Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit Part 42

Should very sour cider vinegar be used in this recipe, the housewife will, of course, dilute it with water.

GERMAN BEAN SALAD

Use small green or yellow string-beans, which snap when broken, called by some "snap beans." String them carefully. (If quite small and tender this should not be necessary.) Rub well with the hands through several waters. This removes the strong bean taste. Have your kettle half filled with boiling water on the range over a brisk fire. Put a tablespoon of b.u.t.ter in the water, add beans by handfuls until all are in and cook until tender. Turn the beans in a colander to drain. When cool add a chopped onion, salt and pour enough good vinegar over to cover, and allow to stand two days, when strain vinegar from beans.

Boil vinegar, add water if vinegar is quite sour and pour hot over the beans. Fill quart gla.s.s jars with the beans and pour vinegar over, within an inch of top of jar; pour pure olive oil over top of beans, screw on jar covers tightly and stand in a cool place until wanted to use. In the winter, when fresh salads were scarce, Aunt Sarah opened a can of these beans. If they were very sour she poured cold water over, allowed to stand an hour, drained and added a little fresh olive oil.

Every one called her "bean salat," as the Pennsylvania Germans call it, delicious. The instructions regarding the preparing and cooking of string beans for salad will answer for beans used as a vegetable, omitting vinegar, of course. There is a great difference in the manner of cooking vegetables. Aunt Sarah always added an onion and a sprig of parsley when cooking beans to serve as a vegetable.

MEAT SALADS

To quote from the _Farmers' Bulletin_: "Whether meat salads are economical or not depends upon the way in which the materials are utilized. If in chicken salad, for example, only the white meat of chicken, especially bought for the purpose, and only the expensive inside stems of expensive celery are used, it can hardly be cheaper than plain chicken. But, if portions of meat left over from a previous serving are mixed with celery grown at home, they certainly make an economical dish, and one very acceptable to most persons. Cold roast pork or tender veal, in fact, any white meat, can be utilized in the same way. Apples cut into cubes may be subst.i.tuted for part of the celery. Many cooks consider that with the apple the salad takes the dressing better than with the celery alone. Many also prefer to marinate (_i.e._, mix with a little oil and vinegar) the meat and celery or celery and apples before putting on the final dressing, which may be either mayonnaise or a good boiled dressing."

Celery should not be allowed to stand in water. To keep fresh until used it should be wrapped in a piece of damp cheese-cloth and placed in an ice box or cool cellar.

Lettuce should be broken apart, carefully rinsed, and put loosely in a piece of damp cheese-cloth and placed on ice to crisp before using.

BEVERAGES--COFFEE

Scald coffee pot well before using (never use metal). Place in it five tablespoons ground coffee. (A good coffee is made from a mixture of two-thirds Java to one-third Mocha.) Beat up with the ground coffee one whole egg. Should the housewife deem this extravagant, use only the white of one egg, or peel off the white skin lining inside of egg sh.e.l.ls and use. Add three tablespoons cold water and mix well together. Stand on range to heat; when hot add one quart of _freshly-boiled_ hot water. Allow coffee to boil to top of coffee pot three times (about eight minutes), pour over one tablespoon cold water to settle. Stand a few minutes where it will keep hot, not boil. Place a generous tablespoon of sweet thick cream in each cup and pour coffee through a strainer over it. Always serve hot.

A larger or smaller amount of coffee may be used, as different brands of coffee vary in strength and individual tastes differ, but five tablespoons of coffee, not too coa.r.s.ely ground and not pulverized, to one quart of water, will be the correct proportions for good coffee.

Use cream and you will have a delicious, rich, brown beverage not possible when milk is used. Better coffee may be made if whole grains of roasted coffee be bought, reheated in oven and freshly ground whenever used, rather finely ground but not pulverized. Coffee, when ground for any length of time, loses strength. If coffee is ground when purchased, always keep it in closely covered cans until used. Or buy green coffee berries and roast them in oven; when coffee has been roasted, stir one whole raw egg through the coffee berries; when dry, place in covered cans, then no egg will be needed when preparing coffee. As a subst.i.tute for cream, use yolk of fresh egg mixed with a couple tablespoonfuls of milk.

COCOA

Mix four tablespoonfuls of cocoa to a smooth paste with one cup of boiling water. Add one more cup boiling water and boil fifteen or twenty minutes. Add four tablespoonfuls of sugar, then add 4 cups of hot boiled milk. A few drops of essence of vanilla improves the flavor. Add a couple tablespoonfuls whipped cream on top of each cup when serving, or, instead of cream, place a marshmallow in each cup before pouring in cocoa. This quant.i.ty is for six cups of cocoa.

CHOCOLATE

One square of Baker's unsweetened chocolate shaved thinly or grated, mixed to a smooth paste with 1 cup of boiling water. Boil from fifteen to twenty minutes. Add 1 cup of boiling milk and 2 even tablespoonfuls of sugar. Flavor with a few drops of vanilla, if liked, and add whipped cream to each cup when serving. This is for 2 cups of chocolate.

BOILED WATER

It sometimes becomes necessary to boil drinking water, which usually has a flat, insipid taste. Do young housewives know it is said that after water has been boiled and when quite cool if a bottle be half filled and shaken well the water will become aerated, and have the taste of fresh spring water?

TEA

To make tea always scald the teapot, which should be agate, earthenware or china, never metal. Always use water that has been _freshly_ boiled, and use it boiling hot. Never, under any circ.u.mstances, boil tea, as tannin is then extracted from the leaves, and the tea will have a bitter taste. Do not allow tea to stand any length of time unless strained from tea leaves. Use one teaspoon of tea for each cup, unless liked stronger, when add one extra teaspoon to each three cups of tea. Some contend that tea is better, if at first a small quant.i.ty of boiling water is poured over the leaves, allowing it to steep three minutes--then pour over the remaining quant.i.ty of boiling water and let stand about four minutes, when it is ready to serve with cream and sugar, if liked. Should any tea remain after serving do not throw away, but strain at once from tea leaves and when cool place in a gla.s.s jar in refrigerator to be used as iced tea.

ICED TEA

For two quarts of delicious iced tea, place in an agate teapot one generous tablespoon of good tea (never buy a cheap, inferior grade of tea). Pour over the tea leaves one quart of freshly boiled, scalding hot water; let stand five minutes, keep hot (not boil), strain from the leaves into a pitcher, then pour over the tea leaves another quart of hot water, allow it to stand a few minutes, then strain as before.

Add the juice of one lemon and sugar to taste. When cooled stand on ice and add chipped ice to tumblers when serving.

PUDDINGS

To boil a pudding in a bag, dip the bag, which should be made of thick cotton or linen, in hot water, dredge the inside well with flour before putting batter into the bag. When the pudding has boiled a long enough time, dip the bag quickly in cold water, and the pudding will turn out easily. Allow five large eggs to 1 quart of milk usually to make custard solid enough to keep its shape when turned from the mold.

One teaspoonful of extract will flavor one quart. Always stand individual cups in a pan partly filled with hot water. Place pan containing custard cups in a moderate oven and bake slowly forty minutes. Always sift flour over beef suet when chopping it to be used in puddings. Pour boiling water over Pecans (nuts), allow to stand several hours. When cracked, the sh.e.l.l may be easily removed, leaving the nuts whole.

Blanch almonds by pouring boiling water over them. Allow them to stand a short time, when the brown skin may be easily removed. Dry thoroughly by standing in a rather cool oven, then put in gla.s.s jars and they are ready to use. Almonds are used particularly by the Germans in various ways. One hausfrau adds chopped almonds to cooked oatmeal for her children's breakfast and they are frequently used as an ingredient; also to decorate the tops of raised cakes. When dried currants and raisins are bought by the frugal housewife they are quickly washed in cold water, carefully picked over, then turned on to a sieve to drain. Raisins are seeded, then spread over pans, placed in a warm oven about 15 minutes, then spread on a plate and allowed to stand in a dry place for several days. When thoroughly dried place in gla.s.s jars and stand aside until required. Currants or raisins should always be well floured before adding to cake or pudding. The "German hausfrau" usually serves stewed prunes or raisins with a dish of noodles or macaroni.

RICE PUDDING

One of the simplest and cheapest of desserts depends partly on the quality of the ingredients used, but chiefly on the manner of making for its excellence. If prepared according to directions, you will have a pudding both rich and creamy. Use 1 quart of good sweet milk (do not use either skimmed milk or water), 3 tablespoonfuls of whole uncoated rice (no more), 2-1/2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, pinch of salt, vanilla or almond flavoring.

Wash the rice well, mix all together in a pudding dish, bake from 2-1/2 to 3 hours in an oven with a slow, even heat. When a skin forms on the top of the pudding, carefully stir through the rice. Do this frequently. This gives the pudding a rich, creamy consistency. When grains of rice are tender allow pudding to brown over top and serve either hot or cold. Raisins may be added, if liked, or raisins may be stewed separately and served with the rice, which many think a great improvement to the pudding. Many think rice pudding should always be flavored with grated nutmeg. Aunt Sarah, while using nutmeg flavoring in various other dishes, never used it for her rice pudding.

When mixing a boiled pudding Aunt Sarah frequently subst.i.tuted a large tablespoon of fine dried bread crumbs instead of the same amount of flour. She said, "'Twas a small economy," and, she thought, "the pudding's improved" by the use of bread crumbs.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S APPLE DUMPLINGS

Prepare a syrup of 1 cup sugar, 2 cups of hot water and 1 tablespoon of b.u.t.ter. Pour all into an agate pudding dish. Add to this syrup 2 heaping cups of pared, sliced sour apples.

Let all come to a boil. For the dumplings, sift together one cup of flour and two even teaspoons of baking powder. Add a pinch of salt.

Mix into a soft dough or batter with about 3/4 cup of sweet milk or cream. Drop six or eight spoonfuls of this batter into the boiling syrup on top of apples. Cover closely and cook on top of range twenty minutes without uncovering. Serve hot. These dumplings should be light as puff b.a.l.l.s. Peaches may be subst.i.tuted for apples and are delicious.

CARAMEL CUSTARD (AS MARY PREPARED IT)

1 pint of milk.

2 eggs.

1/2 cup granulated sugar.

Melt 1/2 cup of sugar in an iron pan on stove and allow it to brown.

Add a part of the hot milk, stirring constantly until brown sugar is dissolved. Add balance of the pint of hot milk. Stir all together, then stand aside to cool. When cold, add eggs and bake in oven in custard cups. Stand cups in hot water while baking.

AUNT SARAH'S BREAD PUDDING

Pour 1 quart of boiling milk over 1-1/2 pints of soft bread crumbs.

Put the mixture into a b.u.t.tered pudding dish with 1 teaspoonful salt.

Cover closely with a plate and let stand about half an hour. At the end of that time beat into it three eggs, 1 teaspoonful lemon extract, and beat until perfectly smooth. Bake in a moderately hot oven three-quarters of an hour. Serve with the following sauce: 6 tablespoonfuls pulverized sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls b.u.t.ter, 1 tablespoonful lemon juice. Beat all together to a cream; when it is ready to serve. No sugar is needed in this pudding if this sweet sauce is used.

STEAMED BREAD PUDDING

Place 1 cup of fine dried bread crumbs in a bowl. Pour over the crumbs 2 cups of milk and allow to stand a short time. Beat together 2 eggs and scant 1/2 cup sugar, add 1 tablespoon of b.u.t.ter. Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly; then add 1/2 cup of chopped raisins, which have been seeded and floured. Pour the batter in the well-b.u.t.tered top part of a double boiler over hot water. Steam about 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Serve hot with sauce used for cottage pudding, or serve with sugar and cream.