Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit Part 32

BOUILLON

Buy a soup bone, cook with a chopped onion, one stalk of celery and a sprig of parsley until meat falls from bone. Season with salt and pepper. Strain the broth into a bowl and stand aside until perfectly cold. Then remove the cake of fat formed on top of soup and add it to drippings for frying. The broth may be kept several days if poured into a gla.s.s jar and set on ice. When wanted to serve, heat 1 pint of broth, add 2 tablespoonfuls of cream to yolks of 2 eggs. Stir well.

Pour boiling hot broth over the cream and yolks of eggs and serve at once in bouillon cups. Serve crackers also. Do not cook mixture after cream and yolks of eggs have been added. This is very nouris.h.i.+ng.

FARMER'S RICE

One and one-half quarts of milk, poured into a double boiler and placed on the range to heat. One cup of flour was placed in a bowl; into the flour 1 raw egg was dropped and stirred with a knife until mixed, then rubbed between the fingers into fine rivels. It may take a little _more_ flour; the rivels should be dry enough to allow of being rubbed fine. When the milk commences to boil drop the rivels in by handfuls, slowly, stirring constantly. Salt to taste. Let cook 15 minutes. Eat while hot, adding a small piece of b.u.t.ter as seasoning.

This should be a little thicker than ordinary rice soup.

PHILADELPHIA "PEPPER POT"

This recipe for far-famed "Philadelphia Pepper Pot" was given Mary by a friend living in the Quaker City, a good cook, who vouched for its excellence:

The ingredients consist of the following:

1 knuckle of veal.

2 pounds of plain tripe.

2 pounds of honeycomb tripe.

1 large onion, 1 bunch of pot-herbs.

4 medium-sized potatoes.

1 bay leaf--salt and cayenne pepper to season.

1/2 pound of beef suet--and flour for dumplings.

The day before you wish to use the "Pepper Pot" procure 2 pounds of plain tripe and 2 pounds of honeycomb tripe. Wash thoroughly in cold water place in a kettle. Cover with cold water and boil eight hours; then remove tripe from water, and when cold cut into pieces about 3/4 of an inch square. The day following get a knuckle of veal, wash and cover with cold water--about three quarts--bring slowly to the simmering point, skimming off the sc.u.m which arises, simmer for three hours. Remove the meat from the bones, cut into small pieces, strain broth and return it to the kettle. Add a bay leaf, one large onion, chopped, simmer one hour; then add four medium-sized potatoes, cut like dice, and add to the broth. Wash a bunch of pot-herbs, chop parsley (and add last), rub off the thyme leaves, cut red pepper in half and add all to broth; then add meat and tripe and season with salt; _if liked hot_, use a pinch of cayenne pepper. For the dumplings, take 1 cup of beef suet, chopped fine, 2 cups flour, pinch of salt, mix well together and moisten with enough cold water to allow of their being molded or rolled into tiny dumplings, the size of a small marble. Flour these well to prevent sticking together. When all are prepared drop into soup, simmer a few minutes, add parsley and serve at once.

GERMAN VEGETABLE SOUP

Take 6 potatoes, half the quant.i.ty of onions, carrots, turnips, cabbage and a stalk of celery, cut up into dice-shaped pieces, place all in a stew-pan and cover with a couple quarts of hot water. Let cook about two hours, until all the vegetables are tender, then add 1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, a large cup of milk, and about a tablespoonful of flour mixed smooth with a little cold milk, cook a few minutes, add a tablespoonful minced parsley, and serve.

A CHEAP RICE AND TOMATO SOUP

Take one pint of rice water which has been drained from one cupful of rice boiled in 2-1/2 quarts of water 25 minutes (the rice to be used in other ways), and after the rice has drained in a sieve add to the rice water 1 cup stewed, strained tomatoes (measure after being strained), 1 teaspoonful b.u.t.ter, 1 teaspoonful flour mixed with a little cold water, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoonful of the cooked rice, and you have a palatable soup, as the water in which the rice was boiled is said to be more nutritious than the rice.

FISH, CLAMS AND OYSTER (BONED SHAD)

How many young cooks know how to bone a shad? It is a very simple process, and one becomes quite expert after one or two trials. And it fully repays one for the extra time and trouble taken, in the satisfaction experienced by being able to serve fish without bones.

With a sharp knife cut the fish open along the back bone on the outside of the fish, but do not cut through the bone, then carefully cut the fish loose along the back bone on each side, cut the centre bone away with the smaller bones branching out on each side attached.

Cut the shad into sizable pieces after being washed in cold water and dried on a cloth to take up all the moisture. Dip pieces of fish into white of egg containing a teaspoonful of water, roll in fine, dried bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper, drop in hot fat, and fry a rich brown. Serve on a platter, surrounded by a border of parsley.

Some small portions of the fish will adhere to the bones, however carefully the fish has been boned. The meat may be picked from the bones after cooking in salt water until tender. Flake the fish, and either make it into small patties or croquettes.

Shad roe should be parboiled first and then dredged with flour on both sides and fried in drippings or a little b.u.t.ter.

CROQUETTES OF COLD, COOKED FISH

Shred or flake cold, cooked fish, which has been carefully picked from bones. To 2 cups of fish add an equal amount of mashed potatoes, a small half cup of cold milk, 1 tablespoonful b.u.t.ter, yolk of 1 egg, lightly beaten, 1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper. Mix all well together, and when cold, form in small croquettes. Dip into white of egg containing 1 tablespoonful of water, roll in fine, dried bread crumbs and fry in hot fat. Shad, salmon, codfish, or any kind of fish may be prepared this way, or prepare same as "Rice Croquettes," subst.i.tuting-fish for rice.

SHAD ROE

Shad roe should be carefully taken from the fish, allowed to stand in cold water, to which a pinch of salt has been added, for a few minutes, then dropped in boiling water, cooked a short time and drained. Dredge with flour and fry slowly in a couple tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and lard or drippings until a golden brown. Be particular not to serve them rare. Serve garnished with parsley.

Or the shad roe may be parboiled, then broken in small pieces, mixed with a couple of lightly beaten eggs and scrambled in a fry-pan, containing a couple of tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and sweet drippings.

Serve at once. Garnish with parsley or water cress.

SCALLOPED OYSTERS

Take about 50 fresh oysters. Place a layer of oysters in a baking dish alternately with fine, dried crumbs, well seasoned with pepper and salt and bits of b.u.t.ter, until pan is about two-thirds full. Have a thick layer of bread crumbs for the top, dotted with bits of b.u.t.ter.

Pour over this half a cup or less of strained oyster liquor and small cup of sweet milk. Place in oven and bake from 40 to 50 minutes.

DEVILED OYSTERS

2 dozen oysters.

1 cup rich milk.

3 tablespoonfuls flour.

Yolks of 2 raw eggs.

1 generous tablespoonful b.u.t.ter.

1 tablespoonful finely-minced parsley.

Drain oysters in a colander and chop rather coa.r.s.ely.

Mix flour smooth with a little cold milk. Place the remainder of the milk in a saucepan on the range. When it commences to boil add the moistened flour and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly to prevent burning, or cook in a double boiler. Add yolks of eggs and b.u.t.ter, 1/2 teaspoonful salt and 1/4 teaspoonful of black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Then add chopped oysters, stir all together a few minutes until oysters are heated through. Then turn into a bowl and stand aside in a cool place until a short time before they are to be served. (These may be prepared early in the morning and served at six o'clock dinner.) Then fill good-sized, well-scrubbed oyster sh.e.l.ls with the mixture, sprinkle the tops liberally with fine-dried, well-seasoned bread crumbs. (Seasoned with salt and pepper.) Place the filled sh.e.l.ls on m.u.f.fin tins to prevent their tipping over; stand in a hot oven about ten minutes, until browned on top, when they should be heated through. Serve at once in the sh.e.l.ls.

Handle the hot sh.e.l.ls with a folded napkin when serving at table. This quant.i.ty fills thirteen oyster sh.e.l.ls. Serve with the oysters small pickles, pickled cabbage or cranberry sauce as an accompaniment.

PLANKED SHAD

After eating planked shad no one will wish to have it served in any other manner, as no other method of preparing fish equals this. For planked shad, use an oak plank, at least two inches thick, three inches thick is better. Planks for this purpose may be bought at a department store or procured at a planing mill. Place plank in oven several days before using to season it. Always heat the plank in oven about 15 minutes before placing fish on it, then have plank _very hot_. Split a nicely-cleaned shad down the back, place skin side down, on hot plank, brush with b.u.t.ter and sprinkle lightly with pepper and salt. Put plank containing shad on the upper grating of a hot oven of coal range and bake about 45 minutes. Baste frequently with melted b.u.t.ter. The shad should be served on the plank, although not a very sightly object, but it is the proper way to serve it. The flavor of shad, or, in fact, of any other fish, prepared in this manner is superior to that of any other. Fish is less greasy and more wholesome than when fried. Should an oak plank not be obtainable, the shad may be placed in a large roasting pan and baked in oven. Cut gashes across the fish about two inches apart, and place a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter on each. Bake in oven from 50 to 60 minutes. Serve on a warmed platter, garnished with parsley, and have dinner plates warmed when serving fish on them. Do not wash the plank with soap and water after using, but instead rub it over with sandpaper.

BROILED MACKEREL

When fish has been cleaned, cut off head and sc.r.a.pe dark skin from inside. Soak salt mackerel in cold water over night, skin side up, always. In the morning; drain, wipe dry and place on a greased broiler, turn until cooked on both sides. Take up carefully on a hot platter, pour over a large tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter and a little pepper, or lay the mackerel in a pan, put bits of b.u.t.ter on top, and set in a hot oven and bake. Garnish with parsley.

CODFISH b.a.l.l.s

Soak codfish several hours in cold water. Cook slowly or simmer a short time. Remove from fire, drain, and when cold squeeze out all moisture by placing the flaked fish in a small piece of cheese-cloth.

To one cup of the flaked codfish add an equal quant.i.ty of warm mashed potatoes, yolk of 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful of milk and a little pepper.

Roll into small b.a.l.l.s with a little flour. Dip in white of egg and bread crumbs, and when quite cold fry in deep fat. Garnish with parsley.