A Calendar of Dinners

Things to Remember in Connection with These Recipes — Remember That —

No need for Crisco to occupy valuable space in the refrigerator. In fact, except in most unusual summer heat, it will be of a better consistency outside the refrigerator. Crisco keeps sweet indefinitely, summer and winter, at ordinary room temperature.

In making sauces, thoroughly blend the flour and Crisco before adding the milk.

Use level measurements

In using melted Crisco in boiled dressing, croquettes, rolls, fritters, etc., be sure that the melted Crisco is cooled sufficiently so that the hot fat will not injure the texture of the foods.

When using in place of butter, add salt in the proportion of one level teaspoonful to one cup of Crisco.

Remember that Crisco, like butter, is susceptible to cold. It readily becomes hard. In creaming Crisco in winter use the same care as when creaming butter. Rinse pan in boiling water and have the Crisco of the proper creaming stiffness before using. Unlike butter, however, Crisco’s purity is not effected by weather. It remains sweet and pure indefinitely without refrigeration.

In deep frying, do not wait for Crisco to smoke. (See page 35.)

When pie crust is tough: It is possible you have not used Crisco properly. Perhaps the measurements were not correct. Perhaps the water was too warm, or the dough was handled too much. Shortening cannot make pastry tough.

When fried foods absorb: It is because Crisco is not hot enough, or because you have not used enough Crisco. Use plenty and the raw foods, if added in small quantities, will not reduce the heat of the fat. The absorption in deep Crisco frying should be less than that of another fat.

When cake is not a success: It is not the fault of the Crisco. Either too much was used, the oven heat not perfectly controlled or some important ingredient was used in the wrong proportion. Crisco should be creamed with the sugar more thoroughly than butter, as Crisco contains no moisture to dissolve the sugar.

When cake or other food is not flavory: Salt should have been added to the Crisco, for Crisco contains no salt.

When there is smoke in the kitchen: Crisco has been burned or heated too high for frying. Or some may have been on the outside of the pan or kettle.

When Crisco is too hard: Like butter, it is susceptible to heat and cold. Simply put in a warmer place.

Hints to Young Cooks

Before commencing to cook, look up the required recipe, read and think it out. Note down on a slip of paper the materials and quantities required. Collect all utensils and materials required before commencing. Success in cookery depends on careful attention to every detail from start to finish. Quantities, both liquid and dry, should be exact. Small scales and weights should form part of the kitchen equipment where possible, and the measuring cups cost so little that no one need be without them.

Throughout this book the measurements are level

How to Choose Foods — Beef — Mutton — Lamb — Veal — Pork — Ham—Bacon — Venison — Hares and Rabbits — Poultry — Fish — Vegetables — Eggs

Money can be spent to infinitely better advantage in the store, than by giving orders at the door, by phone or mail. Every housekeeper knows how large a proportion of the housekeeping money is swallowed up by the butcher’s bill, so that with the meat item careful selection is most necessary in order to keep the bills within bounds.

In choosing meat of any kind the eye, the nose and the touch really are required, although it is not appetizing to see the purchaser use more than the eye.

In choosing meat it should be remembered that without being actually unwholesome, it varies greatly in quality, and often an inferior joint is to be preferred from a first class beast to a more popular cut from a second class animal. To be perfect the animal should be five or six years old, the flesh of a close even grain, bright red in color and well mixed with creamy white fat, the suet being firm and a clear white. Heifer meat is smaller in the bone and lighter in color than ox beef. Cow beef is much the same to look at as ox beef, though being older it is both coarser in the grain and tougher; bull beef, which is never seen however, in a first class butcher’s may be recognized by the coarseness and dark color of the flesh, and also by a strong and almost rank smell.

To be in perfection, mutton should be at least four, or better five or six years old, but sheep of this age are rarely if ever, met with now-a-days, when they are constantly killed under two years. To know the age of mutton, examine the breast bones; if these are all of a white gristly color the animal was four years old or over, while the younger it is the pinkier are the bones, which, in a sheep of under a year, are entirely red.

Good mutton should be of a clear dark red, the fat firm and white, and not too much of it; when touched the meat should feel crisp yet tender. If the fat is yellow and the lean flabby and damp, it is bad. A freshly scraped wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone will speedily enable anyone to detect staleness. For roasting mutton scarcely can be hung too long, as long as it is not tainted; but for boiling it must not be kept nearly so long or the meat will be of a bad color when cooked.

The freshness of lamb is comparatively easy to distinguish, as if fresh the neck vein will be a bright blue, the knuckles stiff, and the eyes bright and full.

Veal is at its best when the calf is from three to four months old. The meat should be of a close firm grain, white in color and the fat inclining to a pinkish tinge. Veal is sometimes coarser in the grain, and redder in the flesh, not necessarily a mark of inferiority, but denoting the fact that calf has been brought up in the open. Like all young meat, veal turns very quickly, therefore it never should hang more than two or three days. In choosing veal always examine the suet under the kidney; if this be clammy and soft, with a faint odor, the meat is not good, and always reject any that has greenish or yellowish spots about it. The head should be clean skinned and firm, the eyes full and clear, the kidneys large and well covered with fat, the liver a rich dark clear color, free from any spots or gristle, while the sweetbreads should be firm, plump, of a delicate color, and free from strings.

The flesh of pork, when in good condition, is a delicate pinky white, with a close fine grain; the fat, which should not be too abundant, of a white color, very faintly tinged with pink; the skin should be thin and elastic to the touch, and the flesh generally cool, clean, and smooth looking; if, on the contrary, the flesh is flabby and clammy when touched, it is not fresh.

Pork, like all white meat, is quick to taint, and never should be kept long before cooking. If you have the slightest doubt about pork, it is best to reject it, for unlike other meat which may be quite wholesome and usable, though not of precisely prime quality, pork must be in really first class condition to be wholesome, and therefore it is impossible to be too particular in the choice of it. Always if possible look at the tongue, for, as in beef, this is a very fair criterion of the condition of the animal; a freshly scraped new wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone is a good test of the freshness of the pork, and be careful especially to examine the fat, for if there be little kernels in it the pork is “measly,” a very common disease among pigs, and one particularly unwholesome to the consumer.

Pigs for fresh pork should be of medium size, not over fat, and under a year old. Pigs destined to become bacon are usually older and larger. Sucking pigs should be small, and are best when about three weeks old. A sucking pig should be cooked as soon as possible after it is killed, as it taints very quickly; unless fresh, no care in the cooking will make the crackling crisp, as it should be.

Good bacon has the lean of a bright pink and fine in the grain, while the fat is white and firm. If the lean is high colored, it probably has been over salted and is old besides, and in consequence will be hard and salty; while if there be yellow marks in the fat, and a curious, rather musty smell, it will have an unpleasant taste. In choosing a ham always run a clean knife or skewer in at the knuckle, and also at the center; if it comes out clean and smelling sweet, the ham is good; but if out of order the blade of the knife will be smeared and greasy looking, and have a disagreeable, strong odor.

The condition of venison is judged chiefly by the fat, which should be a clear creamy white color, and close in texture. Always try venison by running a sharp knife along the haunch bone, which is usually the first to turn; if, in taking it out, the knife has a blackish-green look and an unpleasant odor, the meat is tainted, and unfit for use. Venison requires to be kept a considerable time before it is in proper condition, and needs great care in its management. It must be examined carefully every day, and if there is the slightest doubt, it should be washed in lukewarm milk and water, then dried in clean cloths, and when perfectly dry, should be covered thickly all over with ground ginger and pepper; when required for use, dust off the pepper and ginger, and wash the meat in a little lukewarm water, and dry it thoroughly. Venison, like mutton, improves with age, and this can be judged by the condition of the hoof, which in a young animal has a small, smooth cleft, while in an old one it is deeply cut and rugged. The haunch is the prime joint, its perfection depending on the greater or less depth of the fat on it. The neck and shoulder also are very good. They are used chiefly for stews or pies.

A hare when fresh killed is stiff and red; when stale, the body is supple and the flesh in many parts black. If the hare be old the ears will be tough and dry, and will not tear readily. Rabbits may be judged in the same manner. In both, the claws should be smooth and sharp. In a young hare the cleft in the lip is narrow, and the claws are cracked readily if turned sideways.

Poultry to be perfect, should have just reached their full growth (the only exceptions to this are “spring chickens,” ducklings, goslings, etc., which are considered delicacies at certain seasons); they should be plump, firm fleshed, and not over fatted. Over-fed fowls are often a mass of greasy fat, which melts in the cooking and spoils the flavor of the bird. A hen is at her best just before she begins to lay; her legs should be smooth, her comb small, bright, and soft. A young cock has the comb full, bright colored, and smooth, the legs smooth, the spurs short, and in both the toes should break easily when turned back, and the weight of the birds should be great in proportion to their size. Contrary to the practice with game, poultry never should be kept long, as they turn easily, and are spoilt if the least high. They also require longer cooking, in proportion to their size, than game, and never should be underdone. Dark-legged fowls are best for roasting, as their flesh is moister and better flavored cooked in this way than the white-legged ones, which from their greater daintiness of appearance are to be preferred for boiling.

Turkeys should be plump, white-fleshed, young, the legs plump and firm, black and smooth, with (in the cock) short spurs, the feet soft and supple; the eyes should be full and clear, the neck long, and the wattles of a bright color. A hen turkey is best for boiling. Like fowls, an old turkey is fit for nothing but the stewpan or the stockpot. Turkeys require hanging for at least a week, though they must never be “high” or “gamey.”

Geese always should be chosen young, plump, and full breasted, a white skin, a yellow smooth bill, the feet yellow and pliable. If the feet and bill are red and hard, and the skin hairy and coarse, the bird is old. Geese should be hung for a few days. Ducks, like geese, should have yellow, supple feet; the breasts full and hard, and the skin clear. Wild ducks should be fat, the feet small, reddish, and pliable, the breast firm and heavy. If not fresh, there will be a disagreeable smell when the bill is open. The male is generally the more expensive, though the female is usually more delicate in flavor.

Pigeons always should be young and extremely fresh, and when so, they are plump and fat, with pliable smooth feet.

NOTE—In selecting game pluck a few feathers from the under part of the leg; if the skin is not discolored the bird is fresh. The age may be known by placing the thumb into the beak, and holding the bird up with the jaw apart; if it breaks it is young; if not, it is old, and requires longer keeping before cooking to be eatable.

Guinea-fowl are judged like poultry, but require hanging for some time.

Fish in good condition usually is firm and elastic to the touch, eyes bright and prominent, gills fresh and rosy. If the fish is flabby, with sunken eyes, it either is stale or out of condition.

Salmon should have a small head and tail, full thick shoulders, clean silvery scales, and its flesh of a rich yellowish pink. When quite fresh there is a creamy curd between the flakes, which are stiff and hard; but if kept this melts, softening the flesh and rendering it richer, but at the same time less digestible.

Trout, in spite of the difference in size, may be judged by the same rule as salmon. However, it will not bear keeping, deteriorating rapidly.

Cod, unlike salmon, should have a large head and thick shoulders; the flesh being white and clear, and separating easily into large flakes, the skin clean and silvery. Most people consider cod improves by being kept for a day or two and very slightly salted.

Herrings must be absolutely fresh to be good, and when in this state their scales shine like silver. If kept over long their eyes become suffused with blood.

Mackerel also must be quite fresh. They never should be bought if either out of condition or season. If fresh they are peculiarly beautiful fish, their backs of an iridescent blue green barred with black, and their bellies of a pearly whiteness.

Smelts should be stiff and silvery, with a delicate perfume faintly suggestive of cucumber.

Halibut is a wholesome fish. It should be middling size, thick and of a white color.

Lobsters, Crabs, Prawns, and Shrimps are stiff, and with the tails tightly pressed against the body. With the former, weight is a great guide, as the heavier they are the better; but if there be the least sign of wateriness, they should be rejected at once.

Green vegetables always are at their best when cheapest and most plentiful. Out of season they never have the same flavor, however well they may be grown. Excepting artichokes, all summer vegetables, as lettuce, peas, beans, and asparagus should be cooked as soon as possible after gathering. The freshness of most vegetables may be ascertained easily by taking a leaf or a pod between the fingers. If fresh this will snap off short and crisp, while if stale it will be limp and soft. It is an economy to buy winter vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, celery, and potatoes in large quantities, if you have storage room, as if buried in sand and kept from the frost they may be kept a considerable time. Onions should be kept hung up in a cool, dry place. If allowed to sprout the flavor becomes rank and coarse.

A mode of ascertaining the freshness of eggs is to hold them before a lighted candle or to the light, and if the egg looks clear, it will be tolerably good; if thick, it is stale; and if there is a black spot attached to the shell, it is worthless. No egg should be used for culinary purposes with the slightest taint in it, as it will render perfectly useless those with which it has been mixed. Eggs may be preserved, however, for a considerable time without any further special precaution than that of keeping them in a cool place. A very effective method of preserving eggs for winter use is to rub a little melted Crisco over each to close the pores, and then to pack the eggs in bran, salt or sawdust, not allowing them to touch each other.

Methods of Cooking — Roasting — Oven Roasting — Boiling — Baking — Stewing — Broiling — Frying — Do Not Wait for Crisco to Smoke — To Clarify — Steaming — Braising — Poaching and Marinating — Cooking in Earthenware

There are seven chief methods of cooking meat—roasting, boiling, baking, stewing, frying, broiling and poaching.

The first three are most suitable for joints weighing four pounds or more, but not satisfactory for smaller pieces which are liable to become hard and flavorless by the drying up or loss of their juices.

Of the other three methods, stewing may be applied to fairly large and solid pieces, but it is better for smaller thin ones, while frying and broiling can be used only for steaks, chops, and similar cuts.

Braising and steaming are combinations and modifications of these methods.

Roasting is one of the oldest methods of cooking on record, and still remains the favorite form of cooking joints of meat or birds. The success of every method of cooking depends largely upon the correct management of the fire. In roasting, this is particularly the case, as a clear, brisk and yet steady fire is needed. To roast a joint it should be placed before great heat for the first ten minutes and then allowed to cook more slowly. The great heat hardens the outside of the meat and keeps in the juices. If allowed to cook quickly all the time the meat is likely to be tough. The fire should be bright and clear. The joint should be basted about every ten minutes, as this helps to cook it, keeps it juicy and improves the flavor. The time allowed is fifteen minutes for every pound, twenty minutes over for beef and mutton; for veal and pork twenty minutes for every pound and thirty minutes over.

Roasting in the oven of ordinary coal stoves or ranges is not considered so good as roasting before an open fire; nevertheless it may be said safely that the greatest part of meat roasting is done in close ovens. It appears, from various experiments that meat roasted or baked in a close oven loses rather less of its weight than if roasted by an open fire.

The excellence of a roast depends to a great extent upon the amount of basting it receives.

Some cooks season a joint before it is cooked, while others season it with salt and pepper just before it is served. There is a difference of opinion as to which is the more correct way of the two. Meat of newly killed animals requires longer cooking than meat which has been hung for a time.

In warm weather joints require slightly less time for roasting than in cold.

Boned and rolled or stuffed meats require longer cooking than the same joints would if neither rolled nor stuffed. The meat of young animals and that of old ones requires different treatment. As a rule young flesh, containing less fibrine, requires longer cooking. White meat, such as pork, veal and lamb, always should be well cooked and never must be served rare. The exact time and process of roasting must be left to the good management of the cook, who must be guided by circumstances and conditions. The cook’s business is to serve the joint as full of nourishing qualities as possible. Though roasting is considered one of the easiest and most simple processes of cookery, it really requires quite as much attention to obtain perfect results as is necessary to prepare so-called “made” dishes, the recognized test for good cooks.

Boiling (of fresh meat).—This is cookery by immersion in boiling liquid, which after a few minutes is reduced to simmering. The object of the high temperature at first is to harden the surface albumen and so seal the pores and prevent the escape of the juices. If continued too long, this degree of heat would tend to toughen the joint throughout; after the first few minutes, therefore, the heat must be reduced to about 180° F. The pan used for boiling meat should be only just large enough to hold the joint, and the quantity of liquid no more than is required to cover it. For the boiling of salt meat the general rule of first hardening the surface is not to be followed. The salting of meat withdraws a large proportion of its juices, while at the same time the salt hardens the fibres, and this hardness would be intensified by extreme heat. Very salt meat sometimes is soaked in cold water to extract some of the salt, but whether this is done or not, the rule for boiling salt meat is to immerse it in cold or tepid water and bring slowly to boiling point; boil for five minutes to seal the pores and prevent any further loss of juice, then reduce to 180° F., and maintain a uniform temperature till the meat is cooked. Salt meat takes longer to cook than fresh meat, and the saltness may be qualified by boiling vegetables with the meat, turnips especially being useful for this purpose.

The actual differences between roasting and baking are not great, the terms being frequently interchanged. Meat loses rather less weight when baked than when roasted, but the flavor of meat is inferior and less developed. The heat of an oven being steadier, baking takes somewhat less time than roasting. In a gas oven having an open floor the current of air is not impeded, and such baking very nearly approaches roasting, and the flavor generally is acknowledged to be the same.

Stewing is cooking slowly with a small quantity of liquid in a covered vessel. The method is specially suitable for the coarser and cheaper parts of meat, which are rendered tender without loss of their juices. The usual plan is to make a gravy flavored and colored to suit the stew, and after the ingredients are well blended and cooked to lay the meat in the boiling liquid. After about two minutes boiling, the temperature is reduced to simmering, about 160° F., a lower temperature than that required for a large joint of “boiled” meat. The time depends greatly on the quality of the meat, but none will stew satisfactorily in less than from one and a half to two hours, and the longer allowance is to be preferred.

Broiling, sometimes called grilling, is cooking by the direct action of fire brought almost into contact with the meat. The outer surface is burned or seared, the albumen hardened and the juices, which have a tendency to escape on the side turned from the heat, are retained in the meat by frequent turning. The fire for broiling must be very clear, intensely hot and high in the grate. The utensil required for broiling is a gridiron, the bars of which are greased and heated to prevent sticking and subsequent tearing of the meat. The gridiron is laid quite close over the heat, so that the lower surface is dried and hardened at once.

The meat must be turned at very short intervals before the juices have been driven from the heat to the opposite surface. If once allowed to reach the surface, they will be thrown off in turning and lost, the meat being correspondingly impoverished. By constant turning the juices are kept moving backwards and forwards, and the meat remains moist and full of flavor. Each side should be exposed to the fire about three times, and it is not desirable to use meat less than one inch or more than one and a half to two inches thick for the purpose.

The thinner pieces should have even greater heat applied than the thick ones, as the longer thin ones are exposed to the fire the more dry and tasteless they become, while the thicker pieces may be slightly withdrawn after thoroughly hardening the surface and cooked 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 may be looked on as a derivative of broiling, and passes by easy stages, from broiling on a slightly greased metal plate, or sautéing 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.

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.

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.

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 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° 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 is a combination of roasting and stewing small joints of meats 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 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.

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.

Time Table for Cooking — Weights and Measures

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 slicer 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.

AND A

“Calendar of Dinners”

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.

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.

Consommé 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

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 1½ 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

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

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

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

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 ½ 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

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

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

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 ¼ 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

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.

FISH — MEATS — VEGETABLES — SALADS — PUDDINGS — SANDWICHES — PASTRIES

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.

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

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

For Sauce

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

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

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 1¼ 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. ½ teaspoonful of anchovy extract may be added if liked.

Sufficient for ten cassolettes.

Dressed Crab

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

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 Crěme

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

For Sauce

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

For Sauce

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

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 1½ 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

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

For Sauce

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

Mix flour, baking powder and ½ 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

Sauce

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.

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.

Beef Collops

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

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

Singe, empty, and split chicken in half; take breastbone out and sprinkle salt and pepper over. Melt ½ 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

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

For tongue. Cut slices of tongue, fry in Crisco, season with ¼ 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 bouquet. Let all cook ten minutes, stirring constantly; add seasoning of salt and pepper, and strain for use.

Sufficient for 6 slices.

Fried Chicken

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, ½ 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 ½ pint hot sweet cream, sprinkle over with chopped hot roasted peanuts, little salt and pepper.

Fried Chicken, Mexican Style

For Croquettes

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 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 sweetbread 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

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

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

For Sauce

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

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 pinning 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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cut potatoes in about 1½-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

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

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

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

Wash and scrape artichokes, and throw each one in cold water containing vinegar; when all are done, rinse in water and put into boiling milk, add cupful of boiling water and teaspoonful of salt. Boil quickly with lid off, pierce with fork to know if done. Lift into hot dish and cover with sauce. Blend Crisco and flour in saucepan, over fire, add milk, salt and pepper, and cook five minutes. Remove from fire, add egg beaten with cream and lemon juice, pour over artichokes and sprinkle parsley over top.

Mushrooms au Gratin

Beat up egg, add suet, breadcrumbs, meat, parsley, and seasonings. Wash and remove centers from mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, and red pepper, also place tiny piece of Crisco in each. Then put heaping teaspoonful of forcemeat in each one, and cover with crumbs. Lay on Criscoed tin, add stock, and bake fifteen minutes. Serve on hot dish with gravy poured round.

Sufficient for fourteen mushrooms.

New Potatoes a la France

Wash and scrape potatoes. With round vegetable cutter scoop out from potatoes a number of little balls like marbles; boil these till tender in water, to which have been added salt and mint. Drain, add Crisco, parsley, and lemon juice. Toss them about gently in pan a few minutes, and serve on hot dish.

Potato Pone

Grate potatoes or put them through meat chopper, add molasses, sugar, milk, Crisco, salt, spices, and orange peel. Mix well, turn into Criscoed fireproof dish and bake in moderate oven till firm.

Sufficient for one small pone.

Savory Lentil Dish

Wash lentils and soak in plenty of cold water four hours. Put into boiling salt water, add bay leaf, parsley, seasonings and cook till tender. Chop and fry onion in 3 tablespoonfuls of Crisco, add lentils, rice and remainder of Crisco, stir and allow to get hot. Turn into hot dish and pour over tomato sauce.

Stuffed Beets

Select 6 smooth even-sized beets and boil in boiling salted water until tender. Peel, remove root end and remove center, leaving shell about half inch thick. Remove stems and seeds from peppers; cover peppers with boiling water ten minutes. Dice them with scooped out beet, add Crisco, breadcrumbs, and seasonings. Mix and divide into beet shells, dot with Crisco and bake in moderate oven twenty minutes. Serve garnished with watercress.

Sufficient for six beets.

Stuffed Eggplant

Cut eggplants in halves and scoop out inside, leaving shell half inch thick. Soak ½ cupful breadcrumbs in ½ cupful stock ten minutes, then add cooked chicken, 2 tablespoonfuls melted Crisco, egg, well beaten, and seasoning of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Divide this forcemeat into eggplants, sprinkle Criscoed crumbs on top, set them in greased pan, pour in rest of stock and white wine and bake half hour in moderate oven. Serve on hot dish with following sauce.

Put 1 tablespoonful Crisco and 1 tablespoonful flour into saucepan and blend over fire, add sherry and 1 cupful liquor from pan in which they were baked, and cook five minutes.

Sufficient for three eggplants.

Stuffed Potatoes

(Kate B. Vaughn)

Wash six well shaped white potatoes and rub skin with Crisco. Bake until tender, cut slice off one end, and with a teaspoon remove all potato from shells. Mash the potato, adding Crisco, cheese, seasonings, and egg yolk. Refill shells and bake fifteen minutes. Serve hot on napkin.

Sufficient for six potatoes.

Viennese Carrots

Scrape carrots, cut in small pieces, and boil till tender in boiling salted water. Blend Crisco and flour together in saucepan over fire, stir in 1 cupful water in which carrots were cooked, boil five minutes, then add sugar, seasonings, vinegar, parsley, peas, and carrots; simmer ten minutes and serve hot in vegetable dish.

Salads are classified into two groups—i.e., the raw, such as lettuce, endive, radishes, cucumber, celery, etc., and the cooked, such as those made from cooked vegetables, eggs, cooked cold fish, poultry, and meat. The raw materials should be washed most carefully and well cleaned before mixing, and the utensils for cutting and mixing, as well as the basins or bowls used, should be clean and dry. Every salad, no matter how plain and simple it may be, should be made to look inviting and tempting. The method of draining or drying is a very easy performance so long as the salad leaves, whatever they may be, are almost free from moisture. This is effected best by putting the leaves, which should be broken, not cut with a knife, into a wire basket and drying them well, or else putting them into a cloth lightly folded and shaking well until the outer moisture of the leaves is well absorbed. The salad then is ready for mixing.

Any cold boiled vegetables left over from dinner are useful as giving variety to salads, and help to make a good accompaniment to cold meat served to luncheon. Thinly sliced cold potatoes—new ones for choice, green peas and string beans, are especially good for this purpose, and even Brussels sprouts, carrots, and turnips may be used on occasion in small quantities. More substantial salads, prepared with cold meat or fish, form appetizing luncheon or breakfast dishes. Those made with chicken, lobster and salmon respectively are most widely known, but fillets of flounder, cold ham or beef, or lamb make very good salads, and even the humble herring, and dried and salted fish, may be used with advantage in this way.

The meat or fish should be cut up into cubes or convenient small pieces, and piled up in the center of the dish or salad bowl on a layer of seasoned, shredded lettuce. Over this should be poured half of the dressing. Round this should be arranged the green constituents of the salad, cut up rather small, garnished with slices of tomato or beets, cucumber and hard-cooked egg. The remainder of the dressing should be poured over this, and the top of the meat or fish pyramid may be ornamented with a few sprigs of endive or parsley.

Apple, Celery and Nut Salad

For Dressing

For Salad

For salad. Mix apples, celery and nut meats.

For dressing. Melt Crisco, add mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, yolks of eggs well beaten, and lemon juice. Cook in double boiler till it thickens, then add whites of eggs stiffly beaten. Chill and add whipped cream just before serving. Dressing should be mixed with fruit.

Asparagus Salad

For Dressing

Drain asparagus and chill. Mix salt with paprika, add pepper, tarragon vinegar, cider vinegar, Crisco, pickles, peppers, parsley, and chives, mix well and pour over the asparagus.

Celery and Almond Salad

Melt and cool Crisco. Prepare celery and cut into very thin strips and plunge in ice water until wanted. Blanch and shred almonds; wash and dry lettuce leaves. Put yolk of egg into bowl, add mustard, salt, and red pepper and mix well with wooden spoon. Add sugar, teaspoonful lemon juice, teaspoonful vinegar; beat in Crisco gradually. Remove spoon and beat with egg beater five minutes, then beat in rest of lemon juice and vinegar. Add more seasonings if needed and enough green color to make it look pretty. Dry celery and mix with almonds, then toss them into dressing. Serve on lettuce leaves.

Fruit Salad

Dressing

Salad

For salad. Cut fruit and marshmallows into small pieces, then mix and chill.

For dressing. Beat up eggs in double boiler, add vinegar, sugar, salt, Crisco and cook until thick. Cool and add whipped cream. Mix with fruit and serve on crisp lettuce leaves.

Orange and Tomato Salad

Peel oranges and tomatoes, and slice and arrange alternately in salad bowl. Mix juice squeezed from “tops and bottoms” of oranges with an equal quantity of tarragon vinegar, add Crisco and salt to taste. Pour over fruit and sprinkle chopped parsley on top.

Potato and Nut Salad

For Dressing

For Salad

For dressing. Mix sugar, salt, and mustard, add Crisco and stir thoroughly; then add yolks of eggs well beaten, cream, and lastly vinegar. Cook in double boiler until consistency of cream. If milk is used instead of cream, add 1 teaspoonful flour to other dry ingredients.

For salad. Mix potatoes, nuts, and onion together, and place on crisp lettuce leaves; pour over dressing and garnish to taste with beets, lemon, and parsley.

Potato and Pimiento Salad

Dressing

For salad. Boil potatoes and slice them, add Crisco and salt. Now chop pickles, eggs, and pimientos and add them and set in cool place to chill.

For dressing. Put vinegar into double boiler, add strained lemon juice, sugar, salt, mustard, then add Crisco and eggs well beaten. Cook until thick, then cool and use.

Shrimp Salad

Break shrimps into pieces, put them into earthenware dish, moisten with a little melted Crisco, season with vinegar, salt and pepper. Put apple cubes into a small dish and sprinkle lightly with lemon juice, then put in celery cubes with a little more lemon juice and toss together. Cover and set aside. Prepare nut meats. Heat vinegar and water in double boiler, beat eggs, then gradually add them to vinegar, stirring all the time. Now add Crisco and cook slowly, stirring constantly. Remove from fire, and beat till cold, then add mustard, salt, sugar, and pepper. Add the thick cream just before serving. When ready to serve toss nuts, celery, apples and shrimps together with a silver fork, and add a little dressing. Heap on crisp lettuce leaves on individual plates, and pour over each salad a heaping spoonful of the dressing; and top with spoonful of unsweetened whipped cream.

Puddings as a rule either are boiled, steamed or baked. For boiled puddings, care should be taken that the saucepan be kept boiling or the water will get into the pudding and spoil it. For pudding cloths, use materials such as linen or cheese cloth. After using, the cloth must be thoroughly washed in plenty of water with a little washing soda, but on no account use soap, and see that the cloth is perfectly dry before putting it away. Many puddings are lighter and better steamed, and then instead of the cloth only a piece of Criscoed paper is required, twisted over the top of the basin or mold. Very light puddings, such as custards, should be placed in a steamer. Most of the steamed puddings mixed a little softer, are excellent baked in a pudding dish.

In steaming puddings keep them at a uniform heat all the time, and be careful not to lift the lid off the pan for the first half hour. All farinaceous puddings should be cooked well, as then they are easier to digest. Cornstarch must be well cooked, from eight to ten minutes. Mold for jellies or blanc-manges should be well rinsed with cold water before using. Barters must be well beaten and allowed to stand for thirty minutes or longer before cooking, because the starch in the flour swells, and the batter will therefore be lighter. Batter puddings should be put into a quick oven. Puddings composed principally of milk and eggs should be very gently cooked, as strong heat will cause them to curdle.

In stewing fruit, prepare syrup first. Bring to boil, lay fruit in, and simmer gently. Souffles should be very light and spongy. Eggs form a large part of souffles, more whites than yolks are used and the former are beaten to a stiff froth. All souffles should be served quickly. Omelets are composed mainly of eggs. They can be savory or sweet. If overcooked an omelet will be tough. To prevent milk running over when it comes to boil, put spoon in saucepan. Never leave spoon in saucepan if you wish the contents to cook quickly, and in any case a metal spoon never should be allowed to stand in a boiling saucepan containing fruit or any acid.

Apple Dumplings

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Work in Crisco with finger tips; add gradually milk, mixing with knife to a nice dough. Roll ½ inch thick, cut into squares and lay in center of each an apple, pared and cored. Fill up centers with sugar and cinnamon and take corners off the dough and pinch together. Place in Criscoed baking pan, dot over with sugar and Crisco and bake in moderate oven for twenty-five minutes or till nicely browned. Serve hot with milk.

Sufficient for five dumplings.

Apple Fritters

Peel, core and slice apples, then sprinkle 2 tablespoonfuls sugar and strained juice of the lemon over them. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into bowl, add milk to well beaten egg and stir liquid gradually into dry materials, beating thoroughly, then add Crisco. Cover apple slices with batter and drop them into plenty of Crisco heated so that small breadcrumb browns in sixty seconds. Fry for four or five minutes. Drain and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Any other fruit may be substituted for apples or a combination of fruits makes a delicious fritter.

Sufficient for twelve fritters.

Baked Rhubarb Pudding

Put granulated sugar into small saucepan over fire, and when brown, coat inside of plain pudding mold with it. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together, rub Crisco finely into it, then mix whole to a smooth paste with cold water. Turn out on a floured board, cut off one-third of it, and put one side for the lid. Roll out remainder until twice the circumference of the top of the mold, then drop gently into mold, pressing evenly against sides. Fill center with rhubarb, cut in pieces an inch long. Add grated rind and strained juice of half of the lemon, brown sugar and 3 tablespoonfuls water. Roll out pastry that was put on one side, wet edges of it, lay it on top. Cover with a piece of greased paper, and bake in moderate oven one hour. Turn out and serve with hot milk.

Caramel Bread Pudding

Put Crisco, crumbs, and salt into a basin, add hot milk and soak ten minutes. Melt sugar and brown it lightly in a small pan over fire, then add it to the bread, with eggs well beaten, and flavorings. Pour into Criscoed pudding dish and bake in moderate oven till firm. Serve with whipped cream.

Caramel Rice Pudding

Melt granulated sugar in small saucepan and cook until brown, but do not burn; pour it while hot into pudding mold and spread it all over inside. Wash rice, parboil, drain, and cook slowly in milk thirty minutes; turn into basin, add powdered sugar, Crisco, salt, raisins, extract, and eggs well beaten and pour into prepared mold. Set mold in pan of boiling water and bake in oven till quite set. Turn out and serve hot or cold.

Carrot Pudding

For Pudding

For Sauce

For pudding. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add carrots, potatoes, raisins, currants, crumbs, flour, baking powder, salt, and milk. Turn into Criscoed mold, cover, and steam steadily for three hours.

For sauce. Soak prunes in water over night, after first washing them. Next day put them in pan with water they were soaked in, just enough to cover them, simmer gently until quite soft. Do not allow to boil, or fruit will be spoiled. Take out stones, crack some, and save kernels. Rub prunes through sieve, add sherry, kernels blanched, grated rind and strained lemon juice, and cinnamon, and then, if thicker than rich cream, add more wine, or water, and use.

Chocolate Jelly

Break chocolate into small pieces, dissolve in boiling water, add Crisco, salt, cornstarch mixed with sugar, stir and boil for eight minutes. Remove from fire, add vanilla and nuts and pour at once into wet mold. Cool, turn out and serve with whipped cream.

Cottage Pudding

Sauce

For pudding. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add egg well beaten, milk, vanilla, flour, baking powder, salt, and raisins. Mix well, turn into greased mold, and bake twenty-five minutes in moderate oven. Turn out and serve with sauce. This pudding may be steamed for one and a half hours.

For sauce. Mix flour, sugar, and Crisco in small saucepan, then stir in egg and boiling water and boil for three minutes. Flavor with the vanilla.

Molasses Sponge Pudding

For Sauce

For pudding. Mix flour, breadcrumbs, soda and ginger together, then rub in Crisco with finger tips. Beat egg, add milk, molasses, salt and stir into dry ingredients. Turn mixture into Criscoed mold, cover with greased paper and steam steadily for two hours. Turn out and serve with sauce.

For sauce. Blend Crisco and cornstarch together, add molasses, water, and lemon juice, and boil a few minutes.

Monica Pudding

For Sauce

For pudding. Heat 1 cupful milk. Add other cupful milk gradually to flour, then stir into boiling milk, stir and cook five minutes. The mixture should be quite smooth. Remove from fire, add Crisco, sugar, yolks of eggs well beaten, salt, vanilla, and whites of eggs stiffly beaten. Turn into Criscoed baking dish, set in pan half full of boiling water. Bake in moderate oven thirty-five minutes. Serve with sauce.

For sauce. Melt Crisco, add sugar, cream and vanilla extract and bring to boil.

Noodle Pudding

Throw noodles into boiling salted water, and cook five minutes. Drain in colander. Beat eggs until light and stir in the noodles. Grease pudding dish with Crisco, put in layer of noodles, sprinkle with sugar, almonds, grated lemon peel, and melted Crisco. Then add another layer of noodles and proceed as before, until all are used up. Add milk and salt, and bake one hour in moderate oven. Serve hot with milk or cream. This pudding is delicious with stewed fruits.

Peach Delights

Sift flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder together, then rub Crisco lightly into them with finger tips; add lemon extract and enough milk to make soft dough. Drop mixture into Criscoed gem pans; place ½ peach on each one; fill cavities with sugar and bake in hot oven twenty-five minutes. Serve with whipped and sweetened cream.

Sufficient for twenty delights.

Pineapple Pudding

For Pudding

For Sauce

For pudding. Beat eggs, add crumbs, salt, Crisco, sugar, and pineapple cut into small dice. Turn into Criscoed pudding dish and bake in moderate oven until firm. Serve hot or cold with sauce.

For sauce. Beat Crisco with sugar to a cream, add salt, sherry, and almonds.

Mrs. Vaughn’s Plum Pudding

Chop crystallized fruits, add raisins and currants, then pour brandy (or grape juice) over them and let stand several hours. Cream Crisco and sugar, add eggs well beaten together, and all other ingredients. Divide into greased mold (small Crisco cans will do) filling two-thirds full and steam steadily for three hours. Turn out while hot and serve with hard sauce.

Sufficient for two medium-sized puddings or one very large one.

Rice Pudding

Wash rice and steam it in milk until thick, then allow to cool. Cream Crisco and sugar, add well beaten eggs, raisins, salt, rice, and cinnamon. Grease pudding dish with Crisco, pour in mixture and bake one hour in moderate oven.

Walnut Pudding

For Sauce

Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together, add eggs well beaten, vanilla extract, milk, Crisco, and nuts. Mix well and divide into 9 greased individual molds, cover with greased papers, and steam steadily for three-quarters of an hour. Turn out and serve.

For sauce. Boil sugar and water till syrup spins a thread, pour over beaten yolks of eggs, and stir quickly. Set aside to cool, stir occasionally, add lemon extract and just before serving mix in whipped cream.

Sufficient for nine individual puddings.

Woodford Pudding

(Kate B. Vaughn)

For Sauce

For pudding. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add salt, eggs well beaten, nutmeg, flour, soda mixed with buttermilk, and jam. Mix well and turn into Criscoed pudding dish and bake in moderate oven thirty minutes or until firm.

For sauce. Cream Crisco and beat in as much powdered sugar as it will take up, add salt, and stir over boiling water until it becomes liquid, flavor with vanilla extract or sherry, and just before serving add cream. Serve hot with pudding.

If the slices of bread have to be spread with butter or with a paste it should be done before they are cut off. The slices should not be cut thicker than an eighth of an inch. When butter is used there must just be enough of it for us to know in some mysterious fashion that it is there. Every scrap of a sandwich should be eatable. Sandwiches usually are served on folded napkins, and arranged in circles, so that one overlaps the other. It is well to lay a damp napkin over the sandwiches, if they are not wanted immediately, in order to keep them moist. To make superior sandwich butter, work one cupful of butter in a basin with a clean and dry wooden spoon until soft; then add by degrees half a cupful of whipped cream, seasoning of salt and mustard, and put it in a cool place until required.

Egg and Anchovy Sandwiches

Bone anchovies, put them in basin or mortar with eggs, cheese, and one tablespoonful Crisco, and pound all well together. Mix remaining Crisco with curry powder, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Cut some thin brown bread, spread with curry mixture and layer of anchovy paste. Lay another piece of bread on top, and cut into fancy shapes. Arrange on a lace paper and garnish with watercress.

Sufficient for fifteen sandwiches.

Fried Egg Sandwiches

Cut hard-cooked eggs free from shells into slices and pound with Crisco and cream to a paste. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper. Cut rolls into thin slices, butter them, spread them with the mixture and make into small sandwiches. Dip each sandwich into some prepared fritter batter, and fry to golden brown in hot Crisco. Drain and serve hot.

Sufficient for twelve sandwiches.

Hudson Sandwiches

Put through food chopper cooked meat, olives, capers, and yolks of hard cooked eggs, then add Crisco and seasonings. Spread mixture on slices of buttered brown bread, and stamp them out with a round cutter; sprinkle surfaces of sandwiches with chopped whites of eggs. Dish up in circular fashion. Put lettuce in center with shrimps and a few sprigs of parsley. This sandwich quite repays the trouble of making.

Sufficient for twenty sandwiches.

Pimiento Cheese Sandwiches

Put cheese into double boiler, add Crisco, cornstarch, milk, salt, and paprika to taste and stir and cook until smooth, then add pimientoes cut into small pieces. Spread between buttered slices of graham bread.

Sufficient for twenty-five sandwiches.

Rice Sandwiches

Boil rice in plenty of boiling salted water, add parsley, mace, and lemon peel. When quite tender strain off water, take out parsley mace, and lemon, and stir into the rice, liver, Crisco, ham, and seasonings. Cut an even number of slices of bread, spread mixture when cold on one-half, and cover with remaining slices of bread. Trim and cut into diamond shapes.

Sufficient for twenty sandwiches.

Sardine Sandwiches

Bone and skin the sardines, then rub through sieve, add cream, Crisco, pulp of tomato and seasonings and mix well. Spread mixture between slices of brown or white bread and butter, stamp out in rounds, in center of each round force a row of whipped cream seasoned with salt and red pepper, place small stamped out leaves of lettuce round the cream.

Sufficient for twelve sandwiches.

Tomato Sandwiches

Mix sugar, flour, salt, mustard and red pepper together, add eggs, vinegar, Crisco, and water and cook in double boiler until thick, stirring all the time. To every tablespoonful of dressing add equal quantity of whipped cream. Skin and slice tomatoes very thin, dip slices into dressing and place between thin slices of buttered bread. Cut into finger shaped pieces.

Sufficient for thirty sandwiches.

Tomato and Horseradish Sandwiches

Mix Crisco, horseradish, and mayonnaise together. Skin and slice tomato, sprinkle with salt and paprika. Spread thin slices of bread and butter with Crisco mixture, and put sliced tomato between, cut into fancy shapes and garnish with parsley.

Sufficient for ten sandwiches.

There are two principal divisions, within which all varieties may be included, viz:

Of these, the former includes all pastes in which the fat is mixed evenly with the dough throughout; the latter, those in which, by one means or another, the two are arranged in alternate layers. The short pastes are the simplest, and for this reason should be experimented on to begin with. With pastry, a good deal always depends on the mixing. The best way is to measure out the average quantity of liquid, to pour about three-quarters of this gradually into the flour, at the same time stirring this briskly with a knife, so as to get it evenly moistened, and then add, in very small quantities at a time, as much more water as may be needed. To see, in this way, when the flour has been moistened enough, is easy. By the time the first three parts of water have been put in, most of it will have stuck together in little separate rolls; if on pressing these they should not only cling together, but readily collect about them whatever loose flour there may be, sufficient moisture will have been added; but so long as the mixture, when pressed, remains to some degree crumbly, it is a sign that a little more water is required. When done, the paste should stick together, but should not adhere either to the hands or to the basin. If it does this it is too wet, and more flour must be dusted over it and kneaded in till the surplus moisture has been absorbed. A sure sign of its having been mixed properly is when it can be rolled into a lump, and the basin wiped out cleanly with it, as with a cloth. To roll out, flour the pastry board slightly, lay the dough on it, and form it into a neat, flat oblong shape.

Press it out first a little with the roller, and then roll with short, quick strokes to the thickness required. Always roll straight forwards, neither sideways nor obliquely. If the paste wants widening, alter its position, not the direction of the rolling. At the beginning of each stroke, bring the roller rather sharply down, so as to drive out the paste in front of it, and take especial care in rolling to stop always just short of the edges. Short pastry differs from the flaky pastries in requiring but one rolling out.

It should be handled and rolled as little as possible and when carefully made it should not be in the least leathery or tough. Air in this method is mixed equally throughout the paste, and when it expands in the oven raises the paste in all directions. The flakiness of pastry depends upon the kind and amount of shortening used. Crisco makes tenderer crust than either lard or butter. Make pastry in a cool atmosphere and on a cool surface. The lightness of pastry depends largely upon the light handling in blending the Crisco with the flour and in the rolling of the pastry upon the board. The best results are obtained by cutting the Crisco into the flour with a knife.

If pastry contains baking powder it should be put into the oven as quickly as possible, but if it contains a liberal supply of Crisco without baking powder, it improves by being set aside in a cool place a few hours. Pastry that is light, dry and flaky, is separated more easily by the gastric fluids than that which is heavy. The flour must be of good quality, fine and dry. All pastry requires to be placed in a hot oven, slightly hotter for flaky than short crust. The oven should register from 310° F. to 340° F. The great heat quickly will cause the starch grains to burst and absorb the fat, otherwise the pastry will be heavy.

In making flaky pastry, if it has been rolled and folded properly, and not allowed to stick to the board, nor cut so that air can pass through layers, this air when heated in the oven expands and raises the paste in layers or puffs. Heat of oven must be great enough to fix the pastry in this raised condition, and as cold air prevents this, the oven door must not be opened too soon, or any more than necessary. See that the oven is clean.

Plain Crisco Pastry

Sift flour and salt and cut Crisco into flour with knife until finely divided. Finger tips may be used to finish blending materials. Add gradually sufficient water to make stiff paste. Water should be added sparingly and mixed with knife through dry ingredients. Form lightly and quickly with hand into dough; roll out on slightly floured board, about one-quarter inch thick. Use light motion in handling rolling-pin, and roll from center outward.

Sufficient for one small pie.

The New Crisco Pastry

Sift flour and salt into basin. Flour blade of knife, and chop Crisco into flour, being careful to keep flour between blade of knife and shortening. When mixture looks like meal, add gradually, egg well beaten and mixed with lemon juice. Roll pastry into ball with knife. May be used at once, but will be improved if allowed to stand in cool place for one hour. Should be rolled out once and handled as lightly as possible. May be used for sweet or savory dishes. Bake in hot oven. The purpose of the addition of lemon is to render gluten of flour more ductile, so that it will stretch rather than break as paste is rolled out, or as it rises in oven.

Sufficient for two pies.

Tip Top Pastry

Sift and mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. Rub in Crisco with finger tips. Chill two hours. Then take out ½ cupful, and to remainder add lemon juice and cold water gradually to make stiff paste. Knead lightly and roll into long narrow strip. Sprinkle dough with half of reserved mixture and fold so as to make 3 layers. Turn half way round, roll again into strip, sprinkle with rest of mixture and fold as before. Roll and fold twice more, and pastry is ready for use for cakes, puddings, or pies.

Sufficient for two pies.

Cornstarch Pastry

Rub Crisco lightly into cornstarch and flour, add salt, sugar, baking powder, beaten yolk of egg, and sufficient milk to mix to stiff paste. Roll out lightly and use for tartlets or one crust pie.

Sufficient for two large pies.

Double Pie

Top Layer

Under Layer

Line large pie plate with pastry.

For under layer. Mix sugar with flour, add molasses, egg well beaten, grated lemon rind, and hot water, and pour into prepared pie plate.

For top layer. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, milk, salt, flour, and baling powder. Spread mixture over under layer and bake in hot oven thirty-five minutes.

Sufficient for two large pies.

Almond Layer Pie

For Pastry

For Filling

Make short crust of Crisco, flour, salt, and water. Roll out thin and line Criscoed pie plate with piece of paste.

For filling. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, almonds, salt, grated rind and one tablespoonful lemon juice. Mix well and spread one-half of mixture on to pastry. Then cover with a layer of pastry, the rest of mixture, and lastly cover with pastry. Bake in a moderate oven until brown. Or the pastry may be rolled out, brushed over with melted Crisco, the mixture spread over it, and rolled up to form a roly-poly. Lay on a Criscoed tin and bake in moderate oven until brown.

Sufficient for one large pie.

Flake Pastry No. 1

Sift flour and salt and cut half the Crisco into flour with knife until it is finely divided. The finger tips may be used to finish blending materials. Then add water sparingly, mixing it with knife through dry materials. Form with the hand into dough and roll out on a floured board to quarter inch thickness. Spread one-third of remaining Crisco on two-thirds of dough nearest you; fold twice, to make three layers, folding in first that part on which Crisco has not been spread. Turn dough, putting folded edges to the sides; roll out, spread and fold as before. Repeat once more. Use a light motion in handling rolling-pin, and roll from center outward. Should Crisco be too hard, it will not mix readily with flour, in which case the result will be a tough crust.

Sufficient for two covered pies.

Flake Pastry No. 2

Mix salt with flour; divide Crisco into four equal parts, rub in one of these only, and then mix to stiff paste with a little cold water. Shape into neat oblong piece, and roll into straight strip about three times as long as it is broad. All over this put on, with the point of knife, one of remaining quarters of Crisco, distributing it evenly in little dabs about size of a pea, so that they look like buttons on a card. Now flour surface lightly and fold paste exactly in three by taking hold of the two bottom corners and doubling them upwards from you and then of the top corners and doubling them downwards towards you. Turn now at right angles to its former position so as to have open ends pointing towards you. Press these quickly together with the roller to inclose some air, and press paste across also in two or three places, making little ridges, thus preventing air which has been shut in, from forming into large bubble. Roll out again, and repeat till remaining two parts of Crisco have thus been used. At the last rolling, bring to required thickness; and if it needs widening as well as lengthening, turn it at right angles to its former position, and roll straight across it as before, a rule which, with flaky pastry, should always be observed, since, unlike the short pastries, its lightness suffers if rolled obliquely to the direction in which it has been folded.

Sufficient for two small pies.

Puff Pastry

Measure Crisco and set in cold place to chill it. Sift flour and salt into basin, and add lemon juice. Take a quarter of the Crisco, and rub it lightly into flour with finger tips until there are no lumps left. Beat yolk of egg and add a little cold water, then add them to the flour, making them into a stiffish dough. Turn this on to floured board, and work well with hands until it will no longer stick to fingers and forms a perfectly smooth dough. Form into oblong piece and roll out to about half inch thickness. The Crisco to be used should be as nearly as possible of same consistency as the paste.

Form it into neat flat cake, and place in center of pastry. Fold up rather loosely, and flat the folds with rolling-pin. Place in refrigerator for ten minutes. Then roll out pastry into long narrow strip, being careful that Crisco does not get through, fold exactly in three, press down folds, and lay aside in cool place or in refrigerator fifteen minutes. This is called giving the pastry one “turn” and seven of these is the number required for this pastry. The next time the pastry is rolled, place it with the joins at your right hand side, and open ends towards you. Give two “turns” this time, and again set aside in cool place for at least fifteen minutes. Repeat this until pastry has had seven rolls in all. The object of the cooling between the rolls is to keep Crisco and flour in distinct and separate layers, in which it is the function of the rolling-pin and folding to arrange them, and on which the lightness of the pastry depends.

When rolling, keep the pressure of the two hands as equal as possible. If the pastry becomes rounded, it shows that there is more pressure being done on the rounded side than the other. After it has received its last roll, it is better to be laid aside before using, then rolled to the thickness required.

Sufficient for two pies.

Rough Puff Pastry

Have Crisco cold and firm. Sift flour and salt into basin, add Crisco and cut into pieces one inch square. Beat up egg, add lemon juice and a very little cold water, then add them gradually into other ingredients making them into a stiff paste. Roll in a long piece on floured board, fold in three, turn rough edges toward you and roll out again, continuing this for five times. Place in refrigerator or in cool place ten minutes between each rolling. This pastry may be used at once for all kinds of sweet or savory pies, but it is improved by standing for a few hours in a cool place. Bake in hot oven. Sufficient for two covered pies.

Dominion Paste

Sift flour and almonds into basin, rub Crisco into them, add salt, sugar, eggs well beaten and water to make stiff paste. Leave in cool place two hours, then roll out and use for pies and tartlets.

Sufficient for four pies.

Hot Water Paste

Sift flour, salt and baking powder into basin, rub Crisco lightly into them, then stir in boiling water. Cool paste before using, or it will be too sticky to handle.

Sufficient for one pie.

Butterscotch Pie

Put yolk of egg into saucepan, add brown sugar, flour, milk, water, Crisco, salt, and vanilla. Stir over fire until it thickens and comes to boiling point. Pour into baked pie shell. Beat up white of egg, then beat powdered sugar into it. Spread on top of pie and brown lightly in oven.

Sufficient for one pie.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Cut rhubarb in small pieces and mix with sugar and flour. Beat egg yolks, add milk, ginger extract, and melted Crisco. Line pie plate with pastry, and fill with rhubarb mixture. Pour custard over and bake in moderate oven until firm. Cover with meringue made with stiffly beaten whites of eggs to which two tablespoonfuls powdered sugar have been added.

Sufficient for one small pie.

Sugar Paste for Tartlets

Sift flour on to baking board, make hole in center, and put in grated lemon rind, salt, sugar, eggs, and Crisco. Mix the whole to a stiff pastry. This paste is used for the bottom layer of pies and to line tartlet tins of various kinds. It is excellent for turnovers. Sufficient for thirty tartlets.

Currant Tartlets

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add ground rice, crumbs, peel, currants, cream, salt, lemon extract, and whites of eggs well beaten. Roll out paste, cut into rounds, line some Criscoed tartlet tins with rounds, put in each a tablespoonful of the mixture. Bake tartlets in moderate oven from twelve to fifteen minutes. Or, these tartlets may be covered with frosting, and a little chopped cocoanut sprinkled over tops.

Sufficient for nine tartlets.

Bartemian Tarts

Roll pastry thin and cut out large cakes of it. Beat egg, add sugar, Crisco, rind and strained juice of lemon, salt, citron, and raisins. Mix and put tablespoonful of mixture on each of pastry cakes, wet edges of paste and fold like old fashioned turn over. Do not stick with fork or juice will run out. Lay turn overs on Criscoed tins and bake in hot oven from twelve to fifteen minutes.

Sufficient for twelve tarts.

Apricot Tarts

Rub Crisco into flour, add salt, sugar, baking powder, break egg in and mix well with fork, then add vanilla. Roll out, cut with cutter and line Criscoed tartlet tins with the rounds. Line with paper and put in some rice or peas to keep paste from rising; bake in hot oven twenty minutes. Remove rice and papers. When pastries are cold put in each one a spoonful of the jam or jelly. Fill with whipped cream and decorate with cherries and angelica.

Sufficient for thirty tarts.

Bakewell Tartlets

Cream Crisco and sugar, then add eggs well beaten, flour, salt, baking powder, and extract. Line twelve tartlet tins with pastry, put teaspoonful of preserves in each, then divide mixture into them, and bake in moderately hot oven twenty minutes.

Sufficient for twelve tartlets.

BREADS &c. — CAKES — VEGETARIAN DISHES — EGGS

The usual method of making bread is to ferment dough with yeast; the latter acts upon certain constituents in the flour ultimately producing a gas which permeates the dough. The dough is placed in a very hot oven, the heat kills the yeast plant, the gas expands with the heat, still raising the dough. The loaf is set in shape, and, when finally cooked and the gas all escaped, will be found to be light and full of tiny holes. Certain factors hasten or delay these changes. A moist, warm medium being most favorable to the growth of the yeast, the water should just be lukewarm; then a good flour, containing about 8 per cent of gluten is necessary. This gluten is the proteid in flour; when well mixed with water it forms a viscid elastic substance, hence it is necessary to well knead dough to make it more springy, so that when the gas is generated in it, it will expand and take the form of a sponge, and thus prevent the gas from escaping. The bread must be put into a very hot oven at first, 340° F., so that the yeast plant is killed quickly. If this be not accomplished soon, the loaf may go on spreading in the oven, and, if not sour in taste, will not be of such a good flavor.

Plenty of salt in dough is said to strengthen the gluten, give a good flavor to the bread, and keep it moist for a longer time, but it rather retards the working of the yeast. Flour also may be made into a light loaf by using baking powder to produce the gas. This is a much quicker process, but the bread is not liked so universally as when made with yeast. For, when yeast is used, other changes take place in the dough besides the production of the gas, that seem to give bread the characteristic flavor constantly welcome by the palate. Good flour has a slight pure smell, free from any moldy odor.

Yeast is a fungoid growth, a microscopic plant capable of starting a fermentation in various substances. It grows rapidly in a favorable medium, as when mixed with flour and water, and kept in a warm place, resulting in setting up fermentation. Baking powders are composed of an acid and an alkali. Some kind of flour usually is added to keep them dry and free from lumps. When the mixture containing the baking powder is moistened the acid and the alkali chemically combine and alter, a gas being generated. If the articles, be placed soon in great heat, the gas is warmed, expands, and in its endeavor to escape raises the mass. The heat sets the mixture in this raised condition, thus the cake or pudding is rendered light, easier to masticate and digest.

Baking powders are used for two reasons. First. To supply a gas to take the place of ingredients, as when used in making bread, buns, etc. If flour, salt and water were mixed and baked in a large loaf, it would be a hard, indigestible mass. If baking powder be mixed in with similar ingredients and baked, the result would be a light loaf, easy to masticate and digest.

Second. It is used to save labor. When a richer mixture be made it requires to be well beaten to mix in air. Baking powder often is added to save some of the otherwise necessary beating.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Mix and sift twice dry ingredients. Work in Crisco with finger tips, add gradually milk, mixing with knife to soft dough. Toss on floured board; pat and roll to one-half inch thickness. Shape with biscuit cutter. Place on Criscoed tin and bake in hot oven twelve minutes. To have good biscuits dough should be handled as little as possible, just enough to get in shape to cut. Milk or water used for mixing should be very cold, and biscuits should be gotten into oven at once after adding liquid to flour. If top of each biscuit is lightly brushed over with melted Crisco before baking, crust will be much nicer. Sufficient for fifteen biscuits.

Best Jumbles

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, then gradually add eggs well beaten, now add milk, extracts, flour, salt and baking powder. Mix and roll out lightly on floured baking board; cut into circles with doughnut cutter, lay on Criscoed tins and bake in moderate oven from seven to ten minutes or till light brown. These cookies will keep fresh two weeks, and if milk is left out, a month.

Sufficient for seventy jumbles.

Boston Brown Bread

Mix and sift ingredients. Dissolve soda with one tablespoonful hot water, add to molasses, then add milk and mix with dry ingredients. Turn into greased mold two-thirds full, grease cover, and steam steadily three and a half hours. A 6-pound Crisco pail can be used for a mold.

Sufficient for one loaf.

Bran Gems

Mix Crisco thoroughly with molasses, add egg well beaten, milk, salt, bran, flours, and baking powder. Divide into well greased gem pans, and bake in hot oven from eight to ten minutes. These gems are excellent for constipation.

Sufficient for eight gems.

Brown Nut Bread

Beat eggs and sugar together for five minutes, then add molasses, soda mixed with milk, salt, flours, raisins, and nuts. Mix and turn into Criscoed and floured cake tin and bake in slow oven one and a quarter hours.

Sufficient for one medium-sized loaf.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together, then rub in Crisco with finger tips, add egg well beaten, and soda mixed with milk. Dough should be soft and little more milk can be added if needed. Roll out lightly and handle as little as possible. Cut with biscuit cutter, lay on Criscoed tins and bake in hot oven ten minutes.

Sufficient for thirty biscuits.

Chocolate Brownies

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, chocolate dissolved in boiling water, salt, flour, vanilla, and nuts. Divide and spread thin in 2 Criscoed square pans and bake in slow oven from twenty to twenty-five minutes. Cut in strips and serve with ice cream. These are a cross between cookies and heavy cake.

Sufficient for fifty brownies.

Chocolate Wafers

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add chocolate melted, eggs well beaten, vanilla extract, flour, salt, and soda. Mix and turn out on to floured baking board. Roll out thin, and cut with small cutter. Lay on Criscoed tin and bake from seven to ten minutes in moderate oven.

Sufficient for forty-six wafers.

Citron Buns

Scald milk, add half of sugar and salt; when lukewarm add yeast dissolved in water and 1½ cupfuls flour. Mix, cover, and let rise till light; then add Crisco, remainder of sugar and flour, raisins, peel, and extract. Knead lightly, cover, and let rise. Divide into small pieces, let rise on greased tins, brush over with beaten egg and bake in hot oven twenty minutes.

Sufficient for twenty-two buns.

Coffee Bread

Heat milk slightly, then add flour to make batter and yeast dissolved in little lukewarm water. Allow to rise until light, then add Crisco, eggs well beaten, sugar, lemon, salt, and enough flour to make stiff dough. Knead ten minutes and let rise until light. Place in Criscoed pan and let rise again. Spread with melted Crisco and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Bake in hot oven half an hour.

Sufficient for one large loaf.

Columbia Muffins

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together. Cream Crisco and sugar, add egg well beaten, then milk and flour mixture. Divide into Criscoed and floured gem pans and bake twenty-five minutes in hot oven.

Sufficient for twenty muffins.

Corn Bread

Mix cornmeal with flour, sugar, salt, Crisco, eggs well beaten, and soda mixed with cream. Mix well and turn into Criscoed tin and bake in moderate oven thirty minutes.

Sufficient for one small pan of corn bread.

Cornmeal Rolls

Sift together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Rub in Crisco with finger tips, then add egg well beaten and milk. Roll out, cut into rounds with a large cutter, brush over with melted Crisco, fold over as for Parkerhouse rolls, brush tops with beaten egg or milk and bake in hot oven ten minutes.

Sufficient for fifteen rolls.

Cream Scones

Mix and sift flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Rub in Crisco with finger tips, add eggs well beaten and cream. Knead dough lightly on floured baking board, divide into four equal pieces, make smooth and roll out, and cut into 4 small scones. Lay them on hot griddle, brush over with beaten white of egg and fry slowly on both sides. The dough should always be lightly handled.

Sufficient for sixteen scones.

Crisco Brownies

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, molasses, extract, flour, salt and nuts. Divide into small fancy Criscoed tins, or bake in Criscoed sheet tin and cut in squares. Bake in moderate oven half hour. These are a cross between cake and candy.

Sufficient for twelve squares.

Crisco Batter Cakes

Beat up yolks of eggs, add milk, Crisco, and flour mixed with salt, soda, and baking powder and beat till smooth. Fold in whites beaten to a stiff froth. Drop in large spoonfuls on ungreased skillet or griddle. Serve hot with butter or maple syrup.

Sufficient for fifteen cakes.

Crisco Milk Bread

Mix yeast cake with 1 tablespoonful sugar. Heat milk, add remainder of sugar, Crisco, and salt. Cool and add yeast and flour to make stiff dough. Turn out on floured baking board, cut in three pieces, knead first one piece, then others, stretching dough; let rise over night or in warm temperature five hours. Knead lightly and divide into Criscoed pans. Allow to rise and bake in moderate oven one hour. From same dough, French bread, breadsticks, horse shoe rolls and French rolls can be made.

Sufficient for three loaves.

Dessert Biscuits

Cream Crisco and gradually add sugar, mix thoroughly, and incorporate, one by one, whites of eggs. Now add flour, salt, and vanilla. Mix well, then place in small, long heaps on a Criscoed tin. Bake in cool oven to pale brown color.

Sufficient for sixty biscuits.

Entire Wheat Bread

Mix boiling water, milk, sugar, salt, and Crisco together. Add yeast cake dissolved in tepid water, with 3½ cupfuls whole wheat flour. Mix and let stand until light. Add more flour until soft dough is formed, then knead and divide into two loaves. Place in Criscoed tins and let stand until the dough doubles its bulk. Brush over with milk and bake in moderate oven one and a half hours.

Sufficient for two small loaves.

Excellent Graham Bread

Sift flours with baking powder, salt, sugar, and soda, then add Crisco and milk. Mix and turn into greased and floured cake tin and bake in moderate oven fifty minutes.

Sufficient for one small loaf.

Filled Cookies

For Filling

For cookies. Cream Crisco and sugar, add salt, egg well beaten, milk, vanilla, and flour sifted with baking powder and soda. Mix and turn out on floured baking board. Dough should be soft. Roll very thin and cut out with cooky cutter. Spread one-half of cookies with filling, then place remaining cookies on top and press edges together. Place on Criscoed tins and bake in moderately hot oven fifteen minutes.

For filling. Mix sugar and flour in saucepan, add raisins, nuts, and water, stir and cook until thick. Cool before using.

Fried Cornmeal Nut Cakes

Bring water and salt to boil, stir in cornmeal, add nut meats, and stir and cook ten minutes. Remove from fire and add egg well beaten, and melted Crisco. Turn into Criscoed tin and cool. When cold, slice and fry in hot Crisco. Serve with honey or maple syrup.

Sufficient for six or eight slices.

Fried Cakes with Apple Sauce

Cream Crisco, gradually add sugar, then add salt, nutmeg, lemon, soda, baking powder, sour milk and sufficient flour to make stiffish dough. Roll out on floured baking board, cut with large round cutter, and fry in hot Crisco until well cooked and nicely browned on both sides. Drain and serve with hot apple sauce.

Sufficient for twenty cakes.

Fruit Cookies

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add salt, eggs well beaten, soda mixed with milk, spices, raisins, nuts, and enough flour to make stiff dough. About 5 cupfuls flour will be sufficient. Roll out, cut with cooky cutter, lay on Criscoed tins and bake in moderate oven from ten to twelve minutes.

Sufficient for sixty cookies.

Fruit Drop Cakes

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add yolks of eggs well beaten. Beat whites stiffly and add alternately with milk. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt, then fruits, nuts and extract. Divide mixture into Criscoed and floured gem pans, and bake twenty minutes in moderate oven.

Sufficient for eighteen drop cakes.

Fruit Rolls

Scald milk, when lukewarm add yeast cake dissolved in tepid water and 1½ cupfuls flour, beat well, cover and let rise till light. Add sugar, salt, eggs well beaten, Crisco and enough flour to knead; knead, let rise again. Roll out one-eighth inch thick, spread with melted Crisco, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and mace, fruit and nuts; roll like jelly roll and cut in one inch pieces. Place pieces in Criscoed pan, let rise, brush over with melted Crisco, and bake in hot oven twenty minutes.

Sufficient for sixteen rolls.

Ginger Snaps

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add molasses, spices, salt, soda mixed with boiling water and sufficient flour to make stiff paste. Roll out thin, cut with small cutter, lay on Criscoed tins and bake in hot oven from five to seven minutes.

Sufficient for one hundred snaps.

Ginger Gems

Cream Crisco and sugar together, then add eggs well beaten. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and add alternately with milk to first mixture. Now mix in ginger and divide mixture into Criscoed and floured gem pans and bake in hot oven twenty-five minutes.

Sufficient for sixteen gems.

Gluten Bread

Mix Crisco, boiling water, milk, and salt. When lukewarm, add yeast cake dissolved in warm water, egg well beaten, and gluten. Let rise, when risen and spongy beat well, add enough gluten to make a stiff dough and knead well. Allow to rise, shape in loaves, place in Criscoed bread pans, let rise, and bake for one hour in moderately hot oven.

Sufficient for two small loaves.

Golden Corn Muffins

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, add eggs well beaten and milk. Then stir in slowly dry ingredients which have been sifted together three times. Divide into greased gem pans and bake in moderately hot oven twenty-five minutes.

Sufficient for twelve muffins.

Hominy Bread for Breakfast

Beat eggs, add milk and hominy. Sift in cornmeal, add baking powder and salt; add Crisco. Beat all together three minutes. Pour into deep Criscoed pan and bake one hour in slow oven. Serve hot.

Sufficient for one large loaf.

Health Bread

Mix flours and bran together, add Crisco, salt, sugar, egg well beaten, milk, molasses, soda dissolved in boiling water, and dates. Mix well together and turn into two Criscoed and floured tins and bake in moderate oven one and a quarter hours. This bread is excellent for constipation.

Sufficient for two loaves.

Honey Doughnuts

Cream Crisco, honey and sugar well together, then add eggs well beaten, mix well, add milk, lemon extract, flour, salt, soda, and cream of tartar. Mix and turn out on baking board, roll out and cut with doughnut cutter. Fry in plenty of hot Crisco. If a piece of bread browns in hot Crisco in sixty seconds, temperature is right for doughnuts and fritters.

Sufficient for sixty-five doughnuts.

Hot Cross Buns

Add Crisco, sugar, and salt to milk; when lukewarm, add yeast cake dissolved in water, spices, egg well beaten, and sufficient flour to make a stiff dough. Mix well, add raisins and peel, cover, and let rise over night. In morning divide into pieces and form into neat buns; place in Criscoed pan one inch apart, let rise, brush over with milk or beaten egg, and bake in moderately hot oven twenty-five minutes. Cool, and with ornamental frosting make a cross on each bun. The cross may be made by placing strips of paste on buns before they are baked.

Sufficient for twenty buns.

Imperial Muffins

Add sugar and salt to milk; when lukewarm add yeast cake dissolved in ¼ cupful of the water, and 1¼ cupfuls flour, cover, and let rise until light, then add Crisco, cornmeal, remaining flour and water. Let rise over night, in morning fill Criscoed muffin rings, two-thirds full; let rise until rings are full and bake thirty minutes in hot oven.

Sufficient for twelve muffins.

Lemon Wafers

Cover ammonia with milk and let soak over night. Next morning add sugar, Crisco, salt, eggs well beaten, lemon and enough flour to make a stiff dough. Roll very thin, cut in squares or diamonds, lay on Criscoed tins and bake from five to seven minutes in hot oven.

Sufficient for one hundred and eighty-six wafers.

Lunch Rolls

Scald and cool the milk, then add yeast and sugar. Now add Crisco and 2 cupfuls flour. Beat thoroughly, then add egg well beaten, remainder of flour and salt. Mix and turn out on floured board and knead lightly and thoroughly, using as little flour as possible. Place in greased bowl, cover and set aside in warm place to rise two hours. When light, form into small rounds, place one inch apart on greased pan. Allow to rise half an hour. Brush over with Crisco and bake in hot oven fifteen minutes.

Sufficient for twenty rolls.

Maple Cookies

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add egg well beaten, mix well, add cream, salt, soda dissolved in water, and sufficient flour to make of right consistency to drop from spoon. Grate some maple sugar on each cookie and bake in moderate oven eight minutes.

Sufficient for forty cookies.

Maryland Beaten Biscuits

Mix and sift flour and salt. Cut Crisco in with knife or work in lightly with finger tips. Mix a little milk and water together, chill thoroughly and add enough to dry ingredients to make stiff dough. Everything should be as cold as possible. Beat with rolling-pin until dough blisters. Roll to one-third inch in thickness and cut into small biscuits, prick in center and set in refrigerator an hour before baking. Place biscuits on Criscoed tins and bake in moderate oven thirty minutes. Biscuits may be baked in moderate gas oven and gas turned off when biscuits are golden brown. Allow biscuits to remain ten minutes in cooling oven to dry out.

Sufficient for sixty small biscuits, a fraction larger than a dollar.

Muffins

Add Crisco, salt, and half of sugar to milk and water; when lukewarm add yeast mixed with remaining sugar, egg well beaten, and flour. Beat thoroughly, cover, and let rise until light. Put greased muffin rings on hot griddle greased with Crisco. Fill half full with raised muffin mixture and cook slowly until well risen and browned underneath. Turn muffins and rings and brown other side. When muffins are cold, split open, toast, and serve with marmalade.

Sufficient for sixteen muffins.

Nut Doughnuts

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, milk, salt, extracts, baking powder, nuts, and sufficient flour to make soft dough. Roll out, cut with cutter and fry in hot Crisco to a golden color. Drain and sift with sugar.

Sufficient for seventy-five doughnuts.

Oatmeal Cookies

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, add eggs well-beaten, rolled oats, dates, salt, spices, soda dissolved in milk, and flour. Mix and drop from spoon on Criscoed baking tins. Bake in moderate oven from ten to twelve minutes.

Sufficient for forty-five cookies.

Oven Scones

Rub Crisco finely into flour, add sugar, salt, soda, and cream of tartar. Beat egg, put half of it into cup, then with one-half and some sweet milk make other ingredients into soft dough. Knead very little on floured baking board, divide into five pieces, make them smooth and roll out, not too thinly, cut them into four small cakes. Lay them on a Criscoed tin, brush over with remaining egg and bake in hot oven ten minutes. A few currants or raisins may be added if liked.

Sufficient for twenty small scones.

Raised Doughnuts

Dissolve yeast cake in lukewarm water. Scald milk and cool, then add yeast, half teaspoonful of the salt and flour to make a drop batter. Set in a cosy place to rise. Cream Crisco with sugar, add eggs well beaten, remainder of salt and nutmeg, add to yeast mixture with enough flour to make stiff dough; let rise again. When risen, make into small balls and place in a Criscoed pan to rise. When light drop into plenty of hot Crisco and cook from four to five minutes until doughnuts are done. Drain on soft paper and dredge with powdered sugar.

Sufficient for seventy doughnuts.

Raisin and Buttermilk Bread

Sift flour, salt, soda and cream of tartar into basin, rub in Crisco fine, add sugar, raisins, eggs well beaten, and sufficient buttermilk to make soft dough. Make into smooth mound, roll out, divide into four pieces, lay on greased tin and bake in moderate oven twenty-five minutes.

Sufficient to make four small loaves.

Rich Doughnuts

From 4½ to 5 cupfuls flour sifted before measuring. Cream Crisco, add sugar gradually, and eggs well beaten. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately to egg mixture. Roll out as soft as can be handled. Cut with cutter and fry in hot Crisco. Heat Crisco until crumb of bread becomes golden brown in sixty seconds.

Sufficient for sixty doughnuts.

Rolled Oats Bread

Add boiling water to oats and allow to stand one hour; add molasses, salt, Crisco, yeast cake dissolved in lukewarm water, and flour to make stiff dough; knead well, let rise, knead a very little, divide into two Criscoed bread pans, let rise again and bake forty minutes in moderate oven.

Sufficient for two small loaves.

Rose Leaves

Cream Crisco, adding sugar gradually, then stir in eggs well beaten; add salt, extract, and flour. The dough should be soft. Now chill dough, then roll very thin, using sugar instead of flour, to dust rolling-pin and board. Cut out with small fancy cutter. Place on tins greased with Crisco and bake in moderate oven eight or ten minutes or until slightly browned.

Sufficient for fifty small cakes.

Rye Muffins

Sift flour, meal, baking powder, and salt together. Beat egg and sugar together, then add them with milk and melted Crisco. Mix and divide into Criscoed gem pans and bake in moderate oven twelve minutes.

Sufficient for twelve muffins.

Savarin

For Syrup

For cake. Put yeast cake into cup, add 1 tablespoonful sugar, 1 tablespoonful flour, and lukewarm water. Allow to rise ten minutes. Put flour into basin, add salt, remainder of sugar, almonds, yeast mixture, eggs well beaten, and Crisco melted and cooled. Beat ten minutes with wooden spoon. Turn into Criscoed tube mold. Allow to rise until doubled in size, then bake in quick oven forty-five minutes. Mold should be sprinkled over with shredded almonds.

For syrup. Boil sugar and water for almost forty-five minutes, then add lemon juice. Soak cake with syrup and when cold serve with cream in center.

Sufficient for one savarin.

Shortbread Cookies

Beat Crisco, sugar, and salt to cream. Add gradually egg well beaten, flour, and flavoring. Knead lightly on floured baking board, then roll out one-fourth inch thick and cut into small rounds. Mark them with fork, lay on Criscoed tins and bake in moderate oven from ten to fifteen minutes.

Sufficient for forty cookies.

Soda Beaten Biscuit

Sift flour with soda and salt, then rub in Crisco thoroughly with finger tips, and mix to stiff dough with buttermilk. Beat with rolling-pin or hammer until dough blisters. Roll out one-third inch in thickness, cut with round cutter, and lay on Criscoed tins. Bake in moderate oven from thirty to forty minutes.

Sufficient for forty biscuits.

Sour Milk Biscuits

(Kate B. Vaughn)

Sift flour and salt into basin, rub Crisco lightly into them. Stir soda into milk until it effervesces and then add to flour. Turn out on floured baking board, knead lightly until smooth, roll out quarter of an inch thick, cut with biscuit cutter, place on greased tin and bake twelve to fifteen minutes in hot oven.

Sufficient to make twelve biscuits.

Sour Milk Griddle Cakes

Sift dry ingredients, add milk, well beaten egg, and melted Crisco. Drop by spoonfuls on hot griddle, greased with Crisco. Cook until browned, then turn and cook on other side. Serve hot with syrup.

Sufficient for eighteen cakes.

Sour Milk Tea Cakes

Beat up the eggs, add meal and milk and mix well, add flour, sugar, soda, and salt sifted together. Now add extract and Crisco, melted, and beat two minutes. Divide into Criscoed and floured gem pans and bake in moderate oven fifteen minutes.

Sufficient for sixteen cakes.

Steamed Nut Bread

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add egg well beaten, milk, salt, flours, baking powder, and nuts. Mix and turn into Criscoed mold, cover with greased paper and steam two hours. This nut bread is delicious served hot with butter. It may be served as a pudding with cream or liquid sauce.

Sufficient for one loaf.

Southern Spoon Bread

Heat milk to boiling point, then stir in meal and salt; add Crisco and cook five minutes. Cool mixture, add yolks of eggs well beaten, then beat whites of eggs to stiff froth and fold in. Pour batter into Criscoed two-quart pan and bake in moderate oven forty minutes. Serve while hot, using a spoon with which to serve it. This is especially good served with roast pork.

Sufficient for one large pan of bread.

Spice Cookies

Beat eggs five minutes, then add sugar and beat five minutes, then add Crisco and beat until thoroughly mixed, add molasses, milk, soda, salt, spices, baking powder, and enough flour to make stiff dough. Leave mixture in basin until following day. Take pieces of dough and roll out, cut with small cutter, lay on Criscoed tins and bake in moderate oven from seven to ten minutes.

Sufficient for ninety cookies.

Swedish Coffee Bread

Remove seeds from cardamoms and grind fine, add to hot milk with Crisco, sugar, and salt. When lukewarm add yeast cake mixed with a little tepid water and flour. Mix and allow to rise. Then add flour enough to make stiff dough. Knead and let rise again, then make into rolls or loaves. Let rise again and bake in moderate oven till ready.

Sufficient for eighteen rolls or two small loaves.

Swedish Rye Bread

In evening add Crisco, sugar, and salt to boiling water; cool, add yeast cake mixed with a little tepid water or sugar, rye flour and white flour. Allow to rise and in morning add more white flour, a little at a time, to make a stiff dough. Let rise, knead again and bake in Criscoed pie tins or cake tins as it will rise better than if baked in bread tins. Bake in hot oven half hour. When taken out of oven brush crust with a little melted Crisco.

Sufficient for four loaves.

Twin Biscuits

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, rub in Crisco with tips of fingers, then add milk. Pat and roll out dough, cut with cutter, brush with melted Crisco, place one on top of another, lay on Criscoed tin and bake in hot oven from ten to twelve minutes.

Sufficient for twelve biscuits.

Waffles

Mix and sift dry ingredients, add milk gradually, yolks of eggs well beaten, melted Crisco, and whites of eggs beaten to stiff froth; cook on hot waffle iron greased with Crisco. Serve with maple syrup, or honey and butter.

Waffles may be served for breakfast, luncheon, supper or high tea. A waffle iron should fit closely on range, be well heated on one side, turned, heated on other side, and thoroughly greased with Crisco before iron is filled. In filling, put tablespoonful of mixture in each compartment near the center of iron, cover, and mixture will spread to fill iron. If sufficiently heated, it should be turned almost as soon as filled and covered. In using new iron, special care must be taken in greasing, or waffles will stick.

Sufficient for six waffles.

White Cookies

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, soda mixed with sour milk, salt, extracts, and about 5 cupfuls flour. Roll very thin, cut with cookie cutter, lay on Criscoed tins, bake in moderately hot oven five minutes. To keep any length of time, when cold, place in covered tin cans and set in cool place, and they will be as crisp as when first baked.

Sufficient for ninety cookies.

Yorkshire Fruit Loaves

Heat Crisco in milk, then cool and add yeast cake mixed with a little sugar; stir in flour and salt, and allow to rise four hours. Mix sugar, fruit, peel, and spices into risen dough. Let rise again then divide into two Criscoed loaf tins. Allow to rise fifteen minutes, then bake in moderate oven one and a half hours.

Sufficient for two medium-sized loaves.

Water Bread

Mix Crisco, sugar and salt, pour on boiling water; when lukewarm add dissolved yeast cake. Stir in enough flour to make a batter; beat well, then add more flour, a little at a time to make stiff dough, mixing with a knife. Turn on a floured board; knead until it is smooth, elastic and does not stick to the board. Put into a bowl greased with Crisco, cover closely and let stand in a warm place over night. The first thing in the morning knead again until fine grained; shape into loaves and place in a warm pan greased with Crisco. Cover and put in a warm place. When double in bulk, bake in a hot oven. Bake one hour.

There are five principal ways of making cakes.

The first method is used for plain cakes. The shortening is rubbed into the flour in the same way as for short pastry; then the dry ingredients, such as sugar, fruit, and spice, are added, and lastly the eggs and milk. Then all are mixed well together.

The second way is used for fruit, pound, and seed cakes. The shortening and sugar are creamed together, the eggs beaten in one at a time, and the fruit and flour stirred in lightly and quickly at the last.

In the third way the eggs and sugar are beaten together until thick and creamy, then the flour is stirred in lightly and quickly. This is used chiefly for sponge cakes and cakes of that texture.

For the fourth way the sugar, shortening, milk, and syrup or molasses are melted together, then cooled slightly and added to the dry ingredients. This method is used for gingerbreads.

In the fifth way the sugar and eggs are beaten thoroughly over boiling water, then cooled before the melted shortening and dry ingredients are added. This method is used for Gennoise cake and some kinds of layer cakes. Care must be taken to insure the right consistency of cakes. The mixture should be fairly stiff. If too moist the fruit will sink to the bottom. For rich cakes the tins should be lined with paper, the paper coming a short distance above the tins, so that the cake is protected as it rises. For very rich fruit cakes, experience has shown that it is best not to grease the paper or tin. The cake is not so liable to burn, and the paper can be removed easily when the cake is done without injuring it. On the other hand, if tins are lined for sponge cakes or jelly-rolls, the paper should be greased.

When making cakes in which baking powder, carbonate of soda, cream of tartar or tartaric acid are used, almost everything depends upon the handling, which should be as light and as little as possible. The more rapidly such cakes are made the better they will be. Two cooks working from the same recipe will often produce entirely different results, if one kneads her mixture as if it were household bread, while the other handles it with due lightness of touch. As soon as the baking powder or other rising medium is added to the mixture, the cake should be put into the oven as quickly as possible. Soda alone is never good in a cake where there is shortening, unless some substance containing acid is used along with it. Molasses is one of the substances containing acid.

The greatest care and cleanliness must be exercised in all cake making; and accuracy in proportioning the materials to be used is indispensable. The flour should be thoroughly dried and sifted, and lightly stirred in. Always sift flour before measuring, then sift it again with the baking powder to insure a thorough blending.

Good cakes never can be made with indifferent materials. Eggs are used both as an aerating agent and as one of the “wetting” materials. It is not economy to buy cheap eggs, for such eggs are small, weak, colorless, and often very stale. Eggs should be well beaten, yolks and whites separately, unless other directions are given. The yolks must be beaten to a thick cream and the whites until they are a solid froth. Sugar tends to improve the texture of cakes, and when cheap cakes are made, plenty should be used, provided that the cake is not made too sweet. It should be dissolved before being added to the fat and the flour.

For best cakes, and all that are required of a light color, fine-grained sugar should be used. With coarse-grained sugar there is danger of producing specks which show on the cakes after baking, unless they have been made by the method of beating up the eggs and sugar together with a beater over hot water. This method will dissolve the grains of sugar.

Always buy the best fruits for cake making, as they are sweetest and cleanest. Currants and sultana raisins for cakes should not be too large, but of medium size, sweet and fleshy. Cheap dry sultanas should not be used. Though there is no need to wash sultanas, yet if the fruit is inclined to be very dry, it will be better to do so than to put them in to spoil the appearance and the flavor of the cake. Currants always should be washed, cleaned, and dried before using. Orange, lemon, and citron peel should be of good color and flavor. They should not be added to cake mixture in chunks, as often is done, but should be in long shredded pieces. Large pieces of peel are sometimes the cause of a cake cutting badly. In making fruit cakes add the fruit before the flour, as this will prevent it falling to the bottom.

If a cake cracks open while baking, the recipe contains too much flour. There are two kinds of thick crusts which some cakes have. The first of these is caused by the cake being overbaked in a very hot oven. Where this is so, the cake, if a very rich one, has a huge crack in the top caused by the heat of the oven forming a crust before the inside has finished aerating; then as the interior air or gas expands, it cracks the crust to escape. This crack spoils the appearance of the cake, and when cut it generally will be found to be close and heavy in texture. To guard against this it is necessary to bake them at a suitable temperature, noting that the richer the cake the longer the fruit takes to bake.

The second kind of thick crust referred to may only be on top of the cake, and in this case may be caused by an excess of fat and sugar being mixed together, or otherwise insufficient flour. In this case the mixture will not bake, but only forms a kind of syrup in the oven, and the cake sinks in the center. A cake made under such conditions would have a thick shiny crust, and be liable to crumble when touched. The inside of the cake would be heavy, having more the appearance of pudding than cake.

Successful cake making means constant care. In recipes in which milk is used as one ingredient, either sweet or buttermilk may be used but not a mixture of both. Buttermilk makes a light, spongy cake, and sweet milk makes a cake which cuts like pound cake. In creaming shortening and sugar, when the shortening is too hard to blend easily warm the bowl slightly, but do not heat the shortening, as this will change both the flavor and texture of the cake. For small cakes have a quick oven, so that they set right through, and the inside is baked by the time the outside is browned. For all large cakes have a quick oven at first, to raise them nicely and prevent the fruit sinking to the bottom. The oven then should be allowed to become slower to fire the cakes thoroughly.

Cake must not be hurried. Keep the oven steady though slow, and after putting a large cake into it do not open the door for at least twenty minutes. During baking, do not open the door unnecessarily, or in fact do anything to jar the cake lest the little bubbles formed by the action of the baking powder burst, causing the gas to escape and the cake to sink. This produces what is known as a “sad” cake, but refers probably to the state of mind of the cook. A very light cake put into a quick oven rises rapidly round the sides, but leaves a hollow in the middle.

If a cake is made too light with eggs or powder and an insufficient quantity of flour is added it will drop in the center. Another frequent cause is the moving of cakes while in the oven before the mixture has set properly. The same defect is produced if the cakes are removed from the oven before being baked sufficiently. When a cake batter curdles, the texture will not be so even as if the curdling had not taken place. Sometimes the mixture will curdle through the eggs being added too quickly, or if the shortening contains too much water. This forms a syrup with the sugar, and after a certain quantity of eggs have been added the batter will slip and slide about, and will not unite with the other ingredients. Weak, watery eggs are another cause of this happening; and although this may be checked by adding a little flour at the right time, yet the cake would be better if it were unnecessary to add any flour until all the eggs had been beaten in, that is, if the batter had not curdled. Before turning out a cake allow it to remain in the tin for a few minutes. It is best to lay it on a wire cake stand, or lay it on a sieve; but if you do not possess these, a loosely made basket turned upside down will do. If the cake will not turn out of the tin easily, rest it on its side, turning it round in a couple of minutes and it may loosen, if not, pass a knife round the edge, turn the cake over on a clean cloth, and let it stand a few minutes.

Do not place cakes in a cold place or at an open window, or the steam will condense and make them heavy. A rich cake improves in flavor and becomes softer with keeping (from 2 to 6 weeks, according to quality) before cutting. Wrap, when cold, first in a clean towel, then in paper. After a week remove the paper and put the cake into a tin wrapped in the towel. Small cakes may be baked in tiny molds or tins, or baked in a flat sheet, and then cut out into squares, diamonds or rounds. Then they can be frosted or coated with cream and decorated with cherries or other crystallized fruits. If a real distinction is desired, they may be placed in tiny crinkled paper cases, bought by the hundred at a trifling cost.

Cake tins should be greased with Crisco and dredged with flour, the superfluous flour shaken out, or they can be fitted with paper which has been greased with Crisco. When creaming Crisco and sugar, do not grudge hard work; at this stage of manufacture the tendency is to give insufficient work, with the result that the lightness of the cake is impaired.

Apple Sauce Fruit Cake without Milk

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, add apple sauce, flour, raisins, spices, salt, and soda mixed with vinegar. Mix and pour into greased and floured cake tin and bake in moderate oven one and a half hours.

Sufficient for one cake.

Black Cake with Prune Filling

For Filling

For cake. Beat 1 egg in double boiler, add ½ cupful milk, ½ cupful sugar and chocolate; mix well and cook until it thickens. Cool and set aside. Cream Crisco with remainder of sugar, add salt, eggs well beaten, soda mixed with remainder of milk, flour, baking powder and vanilla. Mix well and add chocolate paste, and divide into two Criscoed and floured layer cake tins. Bake twenty minutes in moderate oven.

For filling. Boil sugar and water together without stirring until it forms a soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F., then pour it over the beaten white of egg, beating all the time. Now add chopped prunes and almonds and beat well. Put between layers of cake.

Sufficient for one good-sized layer cake.

Pound Cake

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, add yolks of eggs well beaten, fold in whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth, add brandy, flour, salt and mace, and mix lightly and quickly. Turn into a papered cake pan and bake in a slow oven for one hour and twenty minutes.

Sufficient for one large cake.

Boiling Water Cake

Put Crisco and sugar into basin, pour boiling water over them; let stand till cold, then add egg well beaten, sift in flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg, add peel, raisins, and lemon extract, and mix well. Turn into greased and floured small square tin and bake in moderate oven half hour. Cool and cover with boiled frosting.

Sufficient for one small cake.

Butterless-Milkless-Eggless Cake

Put Crisco into saucepan, add sugar, water, raisins, salt, and spices, and boil three minutes. Cool, and when cold add flour, baking powder, soda dissolved in warm water and nut meats. Mix and turn into Criscoed and floured cake tin and bake in slow oven one and a half hours.

Sufficient for one medium-sized cake.

Caramel Cake

For Cake

For Filling

For cake. Put granulated sugar into small pan and melt over fire till brown, remove from fire, add boiling water, stir quickly, return to stove, and stir until thick syrup; set aside to cool. Beat Crisco and sugar to a cream, add eggs well beaten, flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla, three tablespoonfuls of the syrup and water. Mix and beat two minutes, then divide into two Criscoed and floured layer tins and bake in moderate oven twenty minutes.

For filling. Melt granulated sugar in small pan and stir until it becomes a light brown syrup, add the water gradually, then brown sugar, Crisco, salt, and chocolate, stirring all the time. Cook until it forms a soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F. Remove from fire, add vanilla, beat until creamy, then spread between cakes.

Sufficient for one layer cake.

Chocolate Cake

For Cake

For Chocolate Frosting

For cake. Cream Crisco; add sugar gradually, yolks of eggs well beaten, milk, flour, salt, baking powder, grated chocolate, citron, and raisins. Mix and beat two minutes, then fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Turn into Criscoed and floured tin and bake for one and a quarter hours in a moderate oven. When cold cover with frosting.

For chocolate frosting. Knead Crisco into sugar. Melt chocolate, add coffee, sugar, salt, and Crisco, and stir until thick, then add vanilla and put away to cool. When cold spread on cake. This frosting may be used any time. It is just as good made one day and used the next by adding a little more hot coffee. It is always soft, creamy and delicious.

Sufficient for one cake.

Cocoanut Layer Cake

For Cake

For Filling

For cake. Cream Crisco and sugar together, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, and add alternately with the beaten yolks of eggs and milk. Beat thoroughly, then add stiffly beaten whites of eggs and flavoring and mix gently. Grease layer tins with Crisco, then flour them and divide mixture into three portions. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.

For filling. Boil water and sugar together, add Crisco and cream of tartar, and boil until it forms a soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F. Beat white of egg to stiff froth, add salt, then pour in syrup gradually, add vanilla and beat until thick and cold. Spread on cake and sprinkle over with cocoanut.

Sufficient for three layers.

Coffee Layer Cake

Dark Part

White Part

For dark part. Cream Crisco and sugar, add yolks well beaten, coffee, molasses, flour, salt, baking powder, spices and raisins. Mix and divide into two Criscoed and floured layer tins and bake in moderately hot oven twenty minutes.

For white part. Cream Crisco and sugar, add milk, vanilla, flour, salt, baking powder, then fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Bake in two layers. Put layers together and ice with following frosting.

Put 2 cupfuls dark brown sugar and ¾ cupful water into saucepan, add 1 tablespoonful Crisco and 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract. Boil till mixture forms soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F., remove from stove, beat till it begins to cream, then add 1 cupful chopped raisins. Spread on cake and allow to dry.

Sufficient for one large layer cake.

Cream Puffs

Put Crisco into small saucepan, add water, bring to boiling point, add quickly flour and salt, stir well with wooden spoon until mixture leaves sides of pan, remove pan from fire, allow mixture to become cool, but not cold, add eggs, one at a time, and beat each one thoroughly in. Set in cool place one hour. Put mixture into forcing bag with tube and force it on to a tin greased with Crisco into small rounds; bake in hot oven forty minutes. When cold split them open on one side and fill with whipped cream sweetened and flavored to taste.

To make eclairs with this mixture press it on to tins in strips three and a half inches long, and a little distance apart. Brush over tops with beaten egg and bake in moderate oven thirty minutes. Cut open one side, then fill and dip top into chocolate icing.

Sufficient for fifteen cream puffs.

Cream Puff Balls

Put Crisco and water into small saucepan, bring to boil, add quickly flour and salt, stir well with wooden spoon until mixture leaves sides of pan, remove from fire, allow to cool, but not become cold, add eggs, beating each one thoroughly in. Turn mixture on to well Criscoed plate and divide into small puffs or cakes. Put on Criscoed tins and bake a golden brown in hot oven, thirty minutes. These puffs may be filled with preserves, custard, or savory mixtures.

Sufficient for thirty puffs.

Crisco Fruit Cake

Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, beat five minutes, then add coffee, soda mixed with molasses, brandy, flour sifted with salt and spices. Now add raisins, currants, dates, cherries cut in halves, and nuts. Mix carefully and turn into Criscoed and papered tin and bake in moderate oven two and a half hours. Brandy may be omitted.

Sufficient for one large cake.

Devils Food Cake

Put ½ cupful of sugar into small saucepan, add chocolate and 1 cupful milk. Put on stove and stir till it boils five minutes, stirring now and then. Remove from fire, add vanilla and set aside to cool. Beat Crisco and remainder of sugar to light cream, then add eggs well beaten and beat two minutes. Now add remainder of milk, soda dissolved in boiling water, flour, salt, and chocolate mixture. Mix carefully and divide into two large greased and floured layer tins and bake in moderate oven twenty-five minutes. Turn to cool and put together with boiled frosting.

Sufficient for two large layers.

Peach Shortcake

Cream Crisco and sugar together, then add milk, eggs one by one, always beating well between each one, flour sifted with baking powder and salt, then add extract. Mix and divide into two layer tins that have been greased with Crisco and bake twenty minutes in moderate oven. Turn out and spread with butter. Put together with quartered and sweetened peaches and pile some peaches on top.

Sufficient for one cake.

Strawberry Shortcake

Sift the flour with the baking powder, salt and sugar, then cut in the Crisco with a knife, add egg well beaten, and milk. The dough should be a soft one. Roll in two layers, spread in two Criscoed pans and bake in a hot oven until a light brown color. Mash and sweeten one cupful of the strawberries, put on one layer, then place second layer on top. Sweeten remainder of strawberries, spread on top layer, and cover with the whipped cream. Decorate with whole ripe strawberries.

Fig Cake

Wash and dry figs then shred them. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, and beat five minutes. Sift dry ingredients, and add to first mixture alternately with milk. Add figs and flavorings and turn into Criscoed and floured cake tin. Bake one hour in moderate oven.

Sufficient for one small cake.

Gennoise Cake

Break eggs into bowl, add sugar and beat for ten minutes over a pan of boiling water. Remove from water and beat till mixture is thick and cold; remove beater, sift in flour, salt, and baking powder; mix carefully, add melted Crisco and almond extract. Turn at once into small square greased and papered tin and bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes. Turn out and remove paper. Cool and cut in eight square pieces. Cover with boiled frosting and decorate with cherries or cocoanut.

Sufficient for eight small cakes.

Gingerbread

Sauce

For cake. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add egg well beaten, molasses, milk, soda, flour, salt, and spices. Mix and turn into Criscoed tin and bake in moderate oven forty minutes.

For sauce. Dissolve maple sugar in boiling water. Rub together Crisco and flour. Add gradually boiling syrup; and lastly the beaten egg. Then return to fire and stir briskly until thickened.

Sufficient for one small gingerbread.

Golden Orange Cake

For cake. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add salt, eggs well beaten, orange extract, and flour and baking powder alternately with milk. Mix carefully and turn into Criscoed and floured cake tin and bake in moderate oven about one hour. This mixture may be baked in layers.

For icing. Boil 1 cupful water with 2 cupfuls sugar till it forms soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F., then pour over well beaten yolks of four eggs, beat until smooth and thick, add 1½ teaspoonfuls orange extract and spread at once on cake.

Sufficient for one large cake.

Gold Cake

(Kate B. Vaughn)

Cream Crisco and sugar together. Beat egg yolks very light and add to creamed mixture. Add dry ingredients, milk, and lemon extract and mix well. Turn into a small Criscoed and floured cake tin and bake in moderate oven forty-five minutes.

Sufficient for one small cake.

Hurry Up Cake

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into bowl. Put whites of eggs into measuring cup, add Crisco, and fill cup with milk. Add to dry mixture with extracts and beat vigorously six minutes. Pour into small Criscoed and floured cake tin and bake in moderate oven forty-five minutes. Cake may be frosted if liked.

Sufficient for one small cake.

Crisco Sponge Cake

Cream Crisco; add salt, yolks of eggs well beaten, and sugar, and beat for five minutes, add orange extract and cold water. Beat up whites of eggs to a stiff froth and add alternately with the flour sifted with the baking powder. Divide into Criscoed and floured gem pans and bake in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes.

Sufficient for twelve cakes.

Sand Cake

Cream the Crisco and salt, add sugar by tablespoonfuls, beating all the time, then add the yolks of the eggs each one separately, then add the cornstarch by tablespoonfuls, lemon extract and lastly whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Turn into a papered cake tin and bake in moderate oven for three-quarters of an hour. Sufficient for one cake.

Lady Baltimore Cake

(White Cake)

For the Filling

For cake. Cream Crisco and sugar together. Sift together three times dry ingredients and add alternately with water. Add vanilla, beat mixture well then fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Divide into two Criscoed and floured layer cake tins and bake in moderate oven twenty-five minutes.

For filling. Put sugar and water into saucepan, stir till boiling, add cream of tartar, then boil until it forms a soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F.; pour on to the stiffly beaten whites of eggs, pouring in a steady stream and very slowly, adding while beating vanilla, cherries and pineapple, beat till thick and divide between and on top of cake.

Sufficient for one large layer cake.

Lemon Layer Cake

For Cake

For Lemon Filling

For cake. Put the eggs, sugar, and lemon rind into basin, stand it over pan of boiling water, and beat until warm; then remove from hot water, and continue beating until mixture is stiff and cold; then add flour mixed with baking powder and salt, and pass through sieve, add Crisco melted but cool, taking care to stir very gently, but on no account beat it. Divide mixture into two small Criscoed and floured layer cake tins, and bake ten minutes in moderately hot oven. Turn out and cool, then put together with lemon filling.

For filling. Beat up eggs in saucepan, add Crisco, salt, grated rinds and strained lemon juice. Stir with wooden spoon over gentle heat until mixture just comes to boiling point. When cold use.

Sufficient for one layer cake.

Lord Baltimore Cake

Filling or Frosting

For cake. Cream Crisco and sugar together. Sift together three times dry ingredients and add alternately with water. Add vanilla, beat mixture well, then fold in beaten yolks of eggs. Divide into two Criscoed and floured layer cake tins and bake in moderate oven twenty-five minutes.

For filling. Put sugar and water into saucepan, stir till boiling, add cream of tartar, then boil until it forms soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F.; pour on to stiffly beaten whites of eggs, pouring in steady stream and very slowly, adding while beating vanilla, raisins, nuts, and figs, beat until thick and divide between and on top of cake.

Sufficient for one large layer cake.

Lunch Cakes

Cream Crisco and sugar together, then add well beaten eggs. Sift dry ingredients, and add to first mixture alternately with milk. Divide into Criscoed and floured gem pans and bake in moderately hot oven fifteen minutes.

Sufficient for fifteen cakes.

Jelly Roll

Beat eggs and sugar together twenty minutes, remove beater, sift in flour, salt, and baking powder, add milk, extract, and melted Crisco. Grease large flat tin with Crisco, dust over with flour, pour in mixture and spread out evenly. Bake twelve minutes in moderately hot oven. Turn out on sugared paper, spread quickly with jelly or preserve and roll up at once. The cake will crack if spreading and rolling are not quickly done. Sliced jelly roll is delicious with custard.

Sufficient for one jelly roll.

Marble Cake

Cream Crisco, add gradually the sugar, yolks of eggs beaten until thick, flour, salt, baking powder, milk, and egg whites beaten to stiff froth. Mix carefully and to one-third the mixture add spices, molasses, and melted chocolate. Drop in Criscoed cake pan alternately a spoonful of each mixture, and draw spoon through once or twice to make colors lie in lines. Bake in moderately hot oven one hour.

Sufficient for one medium-sized cake.

Marmalade Cake

Sift salt, flour, and baking powder into basin, rub in Crisco with finger tips, add ginger and egg well beaten. Knead lightly to smooth paste and divide into two pieces. Roll out pieces and line Criscoed dinner plate with one of them. Spread over with marmalade, cover with remaining piece of paste, pinch neatly round the edges and bake in moderate oven half an hour. Cut like pie and serve hot or cold.

Sufficient for eight pieces.

Old Fashioned Seed Cake

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, then drop in eggs one by one, beating each one in well before next is added, sift in flour and salt, add carraway seeds. Turn into Criscoed and papered loaf tin and bake in moderately hot oven one and a half hours.

Sufficient for one large cake.

Almond and Citron Cake

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, beat in yolks of eggs one by one, add almonds, citron, brandy, mace, flour, baking powder, salt, mix well and fold in whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Turn into a papered cake pan and bake in a moderate oven for one hour. Cover with boiled frosting if liked.

Sufficient for one large cake.

Walnut Cakes

For Cakes

For Frosting

For cakes. Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, add eggs well beaten, salt, vanilla, milk or water, baking powder, flour, and nuts. Mix well and divide into Criscoed and floured gem pans and bake ten minutes in moderate oven. When cold cover with boiled frosting.

For frosting. Dissolve sugar and water over fire in a saucepan, add cream of tartar and boil until it forms a soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F. Pour on to the beaten whites of eggs, pouring in a steady stream and very slowly, adding, while beating, lemon juice, and vanilla; beat until thick, and use.

Sufficient for fifteen cakes.

Rose Leaf Cakes

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, then add eggs well beaten, flour, baking powder, salt, milk, grated rind and 1 tablespoonful lemon juice, and fresh rose leaves. Divide into Criscoed and floured gem pans and bake in moderate oven from twelve to fifteen minutes.

Sufficient for thirty-five cakes.

Scotch Shortbread

Sift flour and salt on to baking board. Cream Crisco, sugar and egg in basin and when thoroughly beaten turn out on board and very gradually knead in flour. Make into two smooth rounds, pinch them round the edges, prick over top with fork, lay on papered tin and bake in moderate oven thirty-five minutes. Leave on tin until cold.

Sufficient for two round cakes.

Silver Nut Cake

Cream Crisco and sugar. Sift dry ingredients and add to Crisco mixture, alternating with the milk; add nuts and vanilla extract. Beat egg whites to stiff froth and fold in at last. Turn into Criscoed and floured cake tin and bake in moderate oven thirty-five minutes.

Sufficient for one small cake.

Simnel Cake

For Filling and Icing

For cake. Cream Crisco and sugar together, add eggs well beaten, flour, baking powder, salt, almond extract, raisins, and peel. Make filling by mixing almonds with powdered sugar, eggs well beaten and almond extract. Line Criscoed cake tin with paper and place in half of cake mixture, then put in layer of filling, then remaining half of cake mixture. Bake in moderate oven. When cake is nearly baked, place remaining almond paste on top and finish baking. Cake takes from one hour to one and a quarter hours.

Sufficient for medium-sized cake.

Southern Fruit Cake

Cream Crisco and sugar thoroughly together, then add molasses, cream, flour, soda, eggs well beaten, salt, spices, and fruit. Mix well and turn into Criscoed and papered cake tin and bake in slow oven one and a half hours.

Sufficient for one large cake.

The Wholesome Parkin

Melt Crisco and mix with molasses, then add sugar, egg well beaten, salt, soda, spices, flour, and oatmeal. Mix and pour into small square Criscoed tin and bake in moderate oven thirty-five minutes. This little cake is excellent when a week old.

Sufficient for one small cake.

Whole Wheat Gingerbread

Mix flours, then add peel, raisins, nuts, spices, and salt. Melt Crisco, molasses, and sugar, then cool, and add them with eggs well beaten, with soda mixed with milk. Mix well and turn into Criscoed and floured cake tin. Bake in moderate oven one hour.

Sufficient for one large cake of gingerbread.

Even those who are by no means decided vegetarians may be glad to pass over a dinner occasionally without meat. It is perhaps not too much to say that every housekeeper ought to be able to provide a meal without the aid of meat. We do not mean by this simply the cooking of vegetables or the preparations of puddings, but the presentation of dishes intended to take the place of flesh, such as soups and broths made without meat, vegetable stews, lentil fritters and other healthful and nutritious dishes. A vegetarian menu is not so simple as it sounds. It requires knowledge and discrimination on the housekeeper’s part to serve a solid meal without flesh or fowl.

Now that meat is so dear it is the favorable moment to try a vegetable diet for a time. One mistake to be avoided in this catering is the putting down of too many dishes of a pulpy character—food which is soft is excellent with other things, but alone it is neither satisfying nor very nourishing, at least to a person of strong digestion. All of them should not be white, for instance, and the same rule holds good in other things besides color. A nice dish for this kind of diet is a vegetable curry, in which all the vegetables are treated like meat and turned out crisp; all the vegetables, too, must be fresh and young for this method of serving, so that anything like stringiness is absolutely impossible.

Crisco is entirely vegetable.

Bean Cutlets

Soak beans in water twenty-four hours, then boil for several hours till quite tender, drain them, preserving liquor, chop them very fine; blend Crisco with flour in saucepan over fire, add bean liquor, beans, salt and pepper, and yolks of eggs; turn out on to a dish and set aside till cold. Then cut out with cutlet-cutter or shape with knife; dip in beaten whites of the eggs, then in fine breadcrumbs, repeat a second time, and fry in hot Crisco. Serve on hot platter decorated with a few hot cooked mixed vegetables. Sufficient for eight cutlets.

Devilled Bananas

Slice bananas, mix with salt, chopped pickles and red pepper or chopped chillies and put them into hot Crisco. Cook for four minutes and serve. Sufficient for eight bananas.

Cauliflower Snow

Boil cauliflowers in salted water till tender, then drain and set near fire till quite dry. Remove all green parts and press flower through a potato ricer upon a hot dish, on which they are to be served. In no way crush the mass as it falls from the ricer. Sprinkle over with melted Crisco. Surround dish with poached eggs, each laid upon square of toasted buttered bread. Dust each egg with salt and a little paprika. Serve very hot.

Craigie Toast

Skin, seed and chop tomatoes, add eggs well beaten, gherkin, milk, salt and pepper. Melt Crisco, add other ingredients and stir over fire till thoroughly hot. Serve at once on toast. The mixture may also be baked in oven twenty minutes and then garnished with small pieces of toast. Sufficient for four pieces of toast.

Excellent Lemon Mincemeat

Extract juice from lemons and remove pips. Now put lemons into saucepan, cover with cold water, and boil until lemon feels quite tender. Change water at least twice, drain and pound peel to a paste, add apples, cored, peeled and chopped, lemon peel, Crisco, currants, raisins, salt, spices, lemon juice, nut meats, and sugar. Put into a jar and cover. This mincemeat is excellent for pies and tartlets.

Sufficient for four pies.

Dominion Tart

For Pastry

For Mixture

For mixture, peel, core and slice apples, and wash prunes in lukewarm water. Put these into a small saucepan with sugar, grated lemon rind and cold water. Stew slowly until apples are soft. Then remove prunes, and take out stones. Cut prunes in small pieces and return them to apples and cool. For pastry, sift flours, sugar, salt, and spices into basin. Add Crisco and cut it into flour with knife until finely divided. Then rub together lightly with finger tips until as fine as breadcrumbs. While rubbing, keep lifting flour well up in basin so that air may mix with it and Crisco is not made too soft. Add lemon juice and sufficient water to make stiff paste. Divide into two equal pieces. Wet a dinner plate with cold water and leave it wet. Roll out one of the pieces rather thinly, and line plate with it. Sprinkle cakecrumbs over it, then spread on mixture. Roll out the other piece of pastry for a cover. Wet round the edge of the pastry; lay other piece of pastry on, and press edges well together. Trim round with knife or scissors, and mark neatly round the edges. Brush over top with a little water or beaten white of egg. Dredge with sugar, and bake in moderate oven forty-five minutes. Serve hot or cold. The tart may be covered with boiled frosting.

Marchette Croquettes

Rub spinach and potatoes through wire sieve; fry onion in Crisco, add spinach and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, fry a few minutes, then set aside till cold. Roll out pastry, cut out some small rounds, then place spoonful of vegetable mixture on half the number of pastry rounds, place slice of hard-cooked egg on each, brush round edges with beaten egg, press other round on this, dip in egg and breadcrumbs and fry in hot Crisco. Serve hot. Sufficient for six croquettes.

Mixed Vegetable Souffle

Chop onions, add vegetables mashed, then mix well, add Crisco, seasonings, and yolks of eggs. Beat up whites of eggs to stiff froth and fold them into mixture, then turn it into Criscoed fireproof dish and bake thirty minutes in moderate oven.

Nut and Macaroni Savory

Cut macaroni into small pieces and put into bowl, add nuts, breadcrumbs, seasonings, eggs well beaten, and milk; turn into well greased earthenware dish, dot with tiny pieces of Crisco and bake in moderate oven forty-five minutes. Serve hot with brown sauce.

Potato and Nut Croquettes

Mix potatoes with Crisco, milk, yolk of egg, onion juice and seasonings, and mix well. Put cream and breadcrumbs into small saucepan and stir to thick paste, then cool; now add nuts, salt and pepper to taste and half yolk of egg. Inclose some of nut mixture in potato mixture, making ingredients into neat croquettes. Beat up remainder of egg with tablespoonful of water. Roll croquettes in fine breadcrumbs, brush over with egg, and again roll in crumbs. Fry in hot Crisco to golden brown, then drain. Crisco should be heated until a crumb of bread becomes a golden brown in forty seconds. Serve hot decorated with parsley.

Sufficient for eight croquettes.

Potato Sausage

Mix all ingredients thoroughly well together with wooden spoon, then form into sausages; tie each well in cloth, and boil exactly as a roly-poly. If not to be eaten when newly cooked, put aside, and untie when wanted. This sausage is also good if oatmeal is added instead of breadcrumbs, or it may be made half oatmeal and half breadcrumbs.

Sufficient for twelve sausages.

Potatoes Sefton

Split potatoes in halves lengthways. Scoop out centers, rub them through a sieve, add seasonings, melted Crisco, yolk of egg, and cream. Beat well till light, then put mixture into forcing bag with tube, force into potato cases which should be dried. Heat in moderate oven. Sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top and serve decorated with watercress.

Sufficient for three potatoes.

Rice a la Maigre

Fry shallot in Crisco, then add rice, two of the hard-cooked eggs, white sauce, raw yolk of egg, and seasonings. Stir over fire till very hot, then turn out on to hot dish; pour over tomato sauce, sprinkle with parsley and garnish with remainder of eggs, and baked tomatoes.

Rhubarb Pudding

Crisco a pudding dish and dust it over with breadcrumbs. Put layer of breadcrumbs at bottom, then spread in rhubarb. Beat Crisco and sugar till creamy, beat in yolks of eggs, add grated rind of lemon, sift in flour and salt. Spread this mixture over rhubarb and bake in moderate oven twenty minutes. Beat up whites of eggs to stiff froth, add one tablespoonful of sifted sugar and half teaspoonful lemon juice. Drop in spoonfuls on top of pudding and return to oven to brown lightly.

Spanish Rice

Wash rice and put it in bowl, add Crisco, seasonings, cheese, hot water, tomatoes, olives, and onions cut in small pieces. Turn into a Criscoed fireproof dish and bake in moderate oven one hour, or until rice is tender.

Timbale Molds

Sift flour and salt into bowl, add egg well beaten, milk and Crisco. Beat five minutes then strain into cup. Have kettle of Crisco on fire and heat until cube of bread will become golden brown in sixty seconds. Heat timbale iron in hot Crisco, let stand two or three minutes, then drain and dip into batter to half inch of top of iron; submerge in Crisco and fry until batter is crisp and lightly browned. Remove from iron and drain on paper. If batter does not cling to iron, then iron is not hot enough. If Crisco sizzles considerably, and batter case spreads out and drops from the iron, mold is too hot. If iron is lowered too far into batter the case will come over top of iron and be difficult to remove. Creamed dishes of all kinds can be served in these cases. Cold custards, cooked vegetables, fruits or ices may be also served in the cases.

Sufficient for forty cases.

Vegetable Pie

Peel and slice potatoes and partly boil them. Then prepare parsnip, carrots, celery and onions, and cook them for fifteen minutes. Grease large fireproof dish and place in all vegetables in layers, with herbs, Crisco, salt and pepper to taste. Pour in white stock, cover with layer of sliced potatoes and bake in moderate oven for one and a half hours.

Sufficient for one large savory pie.

When there is any doubt as to the freshness of eggs, they may be tested in various ways. Quite fresh eggs will sink in a strong brine, and as they become stale they remain suspended at different depths in the brine, until an absolutely stale egg will float. Successful preservation depends in a great measure upon the condition of the egg at the time of preserving. Different methods of preserving all aim at the same thing, namely, at coating the porous shell with some substance which will prevent the air entering and setting up decomposition. See page 30.

When used as food, eggs should be cooked at a low temperature—about 160° F., or if in the shell at about 180° F. The time varies with the size of the egg, from two and a half minutes for poaching a medium-sized egg to four and a half minutes for boiling a large one. If too much cooked, or at too high a temperature, the white becomes tough, hard, and to many people, indigestible.

When required for salads, garnishing, etc., the eggs must be boiled from ten to twenty minutes, and if the yolks are to be powdered for sprinkling, they must be cooked for a longer time, or the centers will be somewhat tough and elastic, and useless for the purpose.

In beating eggs, a little salt added to the whites helps to bring them to a froth more quickly. When frothed whites are to be mixed with a heavier or more solid substance, great care must be taken not to break down the froth. The object of beating being to mix in air, rough handling afterwards would render the beating useless; the mixing must therefore be done very carefully. They should be folded or wrapped up in the other substance, but the mixing also must be thorough, for any pieces of white separated from the rest will toughen and taste leathery, besides failing in the special purpose of giving lightness to the mixture. After mixing lightly and perfectly all such preparations should be cooked at once. The white “speck” always should be removed from a broken egg, as it is easily distinguished after cooking, and in anything of a liquid nature, such as custards, sauces, etc., it would be hard and unpleasant.

Baked Omelet

Beat eggs well, add milk and beat again, add Crisco, seasonings, and cornstarch mixed with water. Turn into a Criscoed fireproof dish and bake in moderate oven fifteen minutes. Serve hot.

Creole Eggs

Fry onion, pepper, and parsley in Crisco till tender; add cloves, thyme, bay leaf, and mace, cook three minutes, then stir in flour, and tomato pulp. Let mixture boil stirring all the time then strain. Quarter the hard-cooked eggs. Put layer of tomato sauce in Criscoed baking dish, then layer of ham, then eggs sprinkled with salt, pepper, and paprika, then sauce, ham, and eggs, last layer being sauce. Cover with breadcrumbs, dot with Crisco and bake ten minutes in moderate oven.

Curried Eggs

Boil eggs till hard, peel and place in cold water until required. Fry onion in Crisco a few minutes, add curry powder, apple, nuts, and cornstarch moistened with milk. Simmer fifteen minutes. Stir from time to time. If too thick add a little white stock or water. Cut eggs in halves, and lay them in the sauce with the salt to get thoroughly hot through. Put eggs into deep hot dish, strain sauce over them, garnish with croutons and lemon slices.

Egg Croquettes

Chop eggs and mix them with ham, parsley, and seasonings. Melt Crisco, stir in flour, then add the milk and boil three minutes stirring all the time. Now add egg mixture and if required add more seasoning. Cool mixture then divide it into nine portions and make each into a neat croquette; brush over with the egg beaten with a tablespoonful of water, roll in breadcrumbs and fry in hot Crisco. Drain and garnish with fried parsley. Crisco should be hot enough to brown breadcrumb in forty seconds.

Sufficient for nine croquettes.

Eggs with Cucumber

Peel cucumber, cut off ends and divide rest into two-inch pieces. Remove center portion of each with a cutter or small spoon. Place them in a Criscoed pan with stock; cover with greased paper and cook in oven till just tender. Great care must be taken so as not to break the shapes. Break eggs into saucepan, add Crisco and tomato pulp; season nicely and stir over fire until creamy and just set. Place cucumbers on hot platter and fill cavities with eggs. Cover with thick tomato sauce, and serve hot.

Sufficient for five pieces.

Eggs with Tomatoes

Select ripe tomatoes but do not have them too large; remove stems and cut each in halves crossways; remove cores and pips, and fry lightly in two tablespoonfuls Crisco. Have rounds of buttered toast a little larger than tomatoes. Beat eggs in small saucepan, add cream, pimientos, rest of Crisco, seasonings, and stir over fire until creamy and just setting. Place each half tomato on round of toast, divide egg mixture into tomatoes, garnish with parsley and serve hot.

Savory Eggs

Crisco six small molds. Mix ham, parsley, and seasonings together, throw a little into each mold, shake it well round sides; break into each mold one egg, taking care not to break yolk, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dot with Crisco. Steam four or five minutes, or until set. Turn out on rounds of fried toast and serve at once.

CANDIES — A Calendar of Dinners

It is well to have a confectioner’s thermometer for candy making, so that the syrup may be removed from the fire at exactly the right degree. Such thermometers are made of wood, brass, or copper, and the degrees on them should mark not less than 350°. A thermometer always should be gently lowered into the boiling sugar. When not in use, it should be kept hanging on a nail or hook. When required for candy making, place thermometer in pitcher of warm water, so that it may rise gradually, and return it to the warm water on removing it from the hot candy. This dissolves the clinging candy and protects the tube from breaking. The wooden thermometer can be used to stir with, and is very easy to keep clean.

If there is no thermometer handy it is better to make a list of the various stages in sugar boiling, and learn how to test the sugar. First there is the “thread” (216° F. to 218° F.) This is reached when, on dipping the finger and thumb first into cold water and then into the syrup, you can draw them apart, and an unbroken thread is formed, which gradually can be drawn wider apart on further testing as the degree of boiling is completed.

The next is the “pearl” (220° F.) To see if the syrup has reached this stage, after the sugar has dissolved let it boil for eight to ten minutes, then dip a wooden skewer into the syrup to obtain a drop of it. Dip the finger and thumb into cold water, then rub the drop of syrup between them; if it feels smooth, the syrup has reached the desired stage. The next is the “blow” (230° F.) Dip a spoon into the sugar, shake it, and blow through the holes; if sparks of light or bubbles be seen, you may be sure of the blow. This is followed by the “feather” (235° F.) To test this, dip a spoon into the boiling syrup, and when it may be blown easily from the spoon in long shreds it has reached the right degree.

Next comes the “ball” (240° F. to 250° F.) Dip the finger and thumb first into cold water, and then into the syrup, the latter then can be rolled into a soft ball between the finger and thumb. A little longer boiling gives the hard ball. This in turn is succeeded by the “crack” (290° F. to 300° F.) To test this, drop a little of the syrup into cold water; if it then breaks off sharp and crisp it has reached the crack. The final stage is the “caramel” (350° F.) which comes very quickly after the crack, the syrup becoming first a pale yellow, and then a rich golden brown, and finally black or burnt. When it first reaches this stage the pan should be removed from the fire, a little lemon juice or water added, and then the whole reboiled to the proper stage or shade. To prevent granulation, it often is advisable to add a pinch of cream of tartar, to the pound of sugar.

Chocolate Fudge

Put Crisco, milk, sugar, salt, and chocolate into saucepan, and stir and boil until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water, or 240° F. Remove from fire, add extract, allow to stand a minute, and beat until creamy. Pour into Criscoed tin and mark off into squares.

Clear Almond Taffy

Blanch, split, and bake almonds to golden brown. Crisco a tin, and sprinkle almonds on it split side down. Dissolve sugar and water together in saucepan, add Crisco, salt, and cream of tartar, and boil until when tested in cold water it will be brittle, or 300° F. Add almond extract and pour over nuts. When firm, cut in squares.

Sufficient for one large pan.

Cocoanut Caramels

Soak cocoanut in milk for twenty minutes, then put it into a saucepan with sugar, glucose, salt, and one-third of the Crisco, add second third of Crisco when it forms heavy thread, or registers 230° F., add third piece of Crisco, cream and extracts, when it again reaches 230° F. When it reaches the hard ball stage or 250° F., turn at once into a Criscoed tin. Cut when half cold. When all are cut, wrap each caramel in waxed paper.

Crisco Drops

Put Crisco, golden syrup, water, and salt into saucepan and boil until it is almost brittle when tested in cold water, or 290° F., then add vanilla. Allow to cool down, and then drop on to Criscoed tin.

Sufficient for twenty drops.

Cream Candy

Dissolve sugar in water in saucepan over fire, and boil until it spins a heavy thread, add Crisco and salt and boil until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water, or 240° F. Remove pan from fire, add orange extract, allow to stand five minutes, then stir until the syrup begins to “grain.” Pour quickly into wet tin. When half cold, mark into squares; leave till following day in a cool place; then break up. Keep in airtight tins.

Sufficient for twenty small squares.

Crisco Fruit Fudge

Put Crisco, sugar, cocoa, salt, and milk into saucepan, and stir till it boils to 240°, or until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water. Remove from fire, add raisins, cream, nut meats, and extracts, and beat mixture until thick and creamy. Put back on stove, and heat, stirring constantly until melted, then pour into Criscoed tins. When partly cool mark into neat squares.

Sufficient for thirty squares.

Everton Taffy

Put sugar and water into saucepan; stir occasionally until it boils; then add cream of tartar. Put cover on pan and boil five minutes, add Crisco and salt and boil until, when tried in cold water it will snap, or 300° F. Add vanilla and pour into Criscoed tin. Mark in squares when half cold, and break up when quite cold. Wrap in waxed paper.

Fig Fudge

Wash and dry figs, then chop them. Put sugar and water into saucepan, and dissolve, add Crisco and cream of tartar, and when it boils, add figs, and boil to a soft ball when tried in cold water, or 240° F., stirring all the time. Remove pan from fire, add lemon extract and salt, cool five minutes, then stir until it begins to grain, and quickly pour into Criscoed tin. When half cold mark in squares.

Honey Squares

Put Crisco, salt, honey, cream and sugar into saucepan; stir over slow fire until dissolved, then add cream of tartar. Boil until it forms a hard ball when tested in cold water, or 252° F. Remove from fire, stir in lemon extract, and pour into Criscoed tin. Mark into squares before cold. Wrap in waxed paper.

Sufficient for twenty-five squares.

Maple Candy

Dissolve sugars in water in saucepan over fire, when boiling add Crisco and salt and boil until it hardens when dropped in cold water, or 258° F. Remove from fire and add vanilla. Pour into Criscoed tins. When half cold mark into squares. Wrap in waxed paper.

Molasses Candy

Dissolve sugar in water in saucepan over fire, then add Crisco, molasses, and salt and boil until when tested in cold water it forms a hard ball, or 254° F. Now add vanilla and pour into Criscoed tin. When quite cold break into rough pieces.

Peanut Fudge

Boil milk, sugar, Crisco, and salt until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water, or 240° F. Remove from fire, add nuts and vanilla, beat until creamy. Pour into Criscoed tins, and when cool cut into cubes.

“Now, good digestion wait on appetite and health on both.”

January 1

*Black Bean Soup—2 cups black beans, 3 tablespoons Crisco, 1 onion, 1 lemon, 2 quarts stock or water, 2 stalks celery, 2 hard-cooked eggs, 1½ tablespoons flour, 3 cloves, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, red pepper, and mustard to taste.

Wash beans and soak over night; in morning drain, cover with boiling water and boil 30 minutes; drain, throwing away water. Slice onion, dice celery, and cook 5 minutes in half of Crisco in soup pot; add beans, stock or water, and cloves. Simmer until beans are soft, add more water as stock or water boils away. Rub through sieve, add remaining Crisco and flour rubbed together, then heat to boiling point, add seasonings. Cut lemon in thin slices, removing seeds, and cut eggs in thin slices. Put them into a hot soup tureen, and strain soup over them.

January 2

*Jugged Hare—1 hare, 1 cup Crisco, 1½ pounds gravy beef, 1 onion, 1 lemon, 6 cloves, 1 cup port wine, few forcemeat balls, salt, red pepper and pepper to taste.

Skin, paunch and wash hare, cut it into pieces, dredge with flour, and fry in hot Crisco. Have ready 1½ pints gravy, made from beef, and thickened with flour. Put this into jar; add pieces of fried hare, onion stuck with cloves, lemon peeled and sliced, and seasonings; cover jar tightly, put into saucepan of boiling water, and let it stew until hare is quite tender, taking care to keep the water boiling. When nearly ready pour in wine, add forcemeat balls, and allow to cook 10 minutes. Serve with red currant jelly.

For forcemeat balls, mix together in basin, 2 tablespoons Crisco, 4 tablespoons crumbs, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning, ½ teaspoon grated lemon rind, seasoning of salt, pepper, red pepper, and paprika, and 1 beaten egg, form into small balls, roll in flour, and add to hare.

January 3

*Lobster Bisque—4 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons Crisco, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 head celery, 2 lobsters, 1 small onion, 6 whole white peppers, 4 sprigs parsley, 1 quart milk, white pepper to taste.

Cover lobsters with boiling water, add salt, celery diced, whole peppers, parsley and onion. Cook until lobsters’ claws can easily be pulled apart; it will probably take 25 minutes. When cool enough to handle, cut lobsters down back, remove meat from body and claws. Save coral. Put back all tough parts with small claws and shells, and cook for 20 minutes in same liquor. Liquor must be considerably reduced. Dry coral, rub through sieve. Blend Crisco and flour in saucepan over fire, stir in milk, let this come to boil, add 2 cups of strained lobster broth. Bring to boiling point, season with salt and pepper, and stir in sifted coral enough to give liquid bright pink color. Place lobster meat cut in fine pieces in hot tureen, pour hot mixture over and serve hot.

January 4

*Orange Salad—1 tablespoon brandy, 1 tablespoon melted Crisco, ½ teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon chopped tarragon, 1 teaspoon chopped chervil, and 6 oranges.

Cut peel from oranges, carefully removing all pith, cut out pulpy pieces in each of natural divisions so that there is no skin of any kind or pips taken out with pieces fruit, sprinkle over these pieces tarragon, chervil, melted Crisco, brandy and sugar. This salad should be placed on ice if possible 1 hour before serving.

January 5

*Roast Stuffed Chicken—6 tablespoons breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons Crisco, 2 tablespoons chopped cooked ham, 1 beaten egg, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, 1 chicken, 2 tablespoons milk, seasoning red pepper, white pepper, salt, powdered mace and herbs to taste.

Clean and draw chicken. Melt Crisco, add it to crumbs, ham, egg, parsley, milk, and seasonings; mix and place in breast of fowl. If young chicken leave on feet, which should be scalded and skinned; if an older bird, cut off legs half-way to first joint, turn back pinions, run skewer through them, catching top part of legs; tie bottom part of legs together. Set in hot oven from ¾ to 1¼ hours, according to size; baste well with melted Crisco, and about 15 minutes before it is finished dredge with flour and brown. To make brown gravy, pour from tin fat, sprinkle in 2 teaspoons browned flour, then add 1 cup boiling water, containing ½ teaspoon extract beef, salt and pepper; allow this to boil 3 minutes, strain over chicken, or serve in sauceboat.

January 6

*Stewed Tomatoes—1 can tomatoes, 2 tablespoons Crisco, 1 cup breadcrumbs, seasoning salt, pepper and paprika.

Empty tomatoes into double boiler, add breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and paprika, and cook slowly for ½ an hour, stirring from time to time. Just before serving add Crisco and stir till melted. While the tomatoes will be ready with ½ hour’s cooking, they are improved by cooking 1 hour, and are better still if warmed again after cooling.

January 7

*Cheese Ramekins—4 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons Crisco, ½ cup milk, 3 whole eggs, 1 white egg, salt, white pepper, and red pepper to taste, and ½ cup grated cheese.

In saucepan, mix Crisco and flour over fire, when smooth stir in milk, and cook until thick, add seasonings; mix well. Remove pan from fire, add yolks eggs 1 by 1, mix each thoroughly, then mix in cheese, and fold in stiffly beaten white egg. Pour into Criscoed ramekins, and bake in hot oven 15 minutes. Serve hot.

January 8

*Cheese Biscuits—4 teaspoons flour, 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons Crisco, 1 yolk of egg, 2 teaspoons cold water, salt and red pepper to taste.

Mix flour and cheese; add salt and red pepper to taste. Rub in Crisco lightly. Mix yolk egg with water; add enough of these to mix flour, etc., to stiff paste. Knead till smooth on floured board, then roll out and cut into biscuits with small cutter; lay on Criscoed tin and bake in quick oven 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are a delicate biscuit color. They require to be carefully watched, as they burn easily. Parmesan cheese is best, but other dry kinds can be used. The biscuits are brittle, so always prepare more than are actually required. They rewarm well with care.

January 9

*Beef Loaf—2 pounds lean meat, 3 tablespoons Crisco, ¼ pound salt pork, 1 cup cracker crumbs, 3 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon onion juice, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 cup beef stock, salt and pepper to taste.

Wipe meat, remove all skin and membranes, then put it through meat grinder, add Crisco melted, eggs, crumbs, onion juice, lemon juice, stock and seasonings. Press into greased pan and cover. Bake 1 hour. Baste occasionally during baking with melted Crisco.

January 10

*Beef Steak and Kidney Pie—2 pounds lean steak, 4 sheep’s kidneys, some melted Crisco, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, and some pie crust.

Cut steak very thinly and dip it in melted Crisco, then in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Roll up pieces of steak and lay them in fireproof baking dish. Skin kidneys, cut them in thin slices, leaving out fat in middle kidney; dip them also in seasonings and lay them on top of meat. Sprinkle in Worcestershire sauce and fill up dish with water. Roll pastry rather larger than size required for dish. Wet edge of dish and put narrow band of paste round; wet band, place on it remainder of paste, which cut to size of dish, then pinch edges, and brush over with beaten egg. Make large hole in top and into this put ends some leaf-shaped pieces of paste, with an ornament in center; brush leaves over with egg and bake in hot oven 1½ hours.

January 11

*Roast Rabbit—6 tablespoons breadcrumbs, 3 tablespoons chopped cooked ham, 3 tablespoons Crisco, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind, ½ teaspoon powdered herbs, 3 chopped mushrooms, three beaten eggs, 1 rabbit, salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste. Beat up eggs, add mushrooms, Crisco, ham, breadcrumbs, parsley, and seasonings, and mix well. Wipe rabbit, and season inside with pepper, salt, and powdered cloves. Lay forcemeat inside rabbit and sew top; skewer head back and legs on each side; roast 1 hour, basting well with melted Crisco. Serve hot with currant jelly sauce.

January 12

*Potato Croquettes—2 pints mashed potatoes, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons Crisco, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste.

Mash potatoes by rubbing them through wire sieve with back of wooden spoon; dissolve Crisco, add it to potatoes with 1 of eggs well beaten and seasonings. Mix and divide into 10 or 12 pieces, form them into neat croquettes, brush over with remaining beaten egg, toss in breadcrumbs, and fry in hot Crisco.

January 13

*Mutton Cutlets—Slit 1 pound chestnuts, place in hot oven to loosen skins, shell and take off inner skin. Place in saucepan with gravy to cover and ½ teaspoon salt. Boil until tender, then drain and rub through sieve. Chop fine 2 slices ham, add 2 tablespoons Crisco with ¼ pound chestnut puree, season with salt, pepper and red pepper. Add 1 egg yolk and mix. Trim 8 cutlets, make ¼ cup Crisco hot in frying pan, cook cutlets 1 minute on right side only, then arrange them flat on dish, cover with another with weight on top, leave until cold. Spread puree over cooked side of cutlets, brush with beaten egg and cover with breadcrumbs. Fry on both sides, and place in oven 5 minutes. Dish in circle on mashed potatoes; fill center with fried potato balls and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with gravy.

January 14

*Codfish Balls—2 cupfuls mashed potatoes, 1½ cupfuls shredded codfish, 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful Crisco, melted, ⅛ teaspoonful pepper. Put codfish in wire strainer, let cold water run through and squeeze dry. Mix the hot, unseasoned potatoes with codfish. To this add the melted Crisco, beaten egg and pepper. Beat well. Shape in balls and fry in deep Crisco until a golden brown color.

January 15

*Candied Sweet Potatoes—12 sweet potatoes, 1 cup boiling water, brown sugar, ¼ cup Crisco, salt, pepper, and powdered cinnamon. Pare and parboil potatoes, cut in halves, boil 10 minutes, drain, lay in greased baking dish. Spread with Crisco, sprinkle with brown sugar, salt, pepper, and powdered cinnamon, pour in boiling water and cook until tender. Baste often with sauce in pan while cooking. The cinnamon may be omitted.

January 16

*Lettuce Cocktail—1 crisp head of lettuce, 4 tablespoons tomato catsup, 2 tablespoons Crisco, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 4 hard-cooked eggs, 4 tablespoons vinegar, 3 tablespoons sugar, 4 small onions, and salt to taste.

Cut lettuce fine with scissors and shred eggs and onions. Melt Crisco, when cool, add tomato catsup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, vinegar and salt. At serving time pour this sauce over lettuce, eggs and onions. Serve very cold in cocktail glasses.

January 17

*Brown Fricassee of Chicken—Draw, singe, and joint chicken. Put 4 tablespoons Crisco in saucepan; when brown, put in chicken. Stir until every piece is nicely browned, then add 2 tablespoons flour, stir again, add 1 pint boiling water or stock, stir until it boils; add 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover, and let simmer gently until tender, then add 1 teaspoon onion juice, and little black pepper. Put neck-piece, heart, liver, gizzard, and back pieces in center of dish; put 2 pieces of breast on top, second joints on one side of plate, legs crossed on other, and wing at each end of plate. Pour sauce over, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.

January 18

*Escalloped Tomatoes—Drain juice from 1 can tomatoes. Brush baking dish over with Crisco, and cover bottom with tomatoes; dot with Crisco, dredge with pepper and salt, and sprinkle generously with breadcrumbs; arrange another layer of tomatoes, and crumbs, and so proceed until dish is filled. Pour over all enough of juice of tomatoes to moisten well, and then finish dish with covering of crumbs. Bake 20 minutes in moderate oven.

January 19

*Mushrooms Cooked Under Glass Bells—Saute ½ pound of peeled mushroom caps in 3 tablespoons Crisco, season with salt and paprika, add 1 cup of cream, cover and let simmer until reduced a little. Arrange mushrooms on round of bread in mushroom dish, pour liquid over, cover with glass bell and bake 20 minutes in moderate oven. Send to table without removing glass, which confines delicate flavor and aroma of mushrooms.

January 20

*Cream Cheese and Pimiento Salad—Wash and dry 1 can pimientoes. Fill them with creamed cheese. Chill, slice and serve on crisp lettuce leaves with following dressing: Mix ½ tablespoon salt, ½ tablespoon mustard, ¾ tablespoon sugar, and 1 tablespoon flour, and when thoroughly blended, add 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten, 3 tablespoons melted Crisco, ¾ cup milk, and ¼ cup vinegar. Cook in double boiler, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Strain and cool.

January 21

*Cream of Lettuce Soup—3 cups white stock, 2 heads lettuce, 2 tablespoons cooked rice, ½ cup cream, ¼ tablespoon onion, finely chopped, 1 tablespoon Crisco, yolk 1 egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Remove outer leaves from lettuce and shred it. Cook onion 5 minutes in Crisco, add lettuce, rice, and stock. Add cream, yolk egg slightly beaten, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

January 22

*Halibut Turbans—Have 4 slices halibut cut ½ an inch thick; remove skin and bone, thus securing 16 fillets. Dip in melted Crisco; squeeze over juice of 1 lemon, little onion juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Commencing with the widest end, roll each fillet into a “turban” and fasten by running through each Criscoed wooden skewer. Bake 20 minutes, basting with hot stock, or Crisco melted in hot water. Arrange crown shape on serving dish. Fill the center with boiled potato-balls, dressed with salt, Crisco, and chopped parsley. Serve with Hollandaise sauce.

January 23

*Ladies’ Cabbage—Cut small, hard head cabbage into halves; remove core and harder portions, chop remaining part quite fine. Throw this into kettle of boiling salted water, boil uncovered for 30 minutes; drain in colander. Put cabbage back in saucepan, add 2 tablespoons Crisco, 1 tablespoon flour; dust flour over cabbage; stir carefully with wooden spoon, and add ½ pint of milk, ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 saltspoon of white pepper. Stand this on back part of stove to simmer 10 minutes; send to table.

January 24

*Cauliflower au Gratin—Boil 1 large cauliflower, drain it, and break sprigs apart. Arrange in layers in Criscoed baking dish, sprinkling each layer with cheese, seasoning it with pepper and salt, and little melted Crisco. When dish is filled pour on 1 cup white sauce, sprinkle top with crumbs and cheese, and let bake 15 minutes to brown.

January 25

*Risotto—½ pound rice, 1 small onion, 4 tablespoons Crisco, ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, ½ pint tomato sauce, about 1 pint good stock, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and ½ teaspoon saffron.

Wash rice in several courses of water, drain and dry. Peel and chop onion. Melt Crisco in stewpan; when hot add onion, fry over gentle fire until light fawn color, then add rice; shake pan over fire for a few minutes, so as to fry rice a little. Next add seasoning, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and saffron; moisten with little stock, and add more as rice begins to swell. When stock is used up, gradually add sauce. When rice is tender mix in grated cheese. It is then ready to serve. In preparing this dish remember that rice should be well done, and should be neither too dry nor too moist.

January 26

*Grapefruit Salad—Take out inside of grapefruit, and cut edge of shell into points; slice meat of fruit with 2 oranges, 1 cup pineapple, 1 cup cherries, ½ cup chopped nut meats, 1 diced apple, the juice of 1 lemon, and 3 tablespoons powdered sugar; fill shell, and serve with following dressing:

Beat yolks 2 eggs until creamy, then add to them ½ teaspoon dry mustard and same quantity salt. Next beat in slowly 4 tablespoons melted Crisco and 6 tablespoons hot vinegar. Cook in double boiler until it thickens. When cold, and just before serving, 1 cup of cream, sweet or sour, may be folded in.

January 27

*Salmon Croquettes—1 pound can salmon, ½ teaspoon salt, red pepper to taste, ¼ cup crackercrumbs, ½ teaspoon grated onion, 1 well beaten egg, 1 tablespoon Crisco, and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.

From 1 can salmon, opened neatly, take fish and chop it fine; add salt and pepper, Crisco, parsley and crackercrumbs; moisten it with the egg and mix well, turn out upon dish; then roll into cones, dip these in beaten egg seasoned with salt and pepper, roll in breadcrumbs. Fry in deep Crisco until delicate brown, drain them a moment, arrange neatly on hot dish and serve with tomato sauce. The Crisco should be heated until crumb of bread becomes golden brown in 40 seconds.

January 28

*Croutes, a la Marie—Pass 1 small tureen foie gras through fine wire sieve. Put in basin, add 1 teaspoon Crisco, pepper and salt to taste, and then stir in gently ½ a gill cream. Pipe with a star tube on to round croute of short crust; garnish with pimientoes cut in strips and whipped cream.

January 29

*Cabinet Pudding—8 stale lady fingers, 12 macaroons, 3 tablespoons cherries, currants, and citron peel chopped fine, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 eggs, 1 pint milk, 2 teaspoons Crisco, and vanilla extract.

Decorate bottom of mold with some fruit, lay row macaroons round edge of bottom. Cut ladyfingers into pieces, mix with fruit and loosely fill mold. Beat eggs with little cold milk, and 2 teaspoons Crisco, scald remainder of milk, and pour on to eggs, beating at the same time. Sweeten and flavor to taste. Gently pour this into mold. Cover with Criscoed paper and place in steamer to cook until set. This will take ¾ of an hour. Let pudding stand 1 minute or 2 before turning out. Serve with custard sauce.

January 30

*Croutes, a la Rosamonde—Take some small round tomatoes, and cut in slices ¼ inch thick. Lay in dish and sprinkle with melted Crisco, vinegar, pepper and salt. Then make some round croutes of short paste little larger than tomato; place 1 slice tomato on each, 1 rolled fillet anchovy on top, and garnish with 1 hard-cooked egg yolk and small piece white endive.

January 31

*Irish Stew—1 pound middle neck mutton, 2 pounds potatoes, 4 onions, 1 tablespoon Crisco, bunch of herbs, pepper and salt, 1 tablespoon flour. 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, and cold water.

Put Crisco into saucepan with mutton which should be cut into small pieces. Peel and quarter onions, and put them in saucepan, add herbs and barely cover with cold water. Peel potatoes, choose small ones and do not cut them up, and lay over meat, sprinkle little salt and pepper on potatoes and bring to boil. Then add flour and stand saucepan where it will stew gently 2 hours. Take out herbs, season to taste with salt and pepper. Dish up meat in circle on flat dish, put potatoes and onions in center, leaving 1 potato in saucepan, to mash and thicken the gravy a little, pour gravy over stew, and sprinkle with parsley. Inferior cuts of mutton can be used advantageously for this dish, such as scrag-end or breast of mutton; the bones and gristle with long stewing give a nice flavor to the dish.

February 1

*Braised Loin of Mutton with Mushrooms—3 pounds loin mutton, 1 stalk celery, ½ teaspoon whole peppers, 1 bunch of sweet herbs, 2 tablespoons Crisco, pepper, salt, red pepper, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, 2 or 3 cloves, sprig of parsley, and 2 tablespoons flour.

Remove bone from mutton, thoroughly rub it with salt, pepper, and red pepper; roll up and tie into roll; cut up celery, onion, carrot, and turnip, and lay them at bottom of stewpan with sweet herbs and parsley; lay mutton on top of these, and pour round enough water to 3 parts cover it, simmer slowly 1½ to 2 hours; lift mutton into dripping tin with few tablespoons gravy; set in brisk oven until brown; strain gravy and skim off fat, put Crisco into saucepan, and when brown, add flour, and brown also; then add gravy gradually, little pepper and salt, and 1 dozen button mushrooms, skinned; boil 8 minutes; dish mutton with mushrooms round, and gravy strained over.

February 2

*Artichoke Soup—2 pints white stock or water, 1 pint milk, 2 pounds Jerusalem artichokes, 2 onions, 1 bay leaf, 1 strip celery, 2 tablespoons Crisco, pepper and salt to taste.

Wash artichokes, put 1 tablespoon vinegar into basin of water and keep artichokes in it as much as possible while paring them, to preserve their whiteness. Cut onions, bay leaf, celery, and artichokes into slices, melt Crisco in stewpan, fry vegetables 10 or 15 minutes without browning; then pour in stock and boil until tender. Rub through fine sieve, return to saucepan, add milk and seasoning, bring to boil and serve.

When a thicker soup is desired 1 dessertspoon of cornstarch, flour, or a mashed potato should be blended with little milk or stock, and added to soup a few minutes before serving.

February 3

*Franconia Potatoes—Pare 10 medium-sized potatoes; parboil five minutes. Place on grate under roast ribs of beef. Baste with melted Crisco, and bake from 20 to 30 minutes, turning often.

February 4

*Anchovy Fritters—Pound yolks 2 hard-cooked eggs with ½ dozen bottled anchovies, 1 teaspoon capers 4 tablespoons Crisco and 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese. Rub all through fine wire sieve and add yolk 1 raw egg and 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs. Season with pepper and with salt if it is needed.

Form paste into small balls, roll first in breadcrumbs, then in egg and again in crumbs, and drop into hot Crisco. Serve on napkin with grated Parmesan cheese. The recipe as here given may be doubled, and “redoubled” as many times as it is thought the demand for fritters will warrant.

February 5

*Date Souffle—Stone and chop ½ pound dates and cook them in ½ cup boiling water, mashing until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon melted Crisco, stiffly beaten whites 5 eggs, ¼ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and salt to taste. Pour into Criscoed souffle mold and bake until brown, or 25 minutes. Serve cold with boiled custard or whipped cream.

February 6

*Planked Chicken—Cream together ¼ cup Crisco, 1 teaspoon minced onion, ¼ tablespoon each of minced red pepper, green pepper, and parsley, ½ clove minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Split 1 young chicken as for broiling, place in pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dot over with Crisco, and bake until nearly done in a quick oven. Then Crisco plank, arrange upon it border made from 2 cups of hot mashed potatoes to which have been added seasoning and beaten yolks of 3 eggs. This is put on with a pastry tube and may be made as fanciful as desired, with rosettes and pyramids. Brush over with beaten egg diluted slightly with water, and place chicken in center. Peel and saute 8 large mushroom caps, place on chicken (which has been spread with prepared butter), place in very hot oven to brown potatoes and finish cooking chicken. Serve on plank at once.

February 7

*Braised Fillet of Beef—Tie up fillet of beef neatly with string and put in stewpan, bottom of which has been well Criscoed and lined with thin slices fat bacon and 2 sliced onions. Cook for 20 minutes, then barely cover with stock, add 1 wineglass of sherry, and bring to a boil; then add 1 small onion stuck with cloves, 1 small turnip, 1 carrot, 1 bouquet of herbs, 1 tablespoon Crisco, salt and pepper to taste.

Let meat simmer gently in this for 1½ to 2 hours. For garnish, take equal quantities of French peas and string beans, artichoke bottoms, new carrots and turnips. Cut latter in uniform shapes with fancy vegetable cutter, and cook them separate in consomme. Strain off about ¾ pint of stock from fillet of beef, and pour on brown roux, made with 2 tablespoons each of flour and Crisco; stir until it boils, add small piece of glaze and reduce a little over quick fire. Add dash of kitchen bouquet, salt, and pepper. Dish up fillet of beef, glaze it with some of sauce, and arrange vegetables around it in little heaps, each kind separate. Serve remainder of sauce in a boat.

February 8

*Fruit Snowballs—Cream ¼ cup Crisco with ½ cup sugar, add ¼ cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 3 stiffly beaten egg whites. Mix and divide into small Criscoed molds, cover with Criscoed papers, and steam 35 minutes. Turn out, sprinkle with powdered sugar, garnish with candied cherries and pineapple and serve with custard sauce made with egg yolks.

February 9

*Goulash of Veal—1½ pounds lean veal, 1 pound partly cooked new potatoes, 4 tablespoons Crisco, ½ small onion, ½ pint cream, paprika, pepper, and salt. Free meat from skin and sinews and cut it into dice. Cut potatoes into cubes. Melt Crisco in saucepan, add meat and fry lightly for several minutes, add onion, finely chopped, stir over fire for about 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste and add potatoes. Pour off superfluous fat, mix carefully and moisten with cream and 1 tablespoon rich white stock, season with a sufficiency of paprika pepper to give sauce a pink tint, and cook gently for 20 minutes. It is best to cook the Goulash at latter stage in a fireproof earthenware stewpan, in which it should be sent to table. Great care must be taken so as not to break potatoes while cooking. Serve very hot.

February 10

*Waldorf Salad—1 quart chopped apples, 2 cups diced celery, 1½ cups blanched and shredded almonds, and ⅔ cup rolled pecan nut meats.

Dress with following dressing, adding little more sugar and lemon juice to taste, just before serving. Mix 1 tablespoon melted Crisco, 1 teaspoon each mustard and white sugar, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add 2 well beaten egg yolks and then beat in slowly 4 tablespoons lemon juice. Cook in double boiler till it thickens. Then add whites 2 eggs beaten stiff. Keep on ice till wanted. Stir in 1 cup whipped cream just before serving. This is very good made with 5 egg yolks and ½ cup thin cream if whipping cream is unobtainable.

February 11

*Friar’s Omelet—Peel and core 1 pound cooking apples, and boil to pulp with little water and sugar. When nearly cold add 1 tablespoon Crisco and 1 or 2 well beaten eggs.

Crisco a pudding dish and coat thickly with breadcrumbs. Pour in mixture and cover thickly with more breadcrumbs. Cook in oven for ¾ of an hour. A little lemon peel can be added if liked.

February 12

*Coburg Pudding—3 cups milk, ½ cup rice, 1 cup boiling water, 1 egg, 4 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon, 1 tablespoon Crisco, and ½ teaspoon salt.

Well wash rice, sprinkle it into boiling water and cook gently until all water is absorbed. Heat milk, in double saucepan if possible, add half-cooked rice and boil gently until it is perfectly soft and of thick creamy consistency. Should it become too thick before it is really soft, add more milk. Beat egg, until very light, add half sugar to it. When rice is cooked, whisk egg in at once, a little at a time. Then add salt and piece of Crisco size of walnut. Turn mixture into dish in which it is to be served. Mix rest of sugar with cinnamon. Sprinkle this evenly over top of rice. Put rest of Crisco in small pieces over top of pudding just before it is required. Place pudding in front of fire, or in oven for second or two, when Crisco, etc., will form a delicious sauce over surface of pudding.

February 13

*Bombay Toast—Fry the required number of croutes in Crisco. When cold spread with paste of pounded chicken and cream. Chop some capers, and lay in a thick line across the chicken paste. On one-half put grated yolk of hard-cooked egg, on the other half put grated white of hard-cooked egg, and serve.

February 14

*Supreme of Chicken—Remove breast meat from 2 young chickens and trim into shape. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, dip in cream, roll in flour and saute in Crisco until delicately browned. Place in small pan, dot over with Crisco, and bake until tender.

Remove to cutlet-shaped pieces of hot boiled ham (cut very thin), garnish top of each with 3 short stalks of asparagus, seasoned with Crisco, and pour around following sauce: Melt 3½ tablespoons Crisco, add 3½ tablespoons flour, and stir until well blended; then pour on gradually while stirring constantly 1 cup chicken stock and ½ cup cream. Bring to boiling point, season with salt and paprika, and add yolk of 1 egg.

February 15

*Apple Tartlets—Line some tartlet tins with Crisco pastry. Fill with stewed apples to which a little melted Crisco and grated nutmeg have been added. Cover with a meringue and brown in the oven for a few minutes.

February 16

*Salsify Fritters—3 heads salsify, lemon juice, salt, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted Crisco, fried parsley, 4 tablespoons flour, and 2 eggs. Wash, scrape, and soak the salsify in cold water seasoned with salt and lemon juice to taste. Boil in salted, acidulated water until tender. Take it up when done, drain, and cut the salsify into pieces all the same size. Sieve the flour into a basin, work in the yolks of the eggs, the milk, and the melted Crisco. Beat to a smooth batter, season with salt and pepper to taste. When ready to fry, beat up the whites of eggs very stiffly and stir them lightly into batter. Drop the salsify into the batter, then into hot Crisco and fry to a golden brown color. Take up, drain, and serve garnished with fried parsley.

February 17

*Calf’s Head, Vinaigrette—Clean and scald ½ a calf’s head. Cover with water and boil ½ an hour, then plunge into cold water. When cool, remove meat and cut in small squares. Make a roux of 1 tablespoon Crisco and 2 tablespoons flour cooked thoroughly; add 4 cloves, 3 whole peppers, small onion, carrot, 2 bay leaves, dash of thyme, and 2 tablespoons strong vinegar. Add the meat. Simmer 2 hours; remove into deep dish and cover with vinaigrette sauce, which is made with ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon paprika, dash white pepper mixed with 3 tablespoons tarragon or plain vinegar. Add 6 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon gherkins, and 1 teaspoon each chives and parsley all chopped very fine, and 1 tablespoon minced green pepper. Blend well before pouring over meat. This may be served either hot or cold. Garnish with cucumber pickles cut into fan shapes.

February 18

*Cheese Canapes—8 croutes bread, ¼ pound cheese, 2 tablespoons Crisco, salt and red pepper to taste, 1 teaspoon mustard, and 1 dessertspoon sherry.

Cut the croutes of bread out of slices of stale bread with a round cutter 2 inches across. Fry the bread a golden color in hot Crisco. Cut up cheese; put it into a mortar with Crisco, and pound until it becomes a smooth paste; then season with salt and red pepper to taste. Add the mustard and sherry. When all ingredients are thoroughly mixed, put it on the croutes of bread; place them in oven until hot through, then serve at once.

February 19

*Mulligatawney Soup—Saute in 1 tablespoon melted Crisco, 1 minced onion, 1 tablespoon minced cooked ham, 3 cloves, ½ carrot, and 1 stick celery, minced fine, ½ cup cooked chicken cut in dice, and 3 pints of chicken stock. Cook fifteen minutes, add ½ a green apple, diced, ½ cup stewed or canned tomatoes, 1 teaspoon tomato catsup, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 2 tablespoons boiled rice, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 drops Tabasco sauce. Simmer ½ hour and serve with or without thin slices of lemon cut in quarters.

February 20

*Onion Cocktail—2 cups diced apples, 1 cup diced onions, 1 cup seeded raisins. Fill cocktail glasses with onions, apples, raisins, pour over a sour dressing made as follows: ¼ cup each of vinegar and water, 1 tablespoon Crisco, salt and red pepper to taste, and 2 teaspoons sugar. Place in small saucepan over fire until Crisco melts, then stir in well beaten yolks of 2 eggs, stirring constantly until thick. Place in ice box to cool before using.

February 21

*Stewed Lettuce—Wash the desired number of heads of lettuce, cutting off the stalks at the roots, and put into a saucepan with 1 onion sliced, 1 tablespoon Crisco, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste, with a very little water, to cook slowly for 2 hours. By this time the water should have pretty well cooked away, leaving the lettuce fairly dry. Remove from it the onion and parsley, put into a dish, dress well with melted butter and send to table hot.

February 22

*Washington Pie—¾ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon Crisco; beat together thoroughly; add ½ cup sweet milk, 2 cups flour, 2 beaten eggs, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon lemon; make into 3 cakes and put jelly or custard between.

February 23

*Broiled Kidneys with Green Peppers—Split some fine beef kidneys, remove the outer skin and sinews, and wipe well. Sprinkle the kidneys with pepper and salt, and let stand for an hour or more. Dip them then, into melted Crisco and broil over a clear fire. Meanwhile, chop 2 green peppers, freed from their seeds, and fry with ½ a teaspoon chopped onion and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley in Crisco till the pepper is quite done, having no more moisture, or Crisco that is in the pan, than is necessary to cook the green peppers. Dish the kidneys and surround with the sauce of green peppers.

Vegetarian

February 24

*Mock Veal Roast—½ pint shelled roasted peanuts, ½ pint lentils, 2 tablespoons melted Crisco, ½ pint toasted breadcrumbs, milk, pepper and salt to taste.

Soak the lentils over night; drain, bring them to a boil; throw away water; cover with fresh water and boil until tender; drain again; press them through a colander. Add nuts, chopped or ground, melted Crisco, breadcrumbs and seasoning, with sufficient milk to make it the consistency of mush. Pour into baking dish and bake in a moderate oven 1 hour. Beans or peas may be substituted for lentils.

February 25

*Stuffed Green Peppers—6 large green peppers, 1 pint boiled rice, 1 tomato, 1 tablespoon Crisco, 1 medium-sized onion, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut the tops from peppers and remove seeds. Add to rice the onion and tomato, chopped and salt. Wash peppers, stuff them with boiled rice, put on tops and stand them in a baking pan. Cover bottom of baking pan with a little water; add to it the Crisco. Bake in a quick oven 20 minutes, basting 2 or 3 times.

February 26

*Raisin Pudding—Wash and dry 1 pound Sultana raisins; Crisco a pudding dish; put in a layer of boiled rice, over it a layer of raisins, and continue until the dish is nearly full, having rice on top. Beat 2 eggs; add 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 pinch of salt, 3 tablespoons melted Crisco, and 2 cups sweet milk; pour it over pudding, and bake ½ hour. Serve with liquid sauce.

February 27