1 Cupful of Molasses Piece of Butter, half the size of an Egg
Boil together until it strings and then stir in a pinch of soda. Put this over a quart dish full of popped corn. When cool enough to handle squeeze into balls the size of an orange.
* * * * * *
=DESSERTS=
=Apple Tarts=
Roll rich pie crust thin as for pies. Cut into rounds, pinch up the edge half an inch high and place in muffin rings. Put into each one a tablespoonful of apple sauce and bake in a hot oven for twenty minutes. Beat the white of an egg to a stiff froth and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Drop a spoonful on the top of each and brown quickly in a hot oven.
=Baked Apples, No. 1=
Take good, sour apples; greenings are best. Scoop out the cores, wash and place in a baking-pan. Fill the hole with sugar, and a tablespoonful for each apple besides. Pour over these a generous supply of cold water. Bake in a hot oven, until light and fluffy. These make a delicious dessert, if served with cream.
=Baked Apples, No. 2=
Wash, core and quarter sour apples. Put them into an earthen crock. Cover with cold water adding a cup and a half of sugar to six apples, or sweeten to taste. Bake three or four hours, until they are a dark amber color.
=Baked Sweet Apples=
Wash clean, fair, sweet apples. Put these into a baking-pan, with a little cold water and a half-cup of molasses, if four to six apples are used. Bake slowly until you can stick a fork through them. Years ago, people ate these, with crackers and milk. Baked apples and milk was a favorite dish.
=Baked Apple Dumplings=
Take rich pie crust, roll thin as for pie and cut into rounds as large as a tea plate. Pare and slice fine, one small apple for each dumpling. Lay the apple on the crust, sprinkle on a tiny bit of sugar and nutmeg, turn edges of crust over the apple and press together. Bake in a hot oven for twenty minutes. Serve hot with cold sauce.
=Fried Apples=
Pare and slice apples and fry in hot fat. When removed from the fire, sprinkle over them a little sugar. Bananas are nice cooked in the same way.
=Bramberries=
Crust 1 l/2 Cupfuls of Flour 1/2 Cupful of Lard (scant) 1 Teaspoonful of Salt Just enough Water to wet smooth
Filling 1 Cupful of Raisins 1 Cracker 1 Lemon 2/3 Cupful of Sugar 1 Egg A Little Salt
Beat the egg, add sugar, salt, lemon juice and grated rind. Roll cracker fine, chop raisins and mix all together. Roll the crust thin, cut into rounds. Put a spoonful of filling between two rounds and pinch the edges together. Prick top crust with fork. Bake in iron pan for twenty minutes.
=Cream Puffs=
1 Cupful of Hot Water 1/2 Cupful of Butter 1 Cupful of Flour 1 Pinch of Salt and Baking Soda 3 Eggs
Put the water and butter, into a dish on the stove.
When boiling, stir in the dry flour, into which you have put the salt and soda. Stir until smooth and thick. When nearly cool, add three eggs, one at a time. Drop on a buttered pan and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. This will make twelve cakes. When they are cold, make a slit in the side with a sharp knife, and fill with whipped cream or the following mixture:
One pint of milk, one egg, two-thirds of a cupful of sugar, one large spoonful of flour. Beat the egg, sugar, flour, and a little salt together till smooth and stir into the boiling milk. Flavor with lemon.
=Floating Island=
1 Quart of Milk 4 Eggs 1 Cupful of Sugar 1 Teaspoonful of Cornstarch 1 Teaspoonful of Vanilla Pinch of Salt
Put the milk on the stove and heat to nearly the boiling point. Whip whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and drop them by spoonfuls into the hot milk for a few minutes to cook. With a skimmer remove these islands to a platte. Beat the yolks of the egg with sugar, salt and cornstarch. Stir into the milk until it boils. Flavor and cool. Turn into a glass dish and lay the "islands" on top of the custard. Serve cold.
=Huckleberry Dumplings=
2 Cupfuls of Flour 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda 1/2 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Teaspoonful of Lard
Mix ingredients together with water until thick enough to roll. Cut into rounds an inch thick as for biscuits. Boil one quart of huckleberries in one-half pint of water and one-half cupful of sugar. Drop in the dumplings. Boil for twenty minutes. Serve with cold sauce or cream and sugar.
=Coffee Jelly=
1 Small Box of Gelatine 1 Pint of Strong Coffee 1 Cupful of Sugar 1 Scant Quart of Boiling Water Flavor with Vanilla
Soak the gelatine in cold water for fifteen minutes. Stir into the coffee and add sugar, salt and water, then vanilla. Pour into a mould and set away to cool. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.
=Lemon Jelly=
1/2 Box of Gelatine 1/2 Cupful of Cold Water 1-1/2 Cupfuls of Boiling Water 1 Cupful of Sugar 3 Lemons
Soak gelatine in the cold water for half an hour. Add boiling water, sugar and juice of lemons. Stir well and strain into mould or small cups.
=Strawberry Shortcake, No. 1=
1 Pint of Flour 1/3 Cupful of Lard A little Salt Milk enough to make a stiff dough 1 Box of Strawberries 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda
Put the salt, soda, lard and cream of tartar, into the dry flour, mix with milk (water will do), divide into halves and roll large enough for a Washington pie tin. Spread butter over one, lay the other on top, bake twenty minutes. Hull and wash and mash the berries and sweeten to taste. Separate the two cakes, butter, and place the berries between. Serve hot.
=Strawberry Shortcake, No. 2=
1 Tablespoonful of Butter 2/3 Cupful of Sugar 1 Egg 1/2 Cupful of Milk 1 Teaspoonful of Cream of Tartar 1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda 1 Box of Strawberries 1 Cupful of Cream
Cream together the butter and sugar and add the well-beaten egg and milk. Stir the cream of tartar and soda into the dry flour and beat all together. Bake in two Washington pie tins. Hull, wash, mash and sweeten to taste, the berries. Put half of these between the two loaves, the other half on top, with whipped cream on top of all.
* * * * * *
EGGS
=To Boil Eggs=
Put your eggs into a bowl which can be sent to the table. Pour boiling water over them and let stand eight or ten minutes. It is essential that the water be boiling. This way of boiling eggs, though so simple, is going out of fashion, unfortunately, as it makes a wonderful difference in the appearance of the egg when broken open, and above all, in its digestibility. Eggs should never be boiled in any other way for invalids.
=Eggs on Toast=
Toast as many slices of bread as desired. Butter well and pour over these just enough salted water to soften. Have ready a dish of boiling water. Stir it round and round with a spoon or fork, break the egg and drop into this swirling water. Remove from the water in from four to six minutes, as preferred, and place one on each slice of bread. Serve hot, with a dash of pepper, if liked.
=Plain Omelette=
2 Eggs 2 Teaspoonfuls of Water Pinch of Salt
Beat whites and yolks separately. Put together, salt, and add water. Pour onto a hot buttered frying pan and fry one side until it is puffed up, then turn half over and serve at once.
=Ham Omelette=
Make a plain omelette and add two-thirds of a cupful of chopped boiled ham. Pour into the hot frying pan and cook both sides.
=New England Poached Eggs=
4 Eggs 8 Tablespoonfuls of Milk Butter the size of a Walnut 1/2 Teaspoonful of Salt
Break the eggs into a sauce pan with milk, salt and butter. Cook until they thicken, stirring constantly. Remove from fire before it wheys. Serve hot with a dash of pepper.
* * * * * *
=FISH=
=Clam Fritters=
1 Egg 1 Cupful of Milk 1 Cupful of Bread-flour and a Little Salt
Beat the egg and half the milk, adding the flour gradually, to make the batter smooth. Salt, and add the last half-cupful of milk. Put one clam into one teaspoonful of batter and drop into boiling lard. Serve hot.
=Fish Balls=
1 Cupful of Hot Mashed Potatoes 1/2 Cupful of Shredded Cod-fish 2 Teaspoonfuls of Melted Butter 2 Tablespoonfuls of Milk
Put the fish into a piece of cheese-cloth, let cold water run over it, and squeeze dry. Mix ingredients all together. Take a little flour in the hand and roll half a tablespoonful of the mixture between the palms, to the size of a small peach. Fry in deep fat.
=To Boil a Lobster=
Have a large kettle on the fire with plenty of boiling water, deep enough to cover the lobster well. Put into this one cupful of salt, if you cannot get the sea-water. When the water is galloping, put in the lobster, head foremost, and keep it under water. Boil from twenty to thirty-five minutes according to size.
=To Dress Lobsters Cold=
Crack the shell of the claws carefully, remove the meat and place on a platter. Turn the lobster on its back, lay a heavy knife on the middle of the tail, all the way up to the body. Give it a gentle blow with a hammer, then with both hands turn back the shell and draw out the tail intact. Twist off the claws from the under side of the body and remove the body from the shell. Open and remove the stomach and sandbags. Open the tail in length, halfway through, on the under side, remove the black vein from the body to the end. Dress with parsley and serve.
=Baked Mackerel=
1 Mackerel 3 Small Slices of Salt Pork Salt to Taste
Split open the mackerel, remove head and insides, wash clean, and lay in a baking-pan on a well buttered paper or cheese-cloth, the skin side down. Spread over this slices of salt pork and a little salt. Bake in moderate oven for twenty minutes, or half an hour. This is much nicer than fried mackerel.
=Oysters on Toast=
Toast as many slices of bread as you require. Wipe enough oysters to cover them and season with pepper and salt. Put a little hot water over the bread and place in a very hot oven, until the edges of the oysters curl. Serve hot, with a white sauce.
=Baked Shad=
Make a nice dressing of five or six crackers, according to size of family (bread crumbs will do). Roll fine, or soak until soft in milk (water will do). Season to taste with poultry dressing, salt and add a small piece of butter. Wash the shad and stuff. Have a large sheet of white paper, well buttered, or a piece of cheese-cloth. Put into a baking-pan and set in the oven. Bake one hour. Spanish mackerel is fine baked in the same way.
* * * * * *
=MEAT DISHES=
=A La Mode Beef=
3 Pounds of Beef 6 Onions 4 or 5 White Turnips Potatoes Salt
Take three pounds of a cheap cut of beef. Wash, put into an iron pan, sprinkle over it salt to taste. Pare six onions, more or less, according to size of family, and prepare four or five small white turnips sliced thin. Lay these around the meat, and pour over all a quart of cold water. Put into the oven and bake three hours. Pare potatoes enough for the family, putting them in an hour and a half before serving. This is a most delicious way to cook beef. As the water cooks away, add more. Thicken the gravy, with flour wet with water, as you would with any roast meat.
=Beefsteak Pie=
2 Pounds of Beef (any cheap cut will do) 1 Onion 1 Tablespoonful of Salt
Cut the meat into small pieces; cover with cold water, salt and put into the oven; cut the onion into small pieces and add. Bake three hours in an earthen dish. Half an hour before serving, put over the top a crust, made of two cupfuls of flour, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, one-half teaspoonful of salt, and one tablespoonful of lard. Wet with water or milk, as for biscuits.
=Beef Stew with Dumplings=
3 Pounds of Shin-bone with Meat 6 Potatoes 2 Large Onions 1 Tablespoonful of Salt
Wash the meat, put into a kettle, cover with cold water and boil four hours. Add the salt, and more water, as it boils away. Pare the onions, wash and slice thin; put them in with the boiling meat, allowing two hours for cooking. Pare potatoes, wash, slice thin; put them in with the meat and onions, allowing three-quarters of an hour for cooking.
=Dumplings=
2 Heaping Cupfuls of Flour 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Baking Soda 1 Teaspoonful of Lard 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1 Glass of Water
Roll out an inch thick and cut into round pieces. Put these on a wire plate, on top of the meat; cover and let boil twenty minutes. Lift them out, and thicken the stew with three dessertspoonfuls of flour, wet with a scant cup of water.
=New England Boiled Dinner=
This consists of corned beef, white and sweet potatoes, cabbage, beets, turnips, squash, parsnips and carrots. The quantity depends upon the size of the family. Eight pounds of meat is sufficient for a family of eight. Boil the meat four hours, the beets three hours, the cabbage one and a half hours, squash and turnips three-quarters of an hour. Boil these in one kettle, all together. Beets, carrots and parsnips should be boiled with the skin on. Pare the potatoes, pare and slice the squash and turnip. Pick the outer leaves from cabbage and cut in quarters. When done, pare parsnips and carrots. Drop the beets into cold water and slip the skin off with the hand.
=Brunswick Stew=
1 Chicken or 3 Pounds of Lamb 1 Onion 4 Potatoes 4 Ears of Corn Salt and Pepper 6 Tomatoes
Cook the chicken or lamb until tender in two quarts of water. Take from the water and chop fine. Put back in the liquor, add the corn, cut from the cob, tomatoes, onion, and potatoes all chopped, salt and pepper to taste. Cook two hours. In winter this can be made by using canned corn and tomatoes.
=How to Corn Beef=
A piece of fresh beef weighing seven or eight pounds is sufficient for a family of eight. Wash, clean and put it in an earthen dish, twenty-four hours before cooking. Cover with cold water, and add a cup and a half of ice-cream salt. When ready to cook it, remove from the brine and wash, placing it in cold water. Cook four hours.
=Corn Beef Hash=
Corned Beef
Milk
Potatoes
Salt and Pepper
Lump of Butter
Chop the meat fine, add the same bulk of potatoes or a little more. Put into a saucepan or spider a lump of butter the size of an egg, and a few spoonfuls of milk or water. When bubbling, put in the meat and potatoes, and a little salt and pepper, if you like. Stir for a while, then let it stand ten or fifteen minutes, until a crust is formed at the bottom. Loosen from the pan with a cake-turner. Turn a warm platter over it. Turn pan and hash together quickly and serve. If you have a scant quantity, place it on slices of toasted bread, which have been buttered and wet with hot water.
=Breaded Pork Chops=
6 Chops 1 Cupful of Bread Crumbs 1 Egg Pinch of Salt 1/2 Cupful of Milk
Beat the egg and milk together, adding the salt. Dip the chops into this mixture, then into the crumbs. Fry in hot fat. Veal cutlets can be served in the same way.
=Potted Beef=
3 Pounds of a Cheap Cut of Beef 1/2 Can of Tomatoes Salt to taste 3 Onions
Put the meat into a kettle, cover with cold water and boil slowly for three or four hours. Add salt and onions, cut fine. Put the tomato through a colander. Boil all together, and, as the water boils away, add more. Serve the meat hot. The liquor makes a delicious soup, thickened with two tablespoonfuls of flour.
=A Fine Way to Cook Veal=
2 Pounds of Veal, or according to size of family
1 Egg
Bread Crumbs
Milk, Salt and Pepper
Cut the veal into small pieces, a good size for serving, and season with salt and pepper. Dip into the egg, which has been beaten light, then into the bread crumbs. Have a little pork fat (lard will do) in a frying-pan, and cook until brown. Set on the back of the stove and cook slowly for ten minutes. Cover with milk, and bake in the oven very slowly for one hour in a covered pan. The toughest veal, cooked in this way, will be as tender as chicken.
=Veal Patties=
1 1/2 Cupfuls of Boiled Rice 1 Cupful of Veal 1 Teaspoonful of Salt 1/2 Teaspoonful of Poultry Dressing 1 Egg 1 Tablespoonful of Milk
Grind or chop the veal, salt and stir into the rice with the dressing; beat the eggs, add milk, and stir all together. Drop a tablespoonful spread out thin on the griddle, and fry as you would griddle-cakes. Chicken, pork, or lamb may be used instead of veal.
* * * * * *
=MISCELLANEOUS=
=Boston Baked Beans=
Pick over and wash three cupfuls of small white beans; cover with cold water and soak over night. In the morning, put them on the stove, just to scald, not boil, in the same water. Pour off the water and put into an earthen bean-pot. Add seven teaspoonfuls of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, one half-pound of salt pork, fat and lean mixed. Cover with water, and bake from eight A.M. until six P.M. As the water boils away add more.
=A Breakfast Dish=
Take stale brown bread, no matter how dry, and boil until it is soft like pudding. Serve hot, with cream.
=Cracker Tea for Invalids=
Take four Boston crackers, split open, toast to a delicate brown on each side. Put these into a bowl, or earthen dish of some kind, pour over them a quart of boiling water. Let it stand on the back of the stove half an hour. When cold, give two or three teaspoonfuls to the patient. It is nourishing, and the stomach will retain it when absolutely nothing else can be taken.
=Crust Coffee=
Take the crusts, or any pieces of stale brown bread, and bake in the oven until hard and brown. Put them into an agate or earthen tea-pot, pour over them boiling water and boil ten or fifteen minutes. Strain and serve hot like any coffee, with cream and sugar.
=Grape Juice=
10 Pounds of Grapes 3 Pounds of Sugar 1 Cupful of Water
Pick from the stems, and wash clean, ten pounds of grapes. Put them on the stove in a kettle, with a little water, and cook until tender. Strain through a flannel bag. Do not squeeze it. Return juice to the kettle, add sugar, and boil for five minutes. Seal in glass jars when boiling hot. Slant the jars, when filling, to prevent cracking. When serving, add nearly the same amount of water.