Foods and Household Management Part 39

_Ingredients._

Potatoes, cold-boiled or baked Parsley or onion juice Egg, hard-boiled, olives, pickled beets, etc.

French dressing

_Method._

Cut the cold-boiled or baked potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes.

Marinate (_i.e._ mix and let stand) with French dressing. Chopped parsley or onion juice may be mixed with potatoes. Arrange in a mound and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg, olives, pickled beets, etc.

=5. Chicken salad.=

_Ingredients._

Cold-boiled or roast fowl Celery, 1/2 as much as fowl French dressing Mayonnaise or boiled dressing Olives

_Method._

Cut cold-boiled or roast fowl in 1/2-inch cubes. Add to this 1/2 as much celery which has been washed, sc.r.a.ped, and cut into cubes.

Marinate with French dressing. Just before serving moisten with mayonnaise or boiled salad dressing. Garnish with celery tips and olives.

=6. Waldorf salad.=

_Ingredients._

Apples, tart and juicy Celery, 1/2 as much as apples Mayonnaise dressing Lettuce leaves

_Method._

Select tart, juicy apples. Cut in quarters, pare and core and cut in 1/2-inch cubes. Add half as much celery, washed, sc.r.a.ped, and cut into cubes. Mix with boiled or mayonnaise dressing and serve cold on lettuce leaves. If handsome red apples can be had, they may be washed and polished and a slice cut from the stem end and the apple used as a cup after scooping out the inside to use for a filling with the celery. Serve on a lettuce leaf. Chopped nuts may be mixed with the apple and celery if desired.

=7. Stuffed tomato salad.=

_Ingredients._

Tomatoes, medium sized Boiling water Salt Cuc.u.mbers (or celery) Mayonnaise dressing Lettuce leaves

_Method._

Cover medium sized tomatoes with boiling water for a minute and remove the skin. Cut a thin slice from the top and take out part of the seeds and pulp. Sprinkle inside of the tomato with salt, invert, and let stand one half hour. Fill tomatoes with cuc.u.mbers (or celery) cut in small cubes and moistened with mayonnaise dressing. Arrange on lettuce leaves and garnish top with mayonnaise dressing.

_Laboratory management._--1/2 egg yolk (1 teaspoonful) and 1/4 cup of olive oil is as small a quant.i.ty as is practicable to use in making the mayonnaise. This quant.i.ty made by groups of two works out well as the process of adding the oil drop by drop is difficult for a beginner working alone. The boiled dressing works in well as a variation of the boiled custard.

DESSERTS

The dessert in this country includes the sweet dish, or the fruit at the end of the meal. In simple meals the dessert is usually one of the two, although in more elaborate meals fruit is served after the sweet dish, and sometimes crackers and cheese are served at the last. From the point of view of nutrition and digestibility this is more than is necessary, and you will notice that when both are served, the fruit is often declined.

Like the salad, the dessert may be made from a large variety of materials and bears different names. There are hot puddings and cold puddings, pies and tarts, jellies and ices and ice creams. It is very interesting to read over the many dishes of this cla.s.s in a cookbook and to attempt to cla.s.sify them. If you are fortunate enough to have access to a cookbook of the eighteenth century, you will find that much labor was given to the preparation of elaborate structures which served as table ornaments; even now you will find French cooks who spend much time in making elaborate displays of their skill. For everyday life the dessert should be attractive to the eye and yet simple.

=Materials used in desserts.=

_Eggs, milk, and cream_; these are important and are used in custards, in dishes stiffened with gelatin or thickened with cornstarch, or in ice cream.

_Breadstuffs._--Cake and sponge cake, bread crumbs and sliced bread, are valuable in desserts. Bread pudding may be made a very delicious dish. Bread may be combined with fruit in the shape of an escalloped dish. Baking-powder biscuits, crust, and shortcake are also used.

_Other starchy substances._--These are cornstarch, arrowroot, sago, tapioca and manioca.

_Fruits._--Raw and cooked fruits of every possible kind. A few fruits like the lemon, orange, grapefruit, and melon are not cooked. For preparing fruit served alone, see Chapter VI.

_Gelatin._--This material has been mentioned in the chapter on meat. It is prepared for use in desserts in a number of forms, the granular being the most convenient. Gelatin has the property, first, of absorbing water, then of dissolving at the boiling temperature of water and becoming stiff again when cool. After dissolving, as it is cooling and just as it begins to thicken slightly, it can be beaten like white of egg. If beating is attempted while the liquid is warm, or again if it becomes too stiff, the result is not successful. This property makes it useful in the sponges and other fancy desserts where the light spongy texture is desirable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 69.--A gelatin mold. _Courtesy of Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College._]

=Making desserts attractive.=--This is done by serving hot desserts in a dish around which a napkin may be folded; and cold desserts, especially those made with gelatin, may be molded in some attractive form and garnished. Figure 69 shows a very simple gelatin dessert garnished with candied cherries and a little angelica, the stem of a plant which has been sugared, and the whole surrounded with whipped cream. Whipping the cream and putting it around the base takes only a few minutes. As in salad, the garnish should be eatable and easily prepared.

=1. Boiled custard.=

_Ingredients._

Milk 1 pt.

Sugar 2 tablespoonfuls Eggs 3 Vanilla 1/2 teaspoonful Salt 1/8 teaspoonful

_Method._

Put the milk, sugar, and salt in a double boiler to scald.

Separate the eggs and set the whites in a cold place until wanted.

Beat the yolks until lemon-colored. Pour a little of the scalded milk on the yolks of the eggs, stirring until well mixed. Set the double boiler back on the stove and pour the egg and milk mixture slowly into the rest of the scalded milk, stirring constantly until thickened enough to coat the spoon. Remove from the fire, add the flavoring, and turn into a dish to cool. Just before serving beat the whites to a very stiff froth and pile by spoonfuls on the custard. The whites may be sweetened with powdered sugar after beating if desired. Corn starch may be used, and fewer eggs.

=2. Baked custard.=

_Ingredients._

Milk 1 pt.

Sugar 2 tablespoonfuls Salt 1/8 teaspoonful Eggs 2 Lemon _or_ Vanilla 1/2 teaspoonful

_Method._

Scald the milk, sugar, and salt together. Beat the eggs in a baking dish and pour the scalded milk over them. Add the flavoring and stir well. Set the baking dish in a pan of boiling water and bake in a moderate oven until a knife thrust into the custard will come out clean. Serve cold either plain, or with chocolate sauce.

Nutmeg may be grated on top of the custard before baking, or caramel flavoring may be added in place of the vanilla.

=3. Chocolate sauce.=

_Ingredients._

Chocolate 1 square Sugar 1/4 cup Boiling water 1/2 cup Cream 1/2 cup

_Method._

Mix the chocolate, boiling water, and sugar together and stir over the fire until smooth and thick. Add the cream and serve hot.

=4. Caramel flavoring.=