The Story of Crisco
by
Marion Harris Neil
Part 2 out of 9
rather more slowly that the heat may penetrate to the center. The
frequent turning must be continued, or the juices will reach the
hardened outer fibres, soften them, and escape.
If a double broiler is used the turning is managed easily, but with a
single gridiron care must be taken not to puncture the meat by using
a fork. Steak tongs are made for the purpose of lifting and turning
broiled meat, but a spoon or a spoon and knife will answer. A single
rim of fat on the chop or steak will tend to keep the edge moist and
baste the meat, but too much will cause flame to rise in continuous
jet, making the surface smoky. If there is absolutely no fat on
the piece to be broiled, morsels of finely chopped suet may be
occasionally thrown into the fire, so the sudden spurt of flame from
this source leaves a deposit of fat on the meat which improves the
flavor, and, without softening the albumen, prevents its becoming
uneatably hard and dry.
Frying
Frying may be looked on as a derivative of broiling, and passes by
easy stages, from broiling on a slightly greased metal plate, or
_sauteing_ in a shallow pan in a small quantity of Crisco, to cooking
by actual immersion into a bath of hot fat. In a house where small
and delicately made dishes are in demand, and where variety in the
re-dressing of cold meats has to be studied, this frying in deep fat
is one of the cook's most needed accomplishments. Though exceedingly
easy to do well, it is also exceedingly easy to do badly.
Deep fat frying, which means submerging the food in the fat, is far
superior to shallow or saute frying, and can be done most economically
with Crisco. Little is absorbed by the foods, and the Crisco does
not take up the odor or flavor of the food which is fried in it. This
characteristic makes it possible to use Crisco for frying one article
of food after another.
Use _plenty_ of Crisco for frying. The temperature of the hot Crisco
then will be but little lowered when the food is added. There is
little absorption and what is left may be used for _all_ frying,
merely by straining out food particles after each frying.
Sufficient Crisco should be put into the pan to fill it about
two-thirds full. From two to three pounds for a pan eight inches
in diameter will not be too much. Into this pan or kettle a wire
"frying-basket" should fit quite loosely, the basket measuring quite
an inch less across the top than the pan.
Let Crisco get hot gradually in the pan. Do not put into an already
hot container. No fat should be treated in this manner.
Do Not Wait for Crisco to Smoke
Heat Crisco until a crumb of bread becomes a golden brown in
60 seconds for raw dough mixtures, as crullers, fritters, etc.
40 seconds for cooked mixtures, as croquettes, codfish balls, etc.
20 seconds for French fried potatoes.
Seconds may be counted thus: one hundred and one, one hundred and two,
etc.
The fat may be tested also by dropping into it a little piece of the
article to be cooked. When it rises to the top, bubbles vigorously and
browns quickly, the fat is hot enough.
When prepared, the foods must be placed in the basket, not too many
at a time or too close together, and then lowered gently into the fat.
They generally will sink to the bottom for a minute or two, and only
float when they have begun to brown. When a bright golden brown, take
up the basket and let the fried things drain in it, over the hot fat,
for a few seconds. Then take them out gently one by one, and lay them
on a sheet of brown or kitchen paper.
The draining over the pan is one of the principal things to attend
to; if this be neglected, the fat will cling about the fried things,
making them both look and taste greasy, whereas if properly drained
in the basket to begin with, they will afterwards scarcely mark the
paper. When, as is sometimes the case, no frying basket is used, each
thing fried should be drained between a spoon and the edge of the pan.
To Clarify
It is economy to use three pounds in the kettle, clarifying the fat
when it is put away. To clarify Crisco, take that which has been used
for deep frying and when it has cooled, but not solidified, strain
through a double thickness of cheese cloth, replace kettle on stove,
drop several slices of potato into the Crisco and reheat. When the
potatoes are golden brown, take out and pour the Crisco back into the
tin. With this little care, fish, oysters, onions, chops, fritters,
doughnuts, etc., may be fried over and over again in the same Crisco.
[Illustration]
The dry or saute method of frying is less satisfactory, in that it
is difficult even after much practice to produce a uniformly colored
surface. A small quantity of fat only is needed, and where the fat,
i.e., the heat, ends, a crack is formed in the outer coat, through
which flavor escapes and fat enters; the appearance also is rendered
unsightly. Flat fish can be fried fairly well by this method, or,
indeed, almost any thin substance, as thin edges are not affected in
this way. For pancakes and other articles of similar nature it is the
best method. It rarely is possible to use the fat from the dry method
a second time, except for dishes of the same kind, as the fat always
is more or less flavored by the food cooked in it. The most digestible
fat for frying and the best for results undoubtedly is Crisco.
Steaming
Steaming is a process very similar to boiling, for it is cooking in
the heated vapor of water. This practice as a means of cookery is
largely adopted in hotels, clubs, schools and hospitals, and other
large institutions; also frequently applied in ordinary home cookery
for particular articles of food requiring a very slow process of
cooking. An ordinary kitchen steamer, with a close-fitting lid is
generally all that is required for simple household cookery on a small
scale. The articles of food which are to be steamed are prepared in
exactly the same manner as for boiling. Many puddings, some meats, and
some vegetables are considered better if cooked by steam, and inasmuch
as the process of cooking is a very slow one, there is no fear of
the food being destroyed by too fierce a heat, as the temperature in
steaming never reaches beyond 212 deg. F. Fish, meat and poultry cooked by
steam are as a rule tender, full of gravy and digestible. By steaming,
watery vegetables are made drier; tough meats are softened and made
tender; while farinaceous mixtures and puddings develop a totally
different flavor when baked or fried.
Braising
Braising is a combination of roasting and stewing small joints of
meat in a shallow stewpan. It is a favorite method of cooking with
the French, and is supposed to bring out an unusually fine flavor and
aroma. The pan in which a braise is to be made always should be lined
with slices of bacon, carrot, onions and herbs, upon which the meat is
placed. It usually is moistened with stock or stock and wine. The
more delicate meats, such as sweetbreads, fillets, fowls and turkeys
sometimes are covered with buttered paper; this is done to prevent
the heat from the top of the pan scorching or imparting too much of a
roast flavor to the meats which are to be braised. Occasional basting
during the process of this method of cooking is essential. When done,
the meat is taken up, the fat removed from the vegetables and gravy,
which latter is then reduced, strained and blended with some kind of
gravy or thin sauce.
Poaching and Marinating
Poaching is the name usually given to the process of cooking an
article by placing it for a few minutes in boiling water. Marinating
or pickling is a process with a formidable name with a simple meaning.
To marinate simply is to soak meat in a mixture for some hours, or
even days, with the idea of improving its flavor of softening its
fibres and making it tender. Vinegar, oil, pepper and salt are mixed
together and the meat packed in the mixture; sometimes a sliced onion
and herbs are added. The meat, of course, should be wiped first, but
not washed.
Cooking in Earthenware
Stone or earthenware cooking appliances are used to very great
advantage for various forms of preparing food. For the homely
_pot-au-feu_ the French housewife has used fireproof earthenware
dishes for generations, and does so today. But besides soups, various
savory dishes, and all sorts of stews are cooked in stoneware pots.
Indeed, so much has this form of cookery come into fashion that many
dishes are sent to table in the pots in which they are cooked. Cooking
in stoneware has no equal where slow cooking is aimed at, and there
are many dishes which one would do well to refrain from attempting
unless cooked in this fashion. These cooking pots are inexpensive,
and certain foods taste decidedly better if cooked in this way. For
braising, pot roasting, or stewing fruit and other articles which need
to be cooked slowly under close cover, the application of a moderate,
even heat produces far better results than if quick heat is applied.
For such cases the use of earthenware cooking pots is recommended.
[Illustration]
_Time Table for Cooking_
Baking
Beef, loin or ribs, rare, per lb. 8 to 10 minutes
Beef, loin or ribs, well done, per lb. 12 to 16 minutes
Beef, ribs, rolled, rare 12 to 15 minutes
Beef, ribs, rolled, well done 15 to 18 minutes
Beef, fillet, rare 20 to 30 minutes
Beef, fillet, well done 60 minutes
Mutton, leg, rare, per lb. 10 minutes
Mutton, leg, well done, per lb. 14 minutes
Mutton, forequarter, stuffed, per lb. 15 to 25 minutes
Lamb, well done, per lb. 15 to 20 minutes
Veal, well done, per lb. 18 to 22 minutes
Pork, well done, per lb. 20 minutes
Venison, rare, per lb. 10 minutes
Chicken, per lb. 15 to 20 minutes
Turkey, nine lbs. 3 hours
Goose, nine lbs. 2-1/2 hours
Duck, domestic 1 to 1-1/4 hours
Duck, wild 20 to 30 minutes
Grouse 25 to 30 minutes
Ham 4 to 6 hours
Fish, 3 or 4 lbs. 45 to 60 minutes
Small fish and fillets 20 minutes
Beans with pork 6 to 8 hours
Bread, white loaf 45 to 60 minutes
Graham loaf 35 to 45 minutes
Baking powder biscuits 12 to 15 minutes
Gems 25 to 30 minutes
Quick doughs 8 to 15 minutes
Cookies 8 to 10 minutes
Gingerbread 20 to 30 minutes
Sponge cake 45 to 60 minutes
Cake, layer 20 to 30 minutes
Cake, loaf 40 to 60 minutes
Fruit cake 2 to 3 hours
Cake, wedding 3 to 5 hours
Cakes, small 15 to 25 minutes
Batter puddings 35 to 45 minutes
Pies 30 to 50 minutes
Tarts 15 to 20 minutes
Patties 15 to 25 minutes
Vol-au-vent 50 to 60 minutes
Muffins, yeast 30 minutes
Muffins, baking powder 20 to 25 minutes
Indian pudding 2 to 3 hours
Rice or tapioca pudding 1 hour
Bread puddings 45 to 60 minutes
Scallop dishes 15 to 20 minutes
Custard 35 to 45 minutes
Custard in cups 20 to 25 minutes
Boiling
MEATS 2 to 6 hours
Corned meat 4 to 6 hours
Ox tongue 3 to 4 hours
Ham, 12 to 14 lbs 4 to 5 hours
Turkey, 10 lbs 3 to 3-1/2 hours
Fowl, 4 to 5 lbs 2 to 3 hours
Chicken, 3 lbs 1 to 1-1/2 hours
Fish, 2 to 5 lbs 30 to 45 minutes
Lobster 25 to 30 minutes
Cod, 3 to 5 lbs 20 to 30 minutes
Haddock, 3 to 5 lbs 20 to 30 minutes
Halibut, thick piece, per lb 15 minutes
Salmon, thick piece, per lb 10 to 15 minutes
Asparagus 20 to 30 minutes
Beans, shell or string 1 to 3 hours
Beets, young 50 minutes
Beets, old 3 to 4 hours
Brussels Sprouts 15 to 20 minutes
Cabbage 35 to 60 minutes
Carrots 1 hour
Cauliflower 25 to 30 minutes
Corn 12 to 20 minutes
Macaroni 20 to 35 minutes
Turnips 30 to 45 minutes
Onions 45 to 60 minutes
Parsnips 30 to 45 minutes
Spinach 15 to 20 minutes
Tomatoes, stewed 15 to 20 minutes
Rice 20 to 30 minutes
Broiling
Steak, 1 inch thick 4 to 10 minutes
Steak, 1-1/2 inches thick 8 to 12 minutes
Lamb or mutton chops 6 to 10 minutes
Chicken 20 minutes
Quails 8 minutes
Squabs 10 to 12 minutes
Shad, whitefish and bluefish 15 to 20 minutes
Fish slices 12 to 15 minutes
Liver 4 to 5 minutes
Frying
Smelts and other small fish 3 to 5 minutes
Breaded chops 5 to 8 minutes
Potatoes, raw 4 to 8 minutes
Fish balls and croquettes 1 minute
Muffins, fritters, and doughnuts 3 to 5 minutes
Weights and Measures
27-1/3 grains 1 dram
16 drams 1 ounce
16 ounces 1 pound
1 teaspoonful 60 drops
3 teaspoonfuls 1 tablespoonful
4 tablespoonfuls 1 wineglass, 1/2 gill, or 1/4 cup
16 tablespoonfuls 1 cup
2 gills 1 cup
2 cups 1 pint
2 pints 1 quart
4 quarts 1 gallon
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco 1 ounce
2 tablespoonfuls salt 1 ounce
2 tablespoonfuls sugar 1 ounce
4 tablespoonfuls flour 1 ounce
1 tablespoonful liquid 1/2 ounce
1 square chocolate 1 ounce
1/3 cupful chopped nut meats (blanched) 1 ounce
1 cupful currants 1/4 pound
1 cupful crumbs 1/4 pound
4-1/3 cupfuls coffee 1 pound
3-1/2 cupfuls confectioners' sugar 1 pound
4-1/2 cupfuls graham flour 1 pound
2-2/3 cupfuls oatmeal 1 pound
5 cupfuls rolled oats 1 pound
4-1/3 cupfuls rye meal 1 pound
1-7/8 cupfuls rice 1 pound
2-1/3 cupfuls dry beans 1 pound
2 cupfuls granulated sugar 1 pound
2-2/3 cupfuls brown sugar 1 pound
2-2/3 cupfuls powdered sugar 1 pound
1 cupful (volume) 8 ounces
1 cupful water 8-1/3 ounces
1 pint butter 1 pound
1 quart-flour 1 pound
10 small or 9 medium eggs 1 pound
All materials are measured level, i.e., by filling spoon or cup more
than full and leveling with a case knife.
To measure meal, flour, sugar and similar ingredients, sift lightly
into the measure, then level.
Standard measuring cups made of tin, aluminum or glass holding half
a pint always should be used. Coffee and teacups vary so much that
correct proportions can not be obtained by using them.
To measure a spoonful of dry material, fill the spoon heaping, then
level. To measure a half-spoonful, fill and level the spoon, then
divide in half lengthways; for quarter-spoonfuls, divide the halves
crossways.
_Use level measurements in all recipes in this book._
_The Art of Carving_
Carving is an art, and one which anybody, with a knowledge of a few
general directions, can acquire easily.
A proper set of carving tools is almost indispensable, and should
comprise: a good thin, sharp-bladed knife, a solid two or three
pronged fork, and a pair of carving scissors. Anything that needs to
be carved at table should be placed on a dish sufficiently large
to allow the joint to be turned without moving the dish from its
position. The dish should be placed close in front of the carver.
Such joints as beef, veal and ham should be cut very thin; while lamb,
mutton, and pork should be cut a trifle thicker.
_To carve a fowl_, begin by sticking the fork into the pinion and draw
it towards the leg; and then, passing the knife underneath, take off
the wing at the joint. Next slip the knife between leg and body, to
cut through the joint; and with the fork turn leg back, and joint will
give way. Then take off other wing and leg. After legs are taken off,
enter knife into the top of breast, and cut under merrythought or
wishbone so as to loosen it, lifting it with the fork. Afterwards cut
slices from both sides of breast. Next, take off collarbones, which
lie on each side of wishbone and then separate side bones from the
back. The breast and wings are considered the most delicate parts; the
back as the least desirable, generally is left on platter.
_A turkey_ is carved in same manner, except that the legs and wings,
being larger, are separated at lower joint. Lower part of leg (or
drumstick) being hard, tough, and stringy, usually is allowed to
remain on platter. First cut off wing, leg, and breast from one side;
then turn turkey round and cut them off from the other.
_To carve a goose_, separate leg from body by putting fork into small
end of leg, pressing it close to body, and then passing knife under,
and turning leg back as you cut through joint. To take off wing, put
fork into the small end of wing, and press it closely to body, then
slip knife under and separate the joint. Next, cut under wishbone and
take it off, and cut slices from breast. Then turn and dismember the
other side. Take off upper side bones next to wings, then two lower
side bones. The breast and legs of a goose are considered the most
choice. If a goose is old, there is no fowl so tough.
_Quails_ merely are split down the back, as also are pigeons, giving a
half to each person.
_To carve loin of mutton,_ a portion is cut through, beginning at the
best end. If kidney be in it, a slice should be served as far as it
will go to each portion. Care must be taken that the bone is well
jointed. The butcher chops the loin between each vertebra. When big
mutton is carved it gives a large chop, oftentimes more than the
amount desired, but a chop cannot be divided without waste, or one
portion being all the inferior end. It is therefore a good plan to
joint a loin of mutton with a small meat saw, cutting any thickness
desired. In this case the actual bone will often have to be sawn
through. The result will be more economical, and the servings more
agreeable. The loin also can be boned entirely, stuffed or not, as
preferred, the flap end folded and fastened over the fillet portion.
Then the meat can be carved across any thickness.
_To carve leg of mutton,_ stand joint the inner part of the leg
uppermost and cut across center to bone, towards carver, then cut
rather thick slices on either side. To serve the meat equally, unless
any special part is desired, a portion of the knuckle is served with
a slice of the thick end. The prime fat is the kernel of fat at the
thick end.
_To carve forequarter of mutton or lamb._ The forequarter of mutton
usually is not served whole unless the mutton be very small. The
forequarter of lamb frequently is served whole. Before cooking it
must be jointed through the chine of bone at the back, to enable this
portion being served in chops, twice across the breastbones the entire
length, and at short intervals at the edge of the breast. Before
serving it is usual to separate the shoulder by pressing the fork
in by the knuckle, then passing knife round shoulder, crossing about
center of joint, raising shoulder without cutting too much meat off
breast. Leave shoulder in position on joint; a second dish is sent to
table on which to lay it while the other part is being carved.
_To carve rabbit or hare._ In either case first separate legs and
shoulders; then cut the back part across, into two parts. This is
accomplished best by inserting the knife into joint, and raising up
the back by means of the fork. The back or fillet part is considered
the best portion of a hare or rabbit.
_To carve sirloin of beef,_ a sirloin should be cut into thin slices
with a sharp, firm cut from end to end of the joint. At the upper
portion the cut should be clean and even; then use point of knife to
loosen slices from bones. In carving undercut, remove superfluous fat,
and cut slices from end to end in same manner as upper portion. Be
careful always to cut down straight to the bone of a sirloin or rib
of beef; by so doing you will not spoil appearance of joint, and what
remains will look tidy.
_To carve ham._ Ham should be cut through to the bone first from
center or near thin end. Slices must be cut thin. Always commence
cutting from upper side. The fairest way by far, so as to serve fat
and lean evenly, is to begin cutting from center of thickest part, and
to cut thin circular slices; by this means the flavor of the ham
is far better, and it will prove to be the more economical way of
serving.
_To carve ox-tongue._ Commence cutting from middle of tongue; cut
slices not too thin and take them from each side being careful not to
cut slices through to bottom part of tongue. Extreme end of the tip
and the lower part of tongue generally are used up for chopping in
salpicons, etc. A little of the fat should be put on each plate. When
rolled tongue is served it must be cut horizontally into rather thin
slices.
_To carve fish._ A silver sheer or trowel should be used for this
purpose; a steel knife applied to fish often spoils the delicacy of
its flavor. Great care must be taken to prevent breaking the flakes,
which ought to be kept as entire as possible. Short-grained fish, such
as salmon, etc., should be cut lengthwise, not crosswise.
[Illustration]
Six Hundred and Fifteen Tested Recipes
"Calendar of Dinners"
[Illustration: Crisco]
by Marion Harris Neil
SOUPS
An economical housewife may supply good gravy and thick soups at
very little, if any, addition to the weekly expenses, as soups are
an excellent method of using up scraps and bones from joints and
vegetables that otherwise are wasted. Soup, if taken as the primary
course of a substantial dinner, if well flavored and warm, acts as a
stimulant in the stomach, exciting the gastric glands, and generally
enabling that organ to perform its functions more easily. For this
object the soup should be thin and not too much of it partaken,
otherwise it dilutes the digestive juices too much. If it is to
form the chief part of the meal, the soup will be more nutritious if
thickened, especially so, if pulse--i.e. peas, beans, and lentils--is
used as the thickening medium.
Stock is the liquid in which meat, bones, or vegetables have been
cooked, and which contains an extract from these substances. It is
used for soups, sauces, and gravies. Fresh or cooked bones or meat may
be used. A stock pot may be kept on the stove, into which are put any
scraps of meat, bones, gristle, or vegetable; at the end of the day it
is strained, and all fat taken off. Bones and meat for stock must be
broken into small pieces. Cold water should be used, and a little
salt to extract the nutriment. The whole must be brought slowly to the
boiling point; then, the temperature lowered, the fat and scum taken
off. When wanted for clear soups the vegetables should be cleaned,
but not cut up, or with the long cooking they may mash and thicken the
soup. In hot weather it is better to leave out the vegetables, as
the stock turns sour more quickly if vegetables have been used in its
preparation. They can be cooked separately and added when using the
stock.
[Illustration]
The soup should simmer for five or six hours to extract the gelatinous
matters. If the stock is skimmed occasionally it will be much clearer.
Keep the lid on the stock pot to prevent loss by evaporation. The
bones can be cooked again next day for a second stock, but the
vegetables must be taken out. Care must be taken that nothing doubtful
in freshness be put into the stock pot. Meat and bones should be well
wiped with a damp cloth before using them. If onions be put in the
soup unpeeled, simply washed and the root end cut off, they will help
to color the soup. When using eggs for other dishes, if the shells be
washed before breaking them and added to the stock pot they will help
to clear the soup. For clear soups care must be taken that nothing
of a floury nature be added to the stock pot. Stock always should
be strained before cooling. Never allow it to stand in stock pot
all night. Clear gravy soup consists of the extractives, flavoring
matters, and gelatine of meat and bones.
Consomme is a good stock made from beef, veal, and often fowl, and
flavored with vegetables, cooled, freed from fat. It is clarified with
whites and shells of eggs, and chopped raw lean beef, and strained
through a cloth. It should be brilliantly clear and of a pale brown
color. Any fat floating on the stock may be removed by passing a piece
of kitchen or blotting paper over the surface. Soup left from a meal
will keep better if strained from the vegetables that have been served
in it. In hot weather, stock left over must be boiled each day,
and poured into a clean basin to prevent its turning sour. In warm
weather, soups with milk in their composition should have a pinch of
baking soda added.
Thickenings for soup consist usually of yolks of eggs and cream beaten
together in a basin, the boiling soup poured on slowly, stirring well
at the same time. Soups thus thickened should not be allowed to
boil again, otherwise they will curdle. Instead of eggs and cream,
cornstarch and milk may be used to thicken the soup.
Asparagus Soup
40 heads asparagus
3 tablespoonfuls flour
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1/2 cupful cream
1 quart white stock
1 bunch herbs
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs parsley
2 egg yolks
1 blade mace
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 onion
Take heads off asparagus, and put aside. Cut up stalks in slices, also
onion, put these into saucepan with Crisco, herbs, parsley, bay leaf,
and mace, and fry gently for fifteen minutes, add flour, then stock,
and simmer slowly for 1-1/2 hours. Rub through sieve, add cream, yolks
of eggs, and seasonings, reheat, but take care not to boil soup. Just
before serving throw in asparagus tops, which should be first cooked
in a little boiling stock.
Cheese Soup
4 tablespoonfuls grated cheese
3 quarts clear soup stock
1-1/2 cupfuls flour
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco
2 cupfuls cream
2 eggs
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
Finely grated cheese
Put flour into double boiler, add gradually cream, Crisco, 4
tablespoonfuls of grated cheese and paprika to taste, stir over fire
till a smooth paste. Break in eggs, mix well, cook two minutes longer
and allow to cool. Roll into balls, when they are all formed, drop
into boiling water and cook gently five minutes. Drain and put into
soup tureen. Pour over boiling stock and serve with dish of finely
grated cheese.
Cream of Tomato Soup
2 tablespoonfuls flour
1-1/2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 cupful milk
2-1/2 cupfuls strained tomato juice
1 teaspoonful celery salt
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
Pinch baking soda
1 tablespoonful tomato catsup
Blend Crisco and flour together in saucepan over fire, add milk and
bring to boiling point. Heat tomato juice, tomato catsup and add soda
and seasonings. Just before serving add Crisco mixture to tomato juice
and stir till boiling. Serve hot. Another method, is to cook 1 quart
can of tomatoes with 1 quart of water twenty minutes, then rub through
sieve. Blend 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco with 2 tablespoonfuls flour, add
1 tablespoonful sugar, salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste, and 1
tablespoonful tomato catsup. Add pinch of baking soda to tomatoes,
then add gradually to Crisco mixture. Just bring to boiling point and
serve with tablespoonful whipped cream on top of each plate.
Fish Soup
1 lb. cod, or other white fish
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 quart white stock, or half milk and half water
1 small carrot
1 small onion
1 stalk celery
3 parsley sprigs
1 blade mace
2 egg yolks
1/2 cupful cream
1 lemon
2 tablespoonfuls flour
1 teaspoonful chopped parsley
Dry toast
Wash and dry fish and cut into small pieces. Put into saucepan with
stock, vegetables cut in small pieces, parsley and mace. Let these
simmer for half hour, then strain off liquid. Melt Crisco in pan, stir
in flour, then add fish liquor and stir till it boils. Draw it to the
side of fire and let cool slightly. Beat yolks of eggs with cream,
and, when soup has cooled, strain them in. Reheat soup without boiling
it, to cook eggs. Season, and add few drops lemon juice and chopped
parsley. Serve with small pieces of dry toast.
Lentil Soup
1 cupful lentils
2 cupfuls milk
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
3 pints stock or water
1 onion
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
1 tablespoonful flour
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cupful cream
Croutons
Wash lentils; soak twenty-four hours; drain well. Cut onion, carrot
and celery into small pieces, then put them into a saucepan with
Crisco, cover, and cook gently for fifteen minutes. Add stock and
simmer 2 hours, then rub through sieve. Return to pan, add milk,
seasonings, and bring to boil. Moisten flour with 1/2 cupful milk or
stock, add it to soup and simmer five minutes. Season to taste and add
cream. Serve with croutons of fried or toasted bread.
Lentils are a small leguminous seed, not so generally known as beans,
but an excellent nitrogenous food, containing about 25 per cent.
protein, more than 50 per cent. starch, with over 2 per cent. fat.
They are not used as much as they ought to be.
Croutons are made by cutting bread into tiny cubes and browning
through and through in hot oven or putting into a frying pan with 2
tablespoonfuls Crisco and browning well. If latter is used great care
must be used as the croutons will brown easily.
Lobster Bisque
1 can lobster
1 cupful breadcrumbs
1 quart milk
1 quart water
1 tablespoonful flour
1/4 cupful Crisco
Salt, pepper, red pepper, and grated nutmeg to taste
Squares fried bread
Thin lemon slices
Open a can of lobster of good quality, take out best pieces and cut
into small squares without tearing; put them aside. Place remains of
lobster in mortar or basin, and pound quite smooth with Crisco. Soak
bread in water, adding flour, and seasonings, and put all on fire in
soup pot with pounded lobster and Crisco; stir till it boils, and boil
for fifteen minutes; then pass it through sieve, add milk and pieces
of lobster, and return to the pot till it boils up. Serve with small
squares of fried bread, and send thin slices of lemon to table with
it. This is an excellent soup, and can of course be made with fresh
lobster.
Norfolk Puree
1/2 cupful barley, pearl
1 quart water
3 pints white stock
1/2 cupful cream
1 yolk of egg
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
4 tablespoonfuls cooked carrot balls
4 tablespoonfuls cooked peas
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
Diced toast or fried bread
Put barley into saucepan of cold water, bring to boil, let boil five
minutes, then drain off water; this removes the slightly bitter taste.
Now put barley into saucepan with Crisco and water, let these boil
gently until barley is tender, drain, and rub through sieve. Add stock
to this puree and let simmer ten minutes. Beat yolk of egg with cream
and when soup has cooled slightly, strain them in. Stir soup over fire
a few minutes to reheat; but be careful that it does not boil, or it
will curdle. Season carefully, add carrot balls and peas, which should
first be heated in a little stock or water. Serve with dice of toast
or fried bread. If you do not possess a round vegetable cutter, cut
the carrot into small dice. This is a particularly nourishing soup. If
you prefer a slightly cheaper variety, use milk instead of cream, and
if you have no white stock use milk and water in equal proportions
instead, and cook a carrot, turnip and onion in milk and water for
twenty or thirty minutes.
Soup Verte
4 tablespoonfuls flour
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
2 quarts stock
1 bunch parsley
1 lb. spinach
1 bunch parsley
1 teaspoonful sugar
2 egg yolks
1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Put stock into saucepan; add spinach and parsley, picked and
thoroughly washed; let all boil twenty minutes; strain, rubbing puree
through sieve. Return it all to saucepan, add Crisco and flour mixed
together with cupful of water, sugar and strained juice of a quarter
of lemon. Let boil five minutes. Beat yolks of eggs with 1/4 cupful
water, add them gradually to soup off fire, and stir near fire until
cooked. Soup must not boil after yolks are added. Season with salt and
pepper and serve.
Thick Rice Soup
2 pints water or stock
Salt and pepper to taste
2 small onions
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 cupful rice
1 cupful canned tomatoes, or 4 fresh ones
Wash and drain rice. Heat Crisco in saucepan, add rice and stir
constantly until a golden brown. Now add water or stock, onions and
tomatoes cut in small pieces, and seasonings. Cook slowly for one
hour.
[Illustration]
FISH
Fish, though not quite so nutritious or so stimulating as butcher's
meat, is an excellent article of diet, as it is light and easy of
digestion and well suited to delicate persons and those following
sedentary occupations, who generally do not take exercise in the fresh
air. Fish contains a fair proportion of flesh forming and mineral
matter, and the white kinds very little fat, hence their value in a
sick diet. A few fishes are rich in fat, as salmon, mackerel, eels,
and herrings; they are more satisfying as a meal, but usually more
difficult to digest, except the latter, which is fairly easy to
digest, and, being inexpensive, forms an economical food.
The digestibility will vary also with the quality of the fish and the
methods of cooking. White fish when boiled is improved by being rubbed
over with a cut lemon, or by adding a little vinegar to the water in
which it is cooked to keep it white and firm. The fish should be
put into hot, not boiling water, otherwise the higher temperature
contracts the skin too quickly, and it breaks and looks unsightly.
Salt fish may be placed in cold water, then boiled to extract some of
the salt; if the fish has been salted and dried, it is better to soak
it in cold water for about twelve hours before cooking.
Fish to be fried should be cooked in sufficient hot Crisco to well
cover it, after having been dried and covered with batter, or with
beaten egg and breadcrumbs. To egg and breadcrumb fish put a slice
into seasoned flour, turning it so that both sides may be covered.
Shake off all loose flour. Brush fish over with beaten egg. Raise fish
out of egg with the brush and a knife, drain off egg for a second, and
lay fish in crumbs. Toss these all over it, lift out fish, shake off
all loose crumbs, lay the slice on a board, and press crumbs down, so
that surface is flat. The thicker the fish the more slowly it must be
fried after the first two minutes, or it will be raw inside when the
outside is done.
[Illustration]
_To bone fish._ The process of boning is known as filleting and is
generally done by the fish dealer, but when this is not the case the
single rule for boning must be strictly adhered to in order to keep
the knife on the bone lifting the flesh with the left hand while the
knife slips in between the bone and the flesh. Flat fish are divided
down the middle of each side well into the bone, and the boning is
begun at either side of the incision. Round fish are cut down the
back, the flesh is laid open from one side and the bone is removed
from the other. Occasionally round fish are boned readily, the
whole fish minus the bones being returned to its proper shape, as in
anchovies, sardines, herrings, haddocks, etc., in this case the fish
would be split down the front, not the back, and stitched together
after boning.
Fish stock is made from the bones, skin and trimmings of white fish.
These are broken small and generally flavored with onion, parsley,
herbs, and seasonings. The proportion of water used is rather larger,
as the flavor is much stronger and also more easily extracted than
from meat.
Baked Halibut
2 lbs. halibut
1 cupful tomatoes
2 tablespoonfuls flour
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
3/4 teaspoonful salt
1/8 teaspoonful pepper
Clean fish, season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, place in
Criscoed baking pan, pour over tomatoes, and dot with Crisco. Bake in
a moderate oven, basting often.
Baked Salmon with Colbert Sauce
1 slice salmon, 1-1/2 lbs. in weight
4 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
1 tablespoonful tarragon vinegar
1 chopped shallot, gherkin and anchovy
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste and water
For Sauce
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco
2 tablespoonfuls flour
1 teaspoonful lemon juice
3 anchovies
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
Pepper to taste
2 cupfuls fish stock, or milk and water
_For fish._ Mix Crisco with shallot, gherkin, anchovy, and seasonings,
lay salmon in this mixture and let it "marinade," as it is called, for
one hour. At the end of that time lift it out; do not shake off any
ingredients that are sticking to it. Now lay it in a well Criscoed
fireproof dish, cover it with a greased paper, and bake in moderate
oven for thirty minutes.
_For sauce._ Melt Crisco in small saucepan, stir in flour, add fish
stock and stir until it boils and thickens. Rub anchovies through fine
sieve, and add with seasonings. Serve in hot tureen with fish.
Baked Shad
1 shad weighing 4 lbs.
1/4 lb. mushrooms
1/2 cupful Crisco
2 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley
2 tablespoonfuls chopped chives
1 cupful breadcrumbs
1 egg
Salt and white pepper
Salt pork
1 cupful cream
1 teaspoonful cornstarch
Clean, wipe and dry the shad. Melt Crisco, add breadcrumbs, chopped
mushrooms, parsley, chives, egg well beaten, salt and pepper. Stuff
fish with this forcemeat, then lay it in a greased pan, put thin
strips of salt pork over it and bake in hot oven for forty minutes.
Lay the fish on a hot platter. Pour cream into baking pan, add
cornstarch and stir till boiling. Serve with the fish.
Cassolettes of Fish
1/2 lb. cold cooked fish or shrimps
1/2 cupful milk
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1/2 cupful water
2 tablespoonfuls cream 2 eggs
4 tablespoonfuls flour
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste
1 teaspoonful lemon juice
2 lbs. cooked potatoes
Rub potatoes through a sieve, add little salt and pepper, 1 egg well
beaten, and 2 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco and mix well. Roll out
on floured baking board to 1-1/4 inches in thickness. Cut into small
rounds, brush over with remaining egg well beaten, toss in fine
breadcrumbs, mark the center slightly with a smaller round cutter. Fry
to golden color in hot Crisco. Remove lids, carefully remove bulk of
potatoes from inside, fill with mixture, replace lids, and serve hot.
For mixture, blend 2 tablespoonfuls of the Crisco with flour in a
saucepan over the fire, add milk, water and seasonings and cook for
a few minutes. Put in flaked fish and make hot. Add cream last. 1/2
teaspoonful of anchovy extract may be added if liked.
Sufficient for ten cassolettes.
Dressed Crab
1 good sized heavy crab
6 tablespoonfuls Crisco
2 tablespoonfuls breadcrumbs
3 tablespoonfuls olive oil
2 tablespoonfuls vinegar
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
Crisp lettuce leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
If possible choose a crab with large claws. Boil crab in boiling
salted water for thirty minutes, take up and break off large and small
claws. Lay crab on its back, pull back the flap under its body, pull
it right out and commence to remove flesh from shell. Take care that
the little bag near head, usually full of sand, is taken out. Throw
away all bone and finny pieces. The flesh is of two kinds, some firm
and white, rest soft and dark. Separate former into little shreds with
a fork, also the white meat from claws, which must be cracked in order
to obtain it. Mix dark soft substance with crumbs, add oil, vinegar,
and seasonings to taste. Toss shredded white meat also in a little
seasoning, but keep the two kinds separate. When shell is empty
wash and dry well. Fill shell with the two mixtures, arranging them
alternately, so that they appear in dark and white stripes. Have it
heaped a little higher in center. Decorate meat with lines of finely
chopped parsley, and force the Crisco round edge with a forcing bag
and tube. Place crab on some crisp lettuce leaves. Arrange some of the
small claws in a circle round shell.
Curried Cod
2 lbs. cod
1/4 cupful Crisco
2 cupfuls white stock
1 tablespoonful flour
2 teaspoonfuls curry powder
1 medium-sized onion
1 tablespoonful lemon juice
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste
2 cupfuls plain boiled rice
2 tablespoonfuls chopped cocoanut
Wash and dry the cod, and cut into pieces two inches square. Melt
Crisco in a saucepan, fry cod lightly in it, then take out and set
aside. Add sliced onion, flour, and curry powder to the Crisco in
saucepan and fry ten minutes, stirring continuously to prevent onion
becoming too brown, then stir in the stock and cocoanut, stir until it
boils, and afterwards simmer for twenty minutes. Strain and return
to saucepan, add lemon juice and seasonings to taste, bring nearly to
boil, then put in fish, cover closely, and cook slowly for half hour.
An occasional stir must be given to prevent the fish sticking to the
bottom of the saucepan. Turn out on hot platter and serve with rice.
The remains of cold fish may be used, in which case the preliminary
frying may be omitted.
Flounder a la Creme
1 flounder about 2 lbs.
2 cupfuls milk
1 tablespoonful cream
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 blade mace
6 whole white peppers
4 tablespoonfuls flour
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Skin flounder, and take fillets off neatly by sharply cutting down the
middle of back, and pressing the knife close to the bones. This will
produce 4 long fillets. Cut each of them in half lengthways, and tie
up in pretty knot; sprinkle a little salt over and put them aside.
Wash skin bones of fish, put them into a small saucepan with milk,
mace, and whole peppers and simmer for half hour; strain milk into
clean saucepan; add fillets, and allow to simmer for ten minutes. Lift
them out, and add to milk the Crisco and flour beaten together; stir
till it becomes quite smooth; add salt, pepper and lemon juice to
taste, and cream; put in fillets gently to warm through; dish neatly
and pour the sauce over them. Serve very hot.
Flounder a la Turque
For Fish
1 large flounder
1 teaspoonful chopped parsley
3 tablespoonfuls breadcrumbs
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1/2 teaspoonful powdered herbs
1 pinch powdered mace
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste
1/2 cupful picked shrimps
For Sauce
1/2 lemon
1 egg
1/2 cupful melted Crisco
1 yolk of egg
1/2 teaspoonful mustard
1/2 teaspoonful salt
1 pinch red pepper
1 tablespoonful vinegar
2 chopped gherkins
1 teaspoonful chopped parsley
_For fish._ Wash dry and trim flounder. On one side make cut down
center from near head to near tail and raise flesh from the bones.
Make a stuffing with Crisco, parsley, breadcrumbs, herbs, shrimps,
lemon juice, seasonings, and nearly all the egg, and insert under the
fillets of the flounder, leaving the center open. Dot with Crisco.
Brush fish over with remaining egg, sprinkle with browned breadcrumbs,
put on Criscoed baking tin, and bake thirty minutes. Serve with sauce.
_For sauce._ Put egg yolk into a bowl, and, with a wooden spoon stir
a little; then add by degrees melted Crisco, stirring constantly; then
add seasonings, vinegar, gherkins and parsley.
Fish Pudding
_(Kate B. Vaughn)_
For Pudding
2 lbs. cooked fish
1 cupful milk
1 tablespoonful flour
1 tablespoonful Crisco
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoonful onion juice
1 tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce
Cream sauce
For Sauce
3 tablespoonfuls flour
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 slice carrot
1 slice onion
1 slice celery
1 blade of mace
1 bay leaf
6 whole peppers
1 sprig of parsley
1/4 teaspoonful salt
1 cupful thick cream
_For pudding._ Boil fish in boiling salted water till done. Shred or
break in small pieces, and free from skin and bone. Blend Crisco and
flour in a saucepan over fire, add milk and stir till boiling, remove
from fire, add eggs well beaten, seasonings, and mix well. Turn into
Criscoed fireproof dish, cover with greased paper, set in warm water,
and bake in moderate oven for thirty minutes. Serve with the sauce,
potato balls, and chopped parsley.
_For sauce._ Blend Crisco and flour in a pan over fire, add
vegetables, mace, bay leaf, peppers, parsley, milk, and simmer for
thirty minutes. Strain, return to pan, add salt, allow to heat, then
add cream and it is ready to serve.
Fried Fish
Fish
Crisco
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
Crumbs
Sauce
Clean fish, season with salt and pepper. Dip in crumbs, brush over
with beaten egg, and crumb again. Fry in deep Crisco and drain on
brown paper.
_Sauce_. Blend 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls Crisco with 1 tablespoonful flour
in saucepan over fire, add 1 cupful of milk or cream and bring to
boil, cook for a few minutes over hot water. Cool and add 2 chopped
green bell peppers and 6 medium-sized chopped sour pickles.
Fried Lobster with Horseradish Sauce
1 boiled lobster
Crisco for frying
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
1 cupful thick cream
Salt and paprika to taste
2 tablespoonfuls grated horseradish
Cut lobster meat into neat pieces, dip in beaten egg, toss in
breadcrumbs and fry in hot Crisco to brown well. Whip up cream, season
it well with salt and paprika and stir in horseradish; heap this sauce
in the center of the serving dish and arrange the pieces of fried
lobster round it. Serve hot.
Gateau of Fish
For Fish
1-1/2 lbs. cooked white fish
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1/2 cupful breadcrumbs
1/2 cupful milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoonful chopped parsley
1 teaspoonful anchovy paste or extract
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon slices
Dutch or oyster sauce
For Sauce
2 tablespoonfuls flour
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 cupful milk
1/2 cupful oyster liquor
1 teaspoonful lemon juice
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste
2 hard-cooked eggs
1 dozen small oysters
_For fish._ Cook fish; remove skin and bone, chop it, then put it in
a basin, add breadcrumbs, parsley, seasonings, milk, eggs well beaten,
and melted Crisco. Mix well, turn into a Criscoed mold, cover with
greased paper and steam one hour. Serve with sauce poured over, and
dish garnished with lemon slices.
_For sauce._ Blend Crisco and flour in pan over fire, stir in
milk, oyster liquor, stir till it boils for eight minutes, then add
seasonings. Boil one minute, add eggs chopped, and oysters. Mix and
serve.
Oyster Shortcake
2 cupfuls flour
2 teaspoonfuls baking powder
1/2 teaspoonful salt
3/4 cupful milk
1 quart oysters
1/2 cupful Crisco
2 tablespoonfuls cornstarch
1/4 cupful cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix flour, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoonful salt, then sift twice,
work in Crisco with tips of fingers, add milk gradually. The dough
should be just soft enough to handle. Toss on floured baking board,
divide into two parts, pat lightly and roll out. Place in two shallow
Criscoed cake tins and bake in quick oven fifteen minutes. Spread them
with butter. Moisten cornstarch with cream, put into pan with oysters
and seasonings and make very hot. Allow to cook a few minutes then
pour half over one crust, place other crust on top and pour over rest
of oysters. Serve at once.
Sufficient for one large shortcake.
Salmon Mold
1 can salmon
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1/2 cupful rolled crackers
3 eggs
1 tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauce
1 tablespoonful Crisco
1 tablespoonful flour
1 egg
1 cupful milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley
_For the mold._ Remove oil, skin and bone from the salmon. Rub salmon
smooth, add eggs well beaten, crackers, and seasonings. Turn into a
Criscoed mold, and steam for one hour. Turn out and serve with sauce.
_For sauce._ Blend Crisco and flour in a saucepan over fire, add
milk, and stir and boil for five minutes. Add egg well beaten, and
seasonings, pour at once over salmon. Garnish with parsley.
Sufficient for one small loaf.
[Illustration]
MEATS
[Illustration]
Cookery is a branch of applied chemistry. To cook anything, in the
narrower sense of the term, means to bring about changes in it by
submitting it to the action of heat, and usually of moisture also,
which will make it more fitted for food; and it is on the nature of
this action on different materials that the _rationale_ of the cook's
art chiefly depends. Good cooking can make any meat tender, and bad
cooking can make any meat tough.
The substance in meat called albumen becomes tougher and more
indigestible, the higher the temperature to which it is subjected
reaches beyond a certain point. It is this effect of heat on albumen,
therefore, which has to be considered whenever the cooking of meat
is in question, and which mainly determines the right and the wrong,
whether in the making of a soup or a custard, the roasting or boiling
of a chicken or a joint, or the frying of a cutlet or an omelet.
We now will see to begin with, what are the special ways in which it
bears on meat cookery. Take a little bit of raw meat and put it in
cold water. The juice gradually soaks out of it, coloring the water
pink and leaving the meat nearly white. Now take another bit, and pour
boiling water upon it; and though no juice can be seen escaping, the
whole surface of the meat turns a whitish color directly.
Lean meat is made up of bundles of hollow fibres within which the
albuminous juices are stored. Wherever these fibres are cut through,
the juice oozes out and spreads itself over the surface of the meat.
If, as in our first little experiment, the meat is put in cold water,
or even in warm water, or exposed to a heat insufficient to set the
albumen, either in an oven or before the fire, the albuminous juices
are in the first case drawn out and dissolved, and in the second
evaporated. In either case the meat is deprived of them. But if the
meat is put into boiling water or into a quick oven or before a hot
fire, the surface albumen is quickly set, forms a tough white coating
which effectually plugs the ends of the cut fibres, and prevents any
further escape of their contents.
Here, then, we have the first principles on which meat cookery must be
conducted; viz: that if we wish to get the juices out of the meat,
as for soups and stews, the liquid in which we put it must be cold
to begin with; while if we wish, as for boiled or roast meat, to keep
them in, the meat must be subjected first of all to the action of
boiling water, a hot fire or a quick oven. The meats of soups and
stews must not be raw, and that of joints must not be tough; and the
cooking of both one and the other, however it is begun, should be
completed at just such a moderate temperature as will set, but not
harden, the albumen. That is to say, the soup or stew must be raised
to this temperature, after the meat juices have been drawn out by
a lower one, while a joint or fowl must be lowered to it after the
surface albumen has been hardened by a higher one.
All poultry or game for roasting should be dredged with flour before
and after trussing, to dry it perfectly, as otherwise it does not
crisp and brown so well. Unless poultry is to be boiled or stewed it
never should be washed or wet in any way as this renders the flesh
sodden and the skin soft. Good wiping with clean cloths should be
quite sufficient. With the exception of ducks and geese, all poultry
and game require rather a large addition of fat during roasting, as
the flesh is dry. Chickens will cook in from twenty to thirty minutes;
fowls take from thirty to sixty minutes when young and tender, the
only condition in which they are fit to roast; turkeys take from one
to two hours and even more if exceptionally large. Game takes longer
in proportion to its size than poultry, and all birds require better
and more cooking than beef or mutton.
[Illustration]
Beef Collops
1 lb. hamburg steak
1 chopped onion
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 cupful water or stock
1 tablespoonful flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoonful mushroom catsup or Worcestershire sauce
Sippets of toast or croutons
Mashed potatoes or plain boiled rice
Melt Crisco in saucepan, put in beef and onion and fry light brown,
then sprinkle in flour, add water or stock, catsup or sauce, and
seasonings. Cover pan and let contents simmer very gently forty-five
minutes. Arrange collops on hot platter with border of sippets of
toast or croutons, or border of hot mashed potatoes, or plain boiled
rice.
Braised Loin of Mutton
3 lbs. loin mutton
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 celery stalk
1/2 teaspoonful whole white peppers
1 bunch sweet herbs
Salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste
1 turnip
1 carrot
3 cloves
2 sprigs parsley
4 tablespoonfuls flour
12 button mushrooms
1 onion
Remove bone from mutton, rub with a little salt, pepper and red pepper
mixed together; roll up and tie in neat roll with tape; cut up celery,
onion, carrot and turnip, and lay them at bottom of saucepan with
herbs and parsley; lay mutton on top of these, and pour enough boiling
water to three parts cover it, and simmer slowly two hours; lift
mutton into roasting tin with a few tablespoonfuls of the gravy; set
in hot oven until brown; strain gravy and skim off fat, melt Crisco in
saucepan, add flour, then add gravy gradually, seasoning of salt and
pepper, mushrooms, and boil eight minutes. Set mutton on hot platter
with mushrooms round, and gravy strained over.
Chicken a la Tartare
1 young chicken
1 egg
3/4 cupful Crisco
Breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Mixed pickles
Tartare sauce
Singe, empty, and split chicken in half; take breastbone out and
sprinkle salt and pepper over. Melt 1/2 cupful Crisco in frying pan
and fry chicken half hour, turning it now and then. Remove from pan
and place between two dishes with heavy weight on top, till it is
nearly cold. Then dip in egg beaten up, and roll in breadcrumbs.
Melt remaining Crisco, then sprinkle it all over chicken; roll in
breadcrumbs once more. Fry in hot Crisco to golden color. Serve at
once with a garnish of chopped pickles, and tartare sauce.
Chicken en Casserole
1 tender chicken for roasting
1/2 cupful Crisco
Salt and pepper
1 pint hot water
1 cupful hot sweet cream
2 cupfuls chopped mushrooms
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
Clean chicken, split down back, and lay breast upward, in casserole.
Spread Crisco over breast, dust with salt and pepper, add hot water,
cover closely and cook in hot oven one hour. When nearly tender, put
in the cream, mushrooms, and parsley; cover again and cook twenty
minutes longer. Serve hot in the casserole. Oysters are sometimes
substituted for mushrooms, and will be found to impart a pleasing
flavor.
Curried Ox-Tongue
6 slices cooked ox-tongue
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
2 teaspoonfuls curry powder
6 chopped mushrooms
1 cupful brown sauce
1 dinner roll
1 egg
1 cupful boiled rice
_For tongue._ Cut slices of tongue, fry in Crisco, season with 1/4
teaspoonful salt and curry powder, then add mushrooms, and brown
sauce, simmer ten minutes. Cut large dinner roll into slices, and
toast them lightly on both sides; dip them in egg well beaten then
fry in hot Crisco and drain. Dish up slices of tongue alternately with
fried slices of roll, pour sauce round base, and serve with boiled
rice.
_For brown sauce._ Melt 3 tablespoonfuls Crisco, add 1 chopped onion,
piece of carrot, 2 mushrooms, and fry a good brown color; stir in 2
tablespoonfuls flour and fry it also; then add 1 cupful stock or water
and few drops of kitchen boquet. Let all cook ten minutes, stirring
constantly add seasoning of salt and pepper, and strain for use.
Sufficient for 6 slices.
Fried Chicken
Chicken
Crisco
Select young tender chickens and disjoint. Wash carefully and let
stand over night in refrigerator.
A
_(Kate B. Vaughn)_
Drain chicken but do not wipe dry. Season with salt and white pepper
and dredge well with flour. Fry in deep Crisco hot enough to brown
a crumb of bread in sixty seconds. It requires from ten to twelve
minutes to fry chicken. Drain and place on a hot platter garnished
with parsley and rice croquettes.
B
_(Kate B. Vaughn)_
Make batter of 1 cupful flour, 1 teaspoonful salt, 2 grains white
pepper, 1/2 cupful water, 2 well beaten eggs, and 1 tablespoonful
melted Crisco. Have kettle of Crisco hot enough to turn crumb of bread
a golden brown in sixty seconds. Drain chicken but do not dry. Dip
each joint separately in batter and fry in the Crisco until golden
brown. It should take from ten to twelve minutes. Serve on a folded
napkin garnished with parsley.
C
_(Kate B. Vaughn)_
Drain chicken but do not wipe dry. Season with salt and white pepper
and dredge well with flour. Put three tablespoonfuls Crisco in frying
pan and when hot place chicken in pan; cover, and allow to steam for
ten minutes. Uncover, and allow chicken to brown, taking care to turn
frequently. Serve on hot platter, garnished with parsley and serve
with cream gravy.
D
Select medium-sized chickens and wash well, then cut into neat
pieces and season them. Mix 1 cupful cornmeal with 1 cupful flour, 1
tablespoonful salt and 1 tablespoonful black pepper. Dip each piece
in mixture and fry in hot Crisco twelve minutes. Drain and serve with
cornmeal batter bread.
E
Wash young chicken, cut into neat pieces, dust with salt, pepper,
and flour, and fry in hot Crisco twelve minutes. Drain, place on hot
platter, pour over it 1/2 pint hot sweet cream, sprinkle over with
chopped hot roasted peanuts, little salt and pepper.
Fried Chicken, Mexican Style
1 tender chicken
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic
1 seeded green pepper
2 large tomatoes
5 tablespoonfuls Crisco
Corn croquettes
For Croquettes
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 can or 14 ears corn
2 tablespoonfuls flour
2 cupfuls milk
1/2 teaspoonful sugar
Pepper and salt to taste
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
_For chicken._ Draw, wash and dry chicken, then cut into neat joints,
sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat Crisco in frying pan, add clove
of garlic and pepper cut in small pieces. When garlic turns brown
take out, put chicken in, fry till brown, then cover closely, allow to
simmer till ready. A short time before covering chicken, add tomatoes
peeled and cut in small pieces.
_For croquettes._ Drain liquor from can of corn, or grate ears, and
chop kernels fine. Blend Crisco and flour together in pan over fire,
add milk, stir till boiling and cook five minutes, stirring all the
time, add seasonings, and corn, and cook five minutes, then allow to
cool. When cold, form lightly with floured hands into neat croquettes,
brush over with beaten egg, toss in crumbs and fry in hot Crisco to
a golden brown. Drain. Place chicken on hot platter, garnish with
croquettes and serve hot.
Fried Sweetbreads
Sweetbreads
Egg
Breadcrumbs
Crisco
Peas or new Potatoes
Rich brown gravy
Sweetbreads should always be blanched before using. To blanch, soak in
cold water two hours, changing water 3 or 4 times. Put into saucepan,
cover with cold water, add little salt, and skim well as water comes
to boil. Simmer from ten to thirty minutes, according to kind of
sweet-bread used. Remove to basin of cold water until cold, or wash
well in cold water and press between two plates till cold. Dry, remove
skin, cut in slices, coat with beaten egg and toss in breadcrumbs, and
fry in hot Crisco to a golden brown. Serve round peas or new potatoes,
with rich brown gravy.
For those whose digestions are at fault, sweetbreads ought to be eaten
as a daily ration if the pocketbook will afford it. For this special
part of the animal's anatomy is that one of all the viscera whose
mission is to help digestion. It is of the very pancreas itself, that
stomach gland of marvelously involved structure which elaborates the
powerful pancreatic juice. It is alkaline in nature, able to digest
starches, fats, and most of what escapes digestion in the stomach
proper. It received its name from a fancied resemblance in its
substance and formation to the rising lumps of dough destined for
bread.
Kidney Omelet
4 kidneys
6 tablespoonfuls Crisco
6 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
2 tablespoonfuls cream
Melt 2 tablespoonfuls Crisco in frying pan. Skin kidneys and cut into
small dice and toss them into hot Crisco three minutes. Whisk whites
of eggs to stiff froth, then add yolks, seasonings, parsley, and
cream, then add kidney. Make remaining Crisco hot in omelet pan or
frying pan, pour in omelet and fry over clear fire six minutes. When
the edges are set, fold edges over so that omelet assumes an oval
shape; be careful that it is not done too much; to brown the top, hold
pan before fire, or put it in oven; never turn an omelet in the pan.
Slip it carefully on a hot dish and serve the instant it comes from
the fire.
Macaroni and Round Steak
1/2 package macaroni
1/2 can tomatoes
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
2 onions
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cupful grated cheese
1 lb. round steak
1/2 cupful breadcrumbs
Break macaroni into inch lengths and add it with 1 tablespoonful of
the Crisco to plenty of boiling water and boil twenty minutes, then
drain. Put steak and onions through a food chopper. Put macaroni into
Criscoed fireproof dish, then put in meat and onions, add seasonings,
tomatoes, cheese, breadcrumbs, and remainder of Crisco melted. Bake in
moderate oven one hour.
Meat Cakes
1 lb. round steak
3 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco
3 small onions
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
2 eggs
1/4 lb. grated cheese
2 cupfuls breadcrumbs
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
Tomato sauce
For Sauce
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 carrot
1 turnip
2 onions
3 tablespoonfuls flour
2 cupfuls stock
1 can or 1/2 lb. fresh tomatoes
1 tablespoonful tomato catsup
1 bunch sweet herbs
Salt, pepper, and red pepper
to taste
1 blade mace
1 bay leaf
_For meat cakes._ Grind steak and onions together, add Crisco, cheese,
parsley, crumbs, seasonings, and eggs lightly beaten. Mix together;
form into small cakes, toss in flour and fry in hot Crisco. Serve hot
with tomato sauce.
_For sauce._ Slice vegetables, fry in Crisco ten minutes; then add
flour, stock, mace, bay leaf, tomatoes, catsup, and herbs. Stir till
they boil, then simmer gently forty-five minutes. Rub through sieve,
add seasonings and use.
Sufficient for twelve meat cakes.
Roast Turkey
For Stuffing
1 quart fine breadcrumbs
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco
11/2 teaspoonfuls salt
2 tablespoonfuls chopped onion
1 lemon
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoonful powdered thyme
1/4 teaspoonful white pepper
1 egg
1 cupful country sausage
A little warm water
1 turkey
Salt pork
Mix sausage with breadcrumbs, add egg well beaten, Crisco, seasonings,
grated rind and strained juice of lemon, and moisten with a little hot
water. Be careful not to make stuffing too moist. See that turkey is
well plucked, singed and wiped; fold over pinions, and pass skewer
through them, thick part of legs and body, catching leg and pining it
on other side; now secure bottom part of leg, which should have feet
cut off half way to first joint, fill breast of bird with stuffing and
skewer down skin. Place 2 strips salt pork in bottom of roasting
pan, lay in turkey and place several strips salt pork over breast
and sprinkle lightly with flour. Roast in hot oven, allowing fifteen
minutes to the pound. Baste occasionally with melted Crisco. Serve hot
decorated with cooked onions, celery tips, cranberries, and parsley.
Roast with Spaghetti
2 tablespoonfuls flour
3 lbs. sirloin steak
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 large onion
1/4 lb. bacon
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cupful water
1/2 can tomatoes
1 cupful cooked peas
1 cupful cooked spaghetti
1 cupful cooked mushrooms
8 stuffed olives
Melt Crisco and make very hot in roasting pan, lay in steak, season
with salt and pepper, cover with layer of sliced onion, layer of
bacon, add water, cover, and cook in moderate oven about three hours.
Have ready peas, mushrooms, and spaghetti. Place meat on hot platter.
Add juice of tomatoes to gravy, and flour moistened with a little
cold water, peas and mushrooms, and when hot pour round meat. Spread
spaghetti on top and decorate with olives.
Sirloin Steak with Fried Apples
1 sirloin steak weighing 2 lbs.
3 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco
1 teaspoonful salt
1/2 teaspoonful white pepper
4 tart apples
Milk
Flour
Mix salt and pepper with melted Crisco, then rub mixture into steak
and let steak lie in it twenty minutes. Broil it over a clear fire
till done and serve surrounded with fried apples. Peel and core and
slice apples, then dip in milk, toss in flour, and drop into hot
Crisco to brown.
VEGETABLES
[Illustration]
In the vegetable kingdom the cereals form a very important part of our
diet, by supplying chiefly the carbohydrates or heat giving matter.
Another nutritious group termed pulse, are those which have their seed
enclosed in a pod. The most familiar are peas, beans, and lentils;
peas and beans are eaten in the green or unripe state as well as in
the dried. Vegetables included in the pulse group are very nourishing
if they can be digested, they contain a large amount of flesh forming
matter, usually a fair amount of starch, but are deficient in fat.
Peas and beans also contain sulphur and tend to produce flatulence
when indulged in by those of weak digestion. Lentils contain less
sulphur, and do not produce this complaint so readily.
The more succulent vegetables include tubers, as potatoes and
Jerusalem artichokes, leaves, stems, and bulbs, as cabbages, spinach,
celery, and onions, roots and flowers, as carrots, parsnips, and
cauliflower. These are very valuable on account of the mineral matter,
chief of which are the potash salts, so necessary to keep the blood in
a healthy condition.
Care should be taken in cooking vegetables not to lose the salts.
Steaming is preferable to boiling, by preserving the juices, though it
does not tend to improve the color of green vegetables. A little lemon
juice added to the water in which new potatoes are boiling improves
their color. Mint is sometimes cooked with new potatoes. To secure a
good color in vegetables when cooked, careful cleaning and preparation
before cooking is essential. Earthy roots, such as potatoes, turnips,
and carrots, must be both well scrubbed and thoroughly rinsed in clean
water before peeling. From all vegetables, coarse or discolored leaves
and any dark or decayed spots should be carefully removed before
cooking.
Potatoes should be peeled thinly, or, if new, merely brushed or rubbed
with a coarse cloth to get the skin off. Turnips should be thickly
peeled, as the rind in these is hard and woody. Carrots and salsify,
unless very old, need scraping only. After the removal of the skin,
all root vegetables (except those of the onion kind) should be put in
cold water till wanted. Potatoes, artichokes, and salsify especially,
must not remain a moment out of water after peeling, or they will turn
a dark color, and to the water used for the two last, a little salt
and lemon juice should be added in order to keep them white.
Root vegetables should be boiled with the lid of the pan on, green
vegetables should be boiled with the lid of the pan off, for the
preservation of the color.
Baked Parsnips
1/2 cupful Crisco
5 parsnips
Salt and pepper to taste
Peel and wash parsnips and cut into two lengthwise, and steam for one
hour. Remove from fire, lay in greased baking pan, sprinkle with salt
and pepper, spread Crisco over top and bake slowly till tender. Serve
hot.
Brussels Sprouts with Crisco
1/2 cupful Crisco
2 baskets brussels sprouts
1/2 cupful grated cheese
Trim sprouts and cook them in boiling salted water till tender, drain
and dry on clean cloth. Heat Crisco hot, then add sprouts, and fry
until very hot. Turn them into hot vegetable dish, sprinkle cheese
over them and serve immediately.
Sufficient for one dish.
Colcannon
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1/2 lb. cold cooked potatoes
1/2 lb. cold cooked cabbage
1 onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Chop onion and cabbage and mash potatoes. Put into frying pan with
Crisco and fry few minutes adding seasonings. Turn into Criscoed
fireproof dish and brown in oven.
Lentils and Rice
3 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1/2 cupful lentils
1/2 cupful milk
1/2 cupful water
1 teaspoonful curry powder
1 small onion
1 tablespoonful lemon juice
1 cupful boiled rice
Salt and pepper to taste
Wash lentils and soak them in milk twelve hours. Melt Crisco slice
onion and fry a pale brown, add curry powder, milk, water, seasonings,
and lentils, simmer two hours and add lemon juice just before serving,
Serve with rice.
Corn Fritters
1 tablespoonful melted Crisco
1 can crushed corn
1 cupful flour
1 teaspoonful baking powder
2 teaspoonfuls salt
1/4 teaspoonful white pepper
3 tablespoonfuls milk
Put corn into bowl, add Crisco, salt, pepper, flour, baking powder,
and milk. Mix well and drop in spoonfuls on a Criscoed griddle. Fire
brown on both sides. These fritters are a palatable accompaniment to
roast chicken.
Sufficient for twelve fritters.
Corn, Okra and Tomatoes
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
2 tablespoonfuls sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
6 ears corn
6 okra pods
6 tomatoes
2 cupfuls water
Cut corn from cob, put into saucepan, cover with water and bring to
boil. Scald and skin tomatoes and cut okra into cross sections half
inch long. Add both to corn with Crisco and seasonings. Stir and cook
until tender. Serve hot.
Curried Cauliflower
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 cauliflower
1 sliced onion
1 dessertspoonful curry powder
1 tablespoonful lemon juice
1/4 teaspoonful salt
1 cupful stock or water
Boil cauliflower in boiling salted water till tender, drain, then
divide into small flowerets. Fry onion in Crisco a few minutes, then
add curry powder, lemon juice and stock or water. Simmer fifteen
minutes, then strain into clean saucepan. Add cauliflower and salt and
simmer fifteen minutes. Serve hot.
Creamed Potatoes au Gratin
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 quart peeled and diced potatoes
2 cupfuls milk
1 tablespoonful flour
1 cupful grated cheese
1 teaspoonful salt
1/4 teaspoonful white pepper
Few breadcrumbs
Cut potatoes in about 11/2-inch pieces, then boil carefully in boiling
salted water. When done, drain, and pour into Criscoed fireproof dish.
Blend Crisco and flour in saucepan over fire, add milk, stir till
boiling, then add cheese and seasonings. Pour over potatoes; grate
a little cheese over top, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake five
minutes in hot oven.
Eggplant en Casserole
4 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco
1 large eggplant
3 small onions
2 garlic cloves
3 tomatoes
1 green pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Slice eggplant into thin slices, then slice onions, garlic, tomatoes
and pepper quite thin. Arrange them, alternately, in a Criscoed
casserole, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper. Pour in melted
Crisco and cover. Cook over slow fire or in moderate oven till the
eggplant is tender. Serve hot or cold.
Fried Parsley
Crisco
1 bunch parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Wash, pick and dry the parsley; put into frying basket and immerse
in hot Crisco fifteen seconds or until crisp. Drain and sprinkle with
salt and pepper. It should be a nice green color. If it turns black it
has been too long in the fat.
Green Peas a la Maitre d'Hotel
4 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 quart shelled peas
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoonful lemon juice
2 sprigs mint
1 tablespoonful chopped parsley
1 teaspoonful sugar
Shell peas and throw into plenty boiling water containing a
teaspoonful of salt, sugar, and mint; boil fast until tender, then
drain. Mix lemon juice with Crisco and parsley; stir this among peas,
reheat them, and serve at once.
Jerusalem Artichokes
2 tablespoonfuls Crisco
1 lb. artichokes
2 tablespoonfuls flour
1 yolk of egg
2 teaspoonfuls lemon juice
1 1/2 cupfuls milk
2 tablespoonfuls cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoonful chopped parsley
1/4 cupful vinegar
1 pint boiling milk
Wash and scrape artichokes, and throw each one in cold water
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