Lamar County, Alabama Old Time Recipes

Lamar County Old Time Recipes

RECIPES FROM THE VERNON CLIPPER 1879 – 1880

COMMON KITCHEN MEASURES

It is always best to have a pair of scales in the house: but for those housekeepers who guess at the quantities when cooking by a recipe, the following table will come handy:

                One and one-third pints of powdered sugar weigh one pound.

                Two and three-fourths tea-cups level of powdered sugar weigh fourteen ounces.

                Two tea-cups level of granulated sugar weigh one pound.

                One pint of coffee “A” sugar weighs twelve ounces.

                Two tea-cups well heaped of coffee “A” sugar weigh one pound.

                One pint of best brown sugar weighs thirteen ounces.

                Two and one-half tea-cups level of best brown sugar weigh one pound.

                Two tablespoons of powdered sugar or flour weigh one ounce.

                One tablespoons well rounded of soft butter weighs one ounce.

                One quart of sifted flour well heaped weighs one pound.

                Two teacups of soft butter well packed weigh one pound.

                Miss Parlon says one generous pint of liquid, one pint of finely chopped meat packed solidly, weighs one pound, which it would be very convenient to remember.

                Ten common-sized eggs weigh one pound.

                Teaspoons vary in size, and the new ones hold twice as much as the old-fashioned spoon of thirty years ago. A new medium –sized teaspoon contains about one dram.

                One tablespoon well shaped of granulated coffee “A” or best brown sugar equals one ounce.

                Four teaspoons are equal to one tablespoon. (Vernon Courier, March 5, 1891)

AUGUST 8, 1879

PICKLING BEANS – Boil the beans until half cone for table use. Pack in small jars, and cover with salted vinegar. The wax or butter bean is best for pickling.

DARK STEAMED PUDDING – To be steamed 3 hours. 1 cup molasses, 1 of sweet milk, 2 of butter, 4 of flour, 1 teaspoon soda, ¾ cup of fruit and spice to taste. To be eaten with sour sauce.

STEWED SQUASH – Pare, slice, lay in cold water 15 minutes. Cook tender in boiling water, salted, drain well and mash with pepper, salt and butter, pressing out all the water.

KING’S PUDDING – Beat 6 eggs, add 1 quart of sweet milk, 1 pound white sugar, 1 dozen soda crackers, 4 large apples cut in this slices, a little salt and spice to taste; bake 2 hours.

STEWED TOMATOES WITH ONIONS – Loosen the tomato skin with boiling water. Peel and slice them and put into a saucepan with a sliced onion, a good piece of butter, pepper, salt, and a little sugar. Stew gently for ½ hour.

ORANGE ICE – Juice of 6 oranges and grated peel of 3; juice of 2 lemons; squeeze out every drop of juice, and let the grated peel steep in juice 1 hour; strain well through a fine cotton cloth, mix in 1 pint of sugar, then 1 pint of water. Freeze as you would ice cream.

GOOSEBERRY TART – Top and tail a quart of green gooseberries. Put into a tin or porecelain saucepan with enough water to prevent burning, and stew slowly until they break, stirring often. Sweeten abundantly and set by to cook. When cold pour into a pie-dish lined with puff paste, cover with a top crust and bake in a good oven. Eat cold bu fresh, with powdered sugar sifted over the top.

FRENCH CREAM CAKE – Boil scant pint of milk, take 2 eggs and 2 tablespoonfuls corn-starch, dissolved in a little milk; when the milk boils, stir this in slowly with a scant cup of sugar, 1 tablespoonful of butter and 2 teaspoonfuls essence of lemon. Make a cake of 3 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 1 ½ cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder and 2 tablespoonfuls water. Bake in 3 layers, and while warm spread with the cream.

BAKED TOMATO PUDDING – Take a deep pudding dish, and butter the inside of it well; first put in a large layer of bread crumbs, then a layer of peeled sliced tomatoes, then a small onion cut very thin; dredge on a little flour, salt and pepper and lay a few small bits of butter over it, proceed in this way until they dish is filled, having a layer of bread-crumbs, pepper, salt and butter on top; put it in the over, keep it covered with a tin plate for 1 hour, then remove the plate and let it brown slowly; the oven must not be too hot; it will take 2 hours to bake.

ICE CREAM WITHOUT A FREEZER – Beat the yolks of 8 eggs very light, and add thereto 4 cups sugar and stir well. Add to this, little by little, 1 quart rich milk that has been heated almost to boiling, bearing all the while; then put in the whites of 8 eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Then boil the mixture in a pail set inside another containing hot water. Boil about 15 minutes or until it is as thick as a boiled custard, stirring steadily meanwhile. Pour into a bowl to cool. When quite cold, beat into it 3 pints of rich sweet cream and 5 teaspoonfuls of vanilla, or such other flavoring as you prefer. Put it into a pail having a close-fitting cover and pack in pounded ice and salt – rock salt, not the common kind. When packed, before putting the ice on top of the cover, beat the custard as you would batter, for 5 minutes steady; then put on the cover, put the ice and salt over it and cover the whole with a thick mat, blanket or carpet, and let it stand for an hour. Do not let the salt get inside, or it will spoil the cream. Carefully uncover and scrape from the bottom and sides of the pail, the thick coating of frozen custard, making every particle clear, and beat again hard until the custard is a smooth, half congealed paste. Do this thoroughly. Put on the cover, ice, salt and blanket, and leave it for 5 or 6 hours, replenishing the ice and salt if necessary.

CHERRY PUDDING – Take 1 pound of cherries, remove the pits, lay them in a hair sieve, place the sieve over an earthen dish to collect the juice; sprinkle over them ½ pound of sugar. In the morning make a rich batter of eggs, milk and flour, stir in the cherries, without the juice; it will take 1 hour to bake, or 2 to boil. When ready, beat the juice with butter and sugar, and use it as sauce for the pudding.

AUGUST 22, 1879

CREAM PIE – 1 pint thick, sweet, cream; 1 cup of sugar; 1 tablespoon corn-starch; season well with nutmeg; bake with an upper crust.

CLEANING SILVER SPOONS – The disagreeable discoloration of egg can be readily taken from silver spoons by washing them in potato water – water in which potatoes have been boiled. It is much better than salt, as it does not scratch the metal.

POTATO PIE – Yolks of 6 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup butter, 1 pint of sweet cream, 1 cup fresh milk, 1 cup mashed potatoes; mix potatoes and butter well; add other ingredients; bake with only an under-crust; frost with the whites of 6 eggs and 6 tablespoons sugar; flavor to suit.

ICE CREAM PIE – Make a smooth paste of flour and cold water; add boiling water to it, stirring until it is about like cream; when cool add an egg; sweeten to taste; put in a small lump of tartaric acid and flavor; bake crust; put in a small lump of tartaric acid and flavor; bake crust (sic); put in the mixture and bake a little frost on top.

FOR THE TOILET – Of white wax, oil of sweet almonds, spermaceti and white soap each ¼ ounce; 1 pint of rose water or elderflower water; best cologne 3 ounces. Cut the wax, sperm and soap very fine; put into an earthen vessel with a gill of the rose water, set into a dish of boiling water and let stand until dissolved. Then add first the oil of almonds, then the rose water and cologne.

OATMEAL PUDDING – Mix 2 ounces of Scotch oatmeal in ¼ pint of milk; sweeten to taste, and stir over the fire for 10 minutes; then put in 2 ounces of sifted bread-crumbs, stir until the mixture is stiff; then add 1 ounce of shret suet (sic), and one or two well beaten eggs; add a little lemon flavoring or grated nutmeg. Put the pudding into a buttered dish, and bake slowly for an hour.

BREEZE PUDDING – Dissolve ½ box of gelatin in a pint of boiling water; add 2 cups of sugar and the juice of 2 lemons; after this has become cool (not cold), break into it the white of 3 eggs; beat all to a stiff froth; make a soft custard with the yolks of the eggs, adding 3 others, and a quart of milk; pour the whites into molds, and, when ready for use, turn them out, pouring the custard over.

STUFFED EGGS. 6 hard-boiled eggs, cut in two, take out the yolks and mash fine; then add 2 teaspoonfuls of butter, 1 of cream, 2 or 3 drops of onion juice, and salt and pepper to taste; mix all thoroughly and fill the eggs with this mixture; put them together. Then there will be a little of the filling left, to which add 1 well beaten egg. Cover the eggs with this mixture and then roll in cracker crumbs. Fry a light brown in boiling fat.

NEW WAY TO COOK CHICKENS – Cut the chicken up, put it in a pan and cover it over with water; let it stew as usual, and when done, make a thickening of cream and flour, adding a piece of butter and pepper and salt. Have made and bake a pair of short cakes, made as for pie crust, but roll thin and cut in small square. This is much better than chicken pie and more simple to make. The crusts should be laid on a dish and the chicken gravy poured over while both are hot.

TO CAN TOMATOES – I have found it cheaper (says a lady) to can my own tomatoes than to buy them canned. I do not scald my tomatoes, but put them in bake pans, just as they are; of course I have washed and dried them first. I let them bake 15 minutes, then I take them out and pour off all the fluid which has come from them; this liquid I throw away; then I peel my tomatoes when they are cold; I now cook them in a large kettle for a full hour and a half; when scalding hot I put them in my tins and solder; I generally warm my tins, so that is cooling the vacuum is more perfect; I put neither salt nor pepper in the tomatoes.

MEAT HASH – Chop fine any kind of cold meat (before chopping dredge with salt and pepper. This is always the best manner of seasoning hash, as by this means all parts will be seasoned alike.) If you have cold potatoes, chop fine and mix with the meat; if they are hot, mash. Allow ½ meat to 2/3 potato. Put this mixture in the frying pan, with a little water to moisten it, and stir in a spoon of butter, or, if you have nice beef drippings, use that instead of butter. Heat slowly through, cover and let stand on a moderately hot part of the stove or range 20 minutes. When ready to dish, fold as you would an omelet, and dish. Save all the trimmings and pieces that are left of all kinds of meat, and have a hash once or twice a week. It does not hurt hash to have different kinds of meat in it. Avoid having a hash greasy.

AUGUST 29, 1879

OATMEAL PUDDING. – To a quart of milk allow four tablespoonfuls of Irish oat-meal, four tablespoonfuls of flour, and a little salt. Bring the milk to a boil – using a farina-kettle or a tin-pail set into a kettle of boiling water – and stir in the meal and flour made smooth in cold milk. Stir constantly for fifteen or twenty minutes, then set back for fifteen minutes before turning out. Eat with cream and sugar.

LEMON TEA. Green tea, cool, and with half a lemon squeezed into it. Makes an excellent drink.

SEPTEMBER 5, 1879

LETTUCE – Pick apart the heads and pile upon pounded ice on a glass dish. Pass vinegar, pepper, salt and powdered sugar with it.

TO CAN CHERRIES – Six ounces of sugar to one quart of cherries; boil moderately for five minutes; have the cans hot and seal while warm.

TO BROWN FLOUR – Spread upon a thin plate and place upon the stove or in a very hot oven and stir continually after it begins to color until it is brown all through. Keep it always on hand for gravies. Do it at odd moments and keep in a glass jar covered closely. Shake it up every few days to prevent lumping.

MILK TOAST FOR INVALIDS – Toast your bread a nice brown, dip each slice as it comes from the toaster in boiling water, butter and salt lightly, and lay in a covered dish. Have ready in a saucepan enough boiling milk, slightly thickened, about like cream, and pour over your dish of toast, cover closely and let stand five minutes. It is improved by using a part of Graham bread. This will be found nice for tea.

PINE-APPLE ICE CREAM – Slice one large pine-apple thin and scatter one pound of sugar between the slices; cover it and let the fruit steep three hours; then cut or chop fine in the syrup and strain through a sieve; beat gradually into one quart of cream and freeze rapidly. If you like, reserve a few slices of pine-apple unsugared, cut into squares and stir through the cream when half frozen.

SWEET POTATO PONE – Take four large sweet potatoes, peel and grate them, then add two cups of water or milk, a lump of butter the size of an egg, melted, three eggs well beaten, a teaspoonful each of allspice and cinnamon, one and ha half teaspoonfuls of ginger, and half a (sic) nutmeg, grated; mix all the ingredients well, butter a pudding pan, pour in your pone and bake in a moderate over.

VEAL LOAF – One pound of veal, one-half pound of salt fat pork, three small crackers, one egg, salt and pepper.Chop the veal raw to a fine mince, chop the pork and add to it; roll the crackers fine, beat the egg, and mix altogether thoroughly; put in a quart pan and bake about two hours, slowly at first, and having it a nice brown when it comes from the oven. This should be set aside and thoroughly cooled, or placed in the refrigerator. When wanted for use cut in slices with a sharp knife; this will be found nice for tea, lunch or picnics.

TO STEW RHUBARB – At this season of the year, before fruit is fairly in the market, rhubarb, if properly cooked, is excellent and wholesome. The art of cooking rhubarb so as to retain its color and pleasant acid depends on the same principles as in stewing fruit.As soon as the rhubarb is cleaned and sliced, cook it. If allowed to remain any time after it has been cut, it becomes dark, just as would apples. Put the sliced rhubarb in cold water, not too much water, and bring it gently to the boil. No exact amount of sugar, as the sweetness is according to taste.To one quart of cut rhubarb by weight add one-quarter of white sugar.

SPINACH – Wash and clean spinach enough for tow or three days, put in boiling water with a teaspoonful of salt, boil it briskly for ten minutes, turn it into a colander, drain it, press all the water out of it, and set to chopping it with a big knife just as long as you have patience for the work. Now if you wish to serve this, take a portion and put it on the fire with a piece of butter, a half a pint of good broth, and let it simmer just as long as you please. Spinach, so that it is not dry or burned, can never be cooked too much. Slice a hard boiled egg and serve with it. A very little fried onion, perfectly cooked, chopped fine improves, according to some tastes, the flavor of spinach.

MUTTON HAMS – Take the hind or fore legs of a sheep and rub them with the following: Mix two tablespoonfuls of sugar with the same quantity of tablesalt and half a tablespoonful of saltpeter. Place the hams in separate pans and rub each one with the same quantity. Turn twice a day for three days, and rub thoroughly with the hand at each time, turning away the liquor which flows from the meat. Then make a new mixture and turn and rub daily for ten days. At each rubbing take care to leave that side uppermost which was under before. Then smoke the hams like those made from pork and boil in the same way. Hams prepared in this way will be relished so much that you will always have a good supply of them in the larder.

SEPTEMBER 12, 1879

ICED APPLES, PEACHES OR ORANGES – Grate fine, sprinkle with white sugar, and freeze them.

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM – Mash one quart of berries with one pound of sugar, rub through a colander, add one quart of sweet cream and freeze as usual.

PUFF CAKES – Two cups of white sugar, one-half cup butter, one cup sweet milk, three eggs, well beaten, three cups flour, one tablespoonful baking powder, thoroughly mixed the flour; season with lemon.

WHITE CORN DODGERS - Take one pint of white corn meal and turn over it one pint of boiling water; add a little salt, and a well beaten egg tot he batter when nearly cold. Butter some sheets of tin and drop your batter by tablespoonfuls all over them and bake in a hot oven twenty-five minutes.

SALAD DRESSING – Three eggs, tablespoonful of sugar, oil, mustard, and salt, one cup of vinegar and one of milk; beat the eggs, then add the other ingredients, and stir all together over a kettle of boiling water to the consistency of boiled custard. If put in a closed bottle and kept in a cool place it will keep two weeks.

SHORTCAKE – Prepare the dough as for biscuit, only much richer; roll out two crusts nearly as thin as for pie crust; put them together, spreading a little butter between them; bake in a quick oven. When done, place the fruit or preserves between the crusts. When it is not in the fruit season, dried fruit or preserves make a very good substitute.

STEWED SALSIFY – Scrape the roots, dropping each into cold water as soon as cleaned, for exposure to the air blackens them; cut in inch pieces; put in a sauce-pan hot water enough to cover and stew until tender; then turn off the water and add a cup of cold milk. Stew ten minutes after this begins to boil; put in a large lump of butter, cut in bits and rolled in flour; pepper and salt to taste. Boil up at once and serve.

PEAS AND LETTUCE – Blanch a quart of peas for about five minutes and drain them; blanch a head of lettuce for one minute (blanching is only boiling or steeping in boiling water); put peas and lettuce in a saucepan with one ounce of butter; stir gently on the fire for about one minute, and then add a little broth or water, two or three sprigs of parsley, salt and pepper; boil slowly until done; and serve warm. The parsley may be served or removed just before serving, according to taste. The lettuce is served with the peas.

TONGUE SOUP – Put a small tongue into a stewpan with trimmings of any bones of fowl or veal, and stew for four hours, removing the scum; take out the tongue, skin and clean it, and leave it to cool; put back the trimmings and the root, with a carrot, a turnip, a head of celery and an onion, half a teaspoonful of cayenne, and stew one hour more; then strain the soup, and when cool remove the fat. and set it on to heat, with a turnip and carrot cut in squares; and two tablespoonfuls of grated tongue; let it simmer slowly for an hour, and serve with boiled rice.

GREEN PEAS – There is a vast difference in the peas in the same pod. Those nearest to the stem are the oldest and toughest, being the most fully matured. In Paris peas are sorted in this way. Not more than once or twice in a whole season are good green peas sent to table. Either the peas are old and flavorless, or they have been badly prepared.This is a good recipe, as M. Bios taught it to me: Take a saucepan and put in a half teaspoonful of salt; at the very first boil drop in two quarts of peas; boil gently and drain; put in a colander, shake then, turn them into a hot dish; put into that four ounces of butter, a little salt and white pepper, and put the dish with peas in an oven for not over two minutes.

SEPT 29, 1879

ICED TEA – Make the teas in the same way, only without the milk. Some people pour hot tea on a lump of ice and think they have an excellent tea, but there is a great difference between the two.

TOMATO RELISH. – Twenty-five tomatoes (ripe and peeled), four onions, eight peppers (seeds taken out) and chopped fine with onions, eight cups of vinegar, four tablespoonfuls sugar, two of salt. Boil gently one hour.

ICED COFFEE – Make more coffee than usual at breakfast time and stronger. Add one-third as much hot milk as you have coffee, and set away. When cold, put into ice. Serve as dessert, with cracked ice in each tumbler.

TO COOK SALSIFY – Wash and scrape, then cut from the end slices ½ inch thick; put them in the kettle with water enough to cook, add a little salt; then when thoroughly done, season with one pint sweet cream, pepper and butter, do not drain before seasoning.

BLUEBERRY CAKE – One cup of milk, one of sugar, three cupfuls of flower (sic), two teaspoon of cream-tarter, a piece of butter the size of an egg, and two eggs. Beat them well together and add the blueberries having rolled them in a little flour first. This is very nice.

SPICED PLUMS – Take one pint of vinegar and add three pounds of sugar, one tablespoonful each of cloves, cinnamon and allspice; boil all together; have ready four quarts of plums; repeat the boiling of the liquor each day for nine days and each time while hot pour over the plums.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR – Put one quart of good vinegar over two quarts of berries; let them stand over night; strain and pour the juice over two more quarts of berries; stand over night; then strain again; let it come gently to a boil; then bottle for use in small necked bottles. One tablespoonful in a glass of ice water on a hot summer day is refreshing.

CHOW-CHOW – Take one peck of green tomatoes and eighteen small onions; slice both onions and tomatoes; add one-half pint white mustard seed, one-half ounce allspice, one-half ouce cloves (the spices whole); one-half dozen bell peppers (ripe) or a tablespoonful of cayenne, salt enough to season. Cover the whole with vinegar and boil two hours.

GREEN PEA SOUP – Boil until tender one pint of shelled peas in just enough water to cook them; remove from the fire and wash very fine; then mix thoroughly with two pints of milk, strain through a sieve and return to the fire. Season with butter, pepper and salt to suit the taste, and when it boils serve with crackers, the same as oyster soup. String beans can be prepared in the same manner.

BROWNED TOMATOES – Take large, round tomatoes and halve them; place them, the thin skin down, in a frying pan in which a small quantity of butter has been previously melted; sprinkle them with salt and pepper and dredge them well with flour; place the pan on a hot part of the fire and let them brown thoroughly; then stir them and let them brown again and so on until they are quite done. They lose their acidity and the flavor is superior to stewed tomatoes.

OCTOBER 10, 1879

THE TABLE. A spoonful of stewed tomatoes in the gravy of either roasted or fried meats is an improvement.

OATMEAL CAKE: To a pint of meal add enough water to make it stir like pancake batter, season with a little salt and bake in a shallow pan for 20 minutes in a hot oven.

OATMEAL PUFFS: To a quart of sweet milk allow 3 well beaten eggs, 2 ½ teacups of German flour and a little salt; beat all thoroughly together and bake in hot gem irons.

STUFFED TOMATOES: Cut in halves and hollow out in center; take whatever cold meat you have, chop with onion, some herbs, crumbs of bread, and add to it 2 yolks of eggs; fill up your tomatoes and put in a buttered pan; let them bake slowly.

EFFERVESCING LEMONADE: Put into each bottle two drachmas of sugar, two drops of essence of lemon, one-half drachma bicarbonate of potash, and water to fill the bottle; then drop in thirty-five grains of citric or tartaric acid in crystals, and cork immediately, tying the cork and placing the bottle in a cool place or in iced water.

PEACH PRESERVES: To every pound of peaches that have had the stones and peeling removed, add three-fourths pound load sugar, and let them remain over night. The next morning pour off the syrup that has been formed, and let it cook for an hour; then put the peaches in, cook until the fruit is thoroughly done, but not cooked to pieces; put in an airtight jar and it if ready for use at any time.

MUFFINS: Beat 1 teacup of butter and 1 of sugar to a stiff cream; beat 4 eggs very light – yolks and whites separately – and beat them into the sugar and butter until quite light. To 4 quarts of flour put a half teaspoonful of salt. Pour into the middle of the flour a cup of good home-made yeast, or whatever yeast you are accustomed to use – as much as you usually take for 4 quarts of flour’ then stir in the sugar, butter, and eggs, with 2 quarts of sweet milk. Let it rise over night, and bake in well buttered muffin-risers in the morning.

FIG PRESERVES: Pick the figs half ripe with the stems on, weigh them, then put them in a tub of alum water made moderately strong; after being in alum water about half an hour remove them; put them in the preserving kettle and pour cold water in enough to cover the fruit; let it come almost to a boil, the take the fruit out, put it in a large dish or water in the sun and tip it up so as to drain all the water off; make a syrup by taking as many pounds of white loaf sugar as there are of figs, and add a pint of water for each pound of sugar; let the syrup boil until of the consistency of honey, then add the figs. It takes them about four hours to cook; about an hour before removing from the kettle add lemon or green ginger, whichever is preferred for flavoring.

SOFT GINGER BREAD: Put 1 teaspoon of salt into 2 quarts of flour, and 1 teaspoon quite full of soda; then sift them with the flour together. Beat 1 cup of butter to a cream, and then beat to it 1 cup of fine brown sugar, 2 teaspoonfuls of ginger. Pour this, when well beaten to the butter, into the middle of the flour. Stir 1 full cup of sour milk to the same quantity of molasses; when well combines, pour this into the flour, and mix as quickly as possible to a soft dough. Have on hand more sour milk, to be poured in quickly if the molasses and milk do not make it soft enough. Spread the dough on a tin sheet, or drop into gem-pans, or patty-pans; set into a baking pan; sprinkle fine brown sugar over the tope, and bake crisp, taking care not to scorch it.

A NICE WAY TO COOK CRUSHED WHEAT: Put two teacups of crushed wheat to 4 cups of boiling water. Stir it till all the lumps disappear, then put it into a steamer, or double boiler, or farina kettle. It can be cooked so as to be palatable in 30 minutes, but is much nicer cooked 3 or 4 hours, and in a steamer or double boiler it can be cooked that long without burning; but if simply boiled it cannot cook to perfection without drying on the kettle, occasioning much waste. Crushed wheat, if steamed, may be cooked in milk instead of water, and be improved. Serve warm or cold, and eat with sugar and cream. After it becomes cold it may be rewarmed in a steamer; but never break it up. It is not nice fried, but it may be cut in slices and put into a quick oven till brown.

MISCELLANEOUS: You can get a bottle or barrel of oil off any carpet or woolen stuff by applying dry buckwheat plentifully and faithfully. Never put water to such a grease spot, or liquid of any kind.

TO RENOVATE BLACK GRENADINE: Take strong cold coffee, strain it, and wring the grenadine out of it, quite tightly, after which shake out and fold up. Iron with a moderate hot iron, over a piece of black material.

STAINS FROM DRESSES: Stains from fabrics may be removed by moistening the spot with a solution of epsom salts in a few drops of hot water. Rub it in well the first time, and then moisten again. Next, fill a tin vessel with boiling water, and set on the stained place for a few minutes, and afterwards wash out in soft water. It is advisable to have articles thus treated washed immediately.

OCTOBER 17, 1879

APPLE OMELETTE. Take about six large apples, pare and stew them as for sauce, beat them smooth white hot, adding one tablespoonful of butter, five tablespoonfuls of sugar, nutmeg to taste, or lemon should you prefer; when cold add the beaten yolks, and lastly whites of three eggs, pour into a buttered dish, and bake in a moderately hot oven, and serve for tea with graham bread.

OCTOBER 17, 1879

TOMATO SAUCE – Take eight ripe tomatoes; cut them up, skins and all, and stew them until they are soft; pour them through a sieve; season with pepper and salt; add five tablespoonfuls of brown gravy; stir it well together and heat it.

TOMATO PASTE FOR SOUP – Skin the tomatoes and stew them quite dry; then put them on plates and stand in the sun to dry; when dried into a paste, put it into jars and tie them down’ this can be kept all winter if put in a cool, dry place.

GRAPE CATSUP – Nine pounds of grapes and six pounds of brown sugar. Boil the grapes until soft; rub through colander; add sugar and boil until quite thick, then add three pints of vinegar, one tablespoonful each of cloves, cinnamon, allspice and black pepper.

BOILED PUDDING – Six eggs, well beaten; seven tablespoonfuls of flour, one quart of milk, nutmeg; boil in a pudding-boiler one hour. Sauce: Cream, one cup butter, and two cups of fine sugar; add one claret-glass of sherry or currant wine.

BUTERMILK PANCAKES – One quarter of a pound of rice flour, one small teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, made into a light batter, with buttermilk; must be put in the pan at once, with very little butter or lard, and fried as other pancakes.

BAKED TOMATOES – Peel them and put into a baking dish with breadcrumbs, butter, pepper and salt, one onion, if you like it; sift corn meal over the top of them and bake slowly; they will take between two and three hours to bake; if they are acid, use sugar instead of salt.

MIXED PICKLES – Two quarts of small cucumbers, one quart of small onions and one large cauliflower. Put the cucumbers in brine one day; scald the onion and cauliflower in salt and water; put in three green and three red peppers and anything else that will pickle. Mixture for pickles: To three quarts of vinegar add two cups of sugar, on-half cup of flour and twelve tablespoonfuls of mustard with a few sticks of cinnamon.Put the pickles in a jar and pour the mixture over boiling hot; when cold add one cup of grated horse-radish.

ICE CREAM WITH EGGS. One quart of milk, four eggs – the whites and yolks beaten separately and very light – four cupfuls of sugar, three pints of sweet cream, five teaspoonfuls of vanilla; heat the milk to boiling; have your yolks well beaten; pour the milk into the yolks; add the sugar, then the whites, beating all the while; return to the fire and heat again, stirring and watching carefully until it begins to thicken like custard; then set aside to cool. When cold, beat in your cream and flavoring. Freeze as soon as possible after it is thoroughly cool.

BUTTERMILK POP – Boil one quart of fresh buttermilk; beat one egg, a pinch of salt and a heaping tablespoonful of flour together, and pour into the boiling milk. Stir briskly and boil for two or three minutes, and serve while warm with sugar, or better still, maple syrup. Although this is an old-fashioned and homely dish, eaten and relished by our grandparents before cornstarch, sea moss, farina, desiccated cocoanut and other similar delicacies were ever heard of, it is perhaps as nutritious as any of them, and often far more easily obtained.

PICKLED MANGOES – Young musk or nutmeg melons: English mustard seed, two handfuls, mixed with half cup scraped horse-radish, pounded mace or nutmeg, one teaspoonful; chopped garlic or onion, two teaspoonfuls; one teaspoonful ginger; one dozen whole pepper corns; half tablespoonful ground mustard to each pint of the mixture; one tablespoonful best salad oil to same quantity; one teaspoonful celery seed; cut a slit in the side of the melon; insert your finger and take out all the seeds. If you can not get them out in that way cut a round piece from the top, saving it to replace. Lay the mangoes in a strong brine for three days. Drain off the brine and freshen in pure water twenty-four hours, green as you would cucumbers, and lay in cold water until cold and firm. Fill with the stuffing. Sew up the slit or tie on the piece with pack thread; put them into a deep stone jar and pour scalding vinegar enough to cover them. Repeat this process three times at intervals of two days, then tie up the jar and set in a cool, dry place. They should not be eaten for three months but will keep years.

OCTOBER 31, 1879

PEAR PICKLES – One peck of pears, three pounds of sugar, one pint of good cider vinegar; steam the pears over water until tender; then boil in the sirup, with spices, same as for peaches. I always peel the pears for pickling, but do not peaches.

MIXED PICKLES – Slice green tomatoes and cover with salt and water, let them stand three or four days; then boil tender in water and a little vinegar. Drain well after boiling; then put a layer of tomatoes in a jar and sprinkle with (whole) allspice, cinnamon, cloves and thinly sliced horse radish; a layer of shredded cabbage, slightly salted; a layer of onions, and so repeat until the jar is filled; put spices between each layer; cover the whole with boiling, hot vinegar.

PEACH PICKLES – To one peck of peaches allow four pounds of sugar and a pint of sharp cider vinegar; use nice yellow peaches if you can get them. Take a coarse towel and rub them until smooth or the fur is removed. Put two or three cloves in each one; when your sirup is melted and boiling hot, add a small bag of ground cinnamon and enough peaches to boil without crowding. Let them boil from two to five minutes, skim out, place in a jar, and continue until all are boiled. Cook sirup until thick as desired and pour on them (hot) three times.

RAGAN PICKLES – Two gallons of cabbage, sliced fine; one gallon of chopped green tomatoes; twelve onions, also chopped; one gallon best vinegar; one pound brown sugar; one tablespoonful of black pepper; half an ounce turmeric powder; one ounce celery seed; one tablespoonful ground allspice; one teaspoonful ground cloves, one-fourth pound white mustard, one gill of salt. Boil all together, stirring well, for two hours. Take from the fire, and add the spices; then put in air-tight jars. Set in a cool, dry place, and this delicious pickle will keep all winter.

PICKLED BUTTERNUT OR WALNUTS – Gather them when soft enough to be pierced with a pin. Lay them in strong brine for five days, changing this twice in the meantime.Drain and wipe dry; pierce each by running a large darning needle through it, and lay them in cold water for six hours. To each gallon of vinegar allow one cup of sugar, three dozen each of whole cloves and black pepper corns, half as much allspice and a dozen blades of mace. Boil five minutes; pack the nuts in small jars and cover with the scalding vinegar. Repeat this twice within a week; tie up and set away. Good to eat in a month.

TOMATO CATSUP – Take a bushel of ripe tomatoes; rub them with a damp cloth; cut out the hearts and place them over the fire with two heaping handfuls of peach leaves, one dozen large onions (cut in small pieces) and one quart of water. Boil until soft and strain through a coarse sieve. It will take about two hours to boil soft enough. Put the liquid in the boiler again over the fire, adding a half gallon of strong vinegar. Have ready two ounces ground allspice, two ounces ground black pepper, two ounces cayenne pepper, two ounces mustard, and, if preferred, two ounces celery seed, one ounce ground cloves, two grated nutmegs, two pounds brown sugar and one pint of salt; mix the ingredients thoroughly before putting them in the boiler. Boil two hours and when cool put in bottles, cork, seal and keep in a cool place.

CANNED PUMPKINS – Wash the pumpkin (do not peel, as the sweetest part lies next the rind); but up in rings, then in small squares; fill your kettle and put in a few spoonfuls of water to start it; cover closely and let it steam until tender. Remove the cover and let it cook until as dry as possible without burning (stirring often) whether it be half or a whole day. Seal while hot in tine cans (it must be kept dark). When wanted for pies remove from the can to the colander and thoroughly sift; allow two eggs for three pies; make quite sweet with brown sugar; flavor with ginger and make thin as sweet cream with equal parts of milk and water, or two-thirds water (I prefer it to all milk); bake slowly in a good crust until it is solid like custard. If properly baked it will be a rich brown, shiny to look at and delicious to the palate.

NOVEMBER 7, 1879

HINTS ON PICKLING, PRESERVING, CANNING, ETC., ETC.

from The Detroit Free Press

                In preparing catsups, pickles, etc., vessels of earthenware, stoneware or well-tinned copper pans should alone be used, as salt, vegetable juices and vinegar rapidly corrode copper and render the results poisonous. Nothing in the shape of copper, lead, or pewter should be allowed to come in contact with them at any time. Even a plated copper spoon left in a bottle of catsup of some time will render its contents dangerous. A porcelain kettle is always best for this purpose, though many prefer the granite ware, and I see that is the kind Miss Dod uses in her cooking operations in her school.

                In making pickles use none but the best cider vinegar. Never keep pickles in glazed earthenware, but in glass or hard stoneware, and well covered with vinegar. They should be examined every month or two and soft pieces removed. If there is much tendency to soften it is advisable to strain off the vinegar, add to each gallon a cupful of sugar, boil it and return it to the pickle jar while hot. The occasional addition of a little sugar keeps pickles good and improved them. Spices in pickles should be used whole, slightly bruised, but preferably not ground; if ground they should be tied up in thin muslin bags. Most pickles, if well kept, improve with age by the vinegar losing its raw taste and the flavor of the spices improving and blending.

                To strengthen weak vinegar, if in pickles, turn it off, heat it scalding hot, put it on the pickles and when lukewarm put in a small piece of alum the size of a filbert and a brown paper four inches square wet with molasses. If it does not grow sharp in two weeks it is past recovery and must be thrown away. If in winter freeze it and remove the ice on the surface, for the water alone freezes, leaving the vinegar.

               To keep up a constant supply of vinegar: Before the barrel is quite out, fill the barrel with one gallon of molasses to every eleven gallons of soft water. This mixture will become good vinegar in about three weeks. If the barrels stand on end, there must be a hold made in the top, protected with gauze to keep out insects. If standing on the side the bunghole must be left open and similarly protected.

                Meat can be preserved with vinegar by washing the meat, drying it and laying in strong vinegar, or by being boiled in the vinegar, leaving it in until cold and then set aside in a cool cellar.

                Fish can be preserved for a long time by sprinkling with sugar, keeping the fish in a horizontal position, so that the sugar may penetrate as much as possible. Salmon thus treated has a more agreeable taste, and this method does not destroy the flavor of any fish if so treated.

                To insure success in canning fruit, select that which is perfectly ripe and at the same time sound. To can fruit in tin cans, fill them full of the fruit and solder securely, then pierce a small pin hole in the top of each can to allow the air to be expelled; place the cans in a boiler as deep as the cans are high, pour boiling water into the boiler until within one-half inch of the top of the cans. Keep the water hot over a moderate fire, but not boiling, until the air ceases to escape from the cans, and then seal the air-holes with solder before removing the cans from the water. The cans should then be taken out, wiped dry and allowed to cool. When cold, if the cans have been closed perfectly air-tight, the vacuum inside will cause the top and bottoms of the cans to become concave, or hollowed inwards. Tomatoes are also canned in this manner. Meat can be canned in the manner by removing the bones, parboil the flesh, put into cans and fill up with rich seasoned soup. Proceed as above. No water should be used with fruits, except in cases where a little is necessary to dissolve the sugar. Small fruits are kept in better condition by adding one-half pound of white sugar to each pound of fruit, letting them come to the boil and then filling the cans quite full, soldering the lid of the can immediately. Most vegetables can be kept in this way, omitting the sugar and scalding them in water sufficient to cover them.

                To can peaches by the cold process, pare and halve the peaches, pack them as closely as possible in a can without any sugar. When the can is full, pour in sufficient cold water to fill all the interstices between the peaches and reach the brim of the can. Let it stand long enough for the water to soak into all the crevices – say six hours – then pour in the water to replace what has sunk away. Seal up the can and all is done. Canned in this way, peaches retain all their freshness and flavor. There will not be enough water to render them insipid. If preferred, a cold sirup could be used instead of pure water, but the peaches taste most natural without sweetening.

                Glycerin of purest quality has been recommended for the preservation of fruits (have not tried it), previous to eating which, the glycerin should be removed, by immersing the fruit in water.To keep apples and pears fresh, gather the fruit during a dry day, and put it at once into earthen, glazed pans, deep enough to contain two or three layers of fruit, and each one having a tightly fitting lid. If the fruit sweats, the exudation dries on the fruits surface, and helps to keep in the moisture and flavor. The cover helps to do the same, and to exclude the light. Keep the pans in a cool, dry place, and never wipe the fruit until required for dessert. Pears may be kept in the same way, but require constant watching. After fruit in has been allowed to lay on the shelves in the fruit room, and sweat, they should be wiped dry and packed in boxes, with dry sawdust enough to exclude the air from them. The sawdust from resinous woods should not be used. If they were packed in dry sand they would keep equally well, but it is difficult to clean them from the sand, and therefore they are gritty, which is unpleasant.

NOVEMBER 14, 1879

APPLE CUSTARD – Take a half cup of melted butter, two cups sugar, three cups stewed apples, four eggs, whites and yolks separately beaten. Bake in pie-plates in bottom crust.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY

VIENNA CHOCOLATE – Put into a coffee-pot set in boiling water, one quart of new milk (or a pint each of cream and milk); stir into it three heaping tablespoons of grated chocolate, mixed to a paste with cold milk; let it boil two or three minutes, and serve at once.

BUTTER SCOTCH CANDY – One pound of sugar, one-half pint of water. Boil as hard as possible without graining. When done add half a cup of butter, and lemon juice for flavor, if desired. Turn on a buttered dish, or better, a marble slab, and when partly cool, cut with a knife into small squares, and when cool a slight tap will break them off.

POTATO CAKES – Take potatoes – mashed are best, but boiled ones can be mashed – immediately after dinner, before getting too cold; add about an equal amount of flour and a small piece of butter or lard; rub thoroughly together, roll out and cut as for biscuit – not too thick – and bake in a rather quick oven. When done to a light brown, cut open, butter and eat warm.

- Into two quarts of flour, put a piece of butter size of an egg, a little salt, one tablespoonful of white sugar, one pint of milk, scalded, and add while warm; half a cup of yeast, or one small cake. When the sponge is light, mold for fifteen minutes; let it rise again; when light roll out, cut into round cakes; place a piece of butter on top, and fold each over itself when light; bake in a quick oven.

MIXED PICKLES – Take one pound of ginger-root and one-half pound of garlic (both previously salted and dried); two gallons vinegar; one-half ounce turmeric; and one-quarter pound long pepper. Digest together tow or three days near the fire in the stone jar; or gently simmer them in a pipkin or enameled saucepan. Then put in almost any vegetable, except red cabbage and walnuts, all previously salted and dried.

HOMINY MUFFINS – Take two cups of very fine hominy boiled and cold; beat it smooth and stir in three cups of sour milk, half a cup of melted butter, two tablespoonfuls of salt and two tablespoonfuls of white sugar; then add three eggs, well beaten, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in hot water, and one large cup of flour; bake quickly.

CORN MEAL GEMS – Take two cups of corn meal, two cups of wheat flour, a couple tablespoonfuls molasses, water enough to wet it thoroughly; let it stand over night; in the morning have your gem irons hot; put in a pinch of salt, a small teaspoonful of salertus and a piece of butter as large as a nutmeg; stir well, drop in the gem-irons and bake in a quick oven.

SALMON PIE – Take a can of Oregon salmon; empty it carefully from the can so as not to break it; prepare a crust in a high dish beforehand; take a spoonful of flour, half as much butter, and as much ground mace as will go on a pen-knife, a tablespoonful of salt, and work it well together; thin it with some of the liquor from the fish, add some chopped parsley to it, with a few peppercorns; stew the sauce, stirring it so that it shall be smooth; wen the sauce is done put on the fish; pour the whole carefully into the crust; bake for ten minutes until it is hot enough and serve. Sufficient for four or five people.

MOCK OYSTERS – Take one-half dozen of good-sized cars of corn; put them in cold water, and when it begins to boil set it on the back of the range, and let it simmer for one-half hour. Then put the corn in cold water. When cool, wipe the ears with a dry towel and grate them; then put them through a hair sieve to rid them of the shells of the corn. Have two eggs well beaten, two tablespoonfuls of cream, two of grated crackers, one teaspoonful of salt, one-fourth teaspoonful pepper; beat this all well together. Have a lump of good butter about the size of half an egg; put it in a frying pan. When hot, put the corn mixture in, in tablespoonfuls, allowing space that they do not run together. When they are a nice brown turn them over and fry the other side. It requires about five minutes to cook them. This will make about two dozen oysters, serve them hot.

SWEET PICKLES – A correspondent of the Country Gentleman says: I have been preparing some blackberries for pickling, and as it is our favorite method of preserving this fruit, I will tell how it is done. To nine pounds of fruit add three pounds of sugar, one pint of pure cider vinegar, and spices to suit the taste. I prefer cloves and cinnamon, and shall use four ounces of each for a four-gallon jar of pickles, containing about thirty pounds. Some grind the spices and others break the cinnamon in bits and add it with the cloves, but I dislike to be continually finding sticks in the sauce, and shall sew them firmly into a thin muslin bag, and boil them up with the fruit, allowing them to remain in the jar until emptied. Last year I boiled the vinegar and sugar, and turned it over the berries, poured it off next morning, scaled and returned, and repeated the process again, but as the sauce commence fermenting and had to be scalded over, I shall, this fall, boil up the berries before turning them into the jar. This mode is a good one for sweet apples, crab apples, pears, or green tomatoes. I steam the apples and pears until soft enough to admit a spike of broom corm. Lay carefully in a jar and pour the spiced and sweetened vinegar over them. For crab apples, I prefer whole cloves and broken cinnamon bark, thinking it gives a delightful color tot he almost transparent sauce. If sweet apples are pickled, either whole with the stems on, or if larger, peeled and quartered, a few sliced lemons with the pips removed will give them a mild acidity and delightful flavor to the whole.

NOVEMBER 28, 1879

POTATO SALAD – Pare and slice some cold boiled potatoes. Peel and slice thin one onion. Mix on a salad dish, and pour over them the following dressing: Stir together one saltspoon of salt, quarter of a saltspoon of pepper, one tablespoonful of vinegar, and three of oil. Dress the salad with this mixture, and serve with chopped parsley.

POTATO SOUP – Boil two or three pounds of potatoes well, mash them, add slowly good broth sufficient for your tureen. et this well boil, and then add some spinach, sorrel, a little parsley, lemon thyme, mint, and sage, all chopped fine. oil all five minutes. epper and salt to taste. Just before taking off the fire add two well beaten eggs.

PICKLED ONIONS – Take some small onions, peel and throw them into a stew pan of boiling water. Set them over the fire, and let them remain until quite clear. Ten take them out quickly, and lay them between two cloths to dry. Boil some vinegar with ginger and a whole pepper, and when cold pour it over the onions in glass jars, and tie them closely over.

SALAD CREAM – Take the yolks of three fresh eggs. Wisk them well up with ten grains of cayenne pepper. Then take an ounce of mustard, salt one dram and a half, salad oil half an ounce. Mix well with half a pint of the best vinegar, and then add the two lots together. Shake them well, and you will have an excellent mixture, which will keep for twelve months.

FRIED POTATOES – Pare some potatoes so as to give each the form of a cylinder, then cut each cylinder in slices the eighth of an inch thick. By this means all the pieces of potato will be the same size. Dry them thoroughly in a napkin. Put them in the frying basket, and plunge it in boiling hot lard. Shake the basket continually, and as soon as the potatoes have acquired a light yellow color, turn them out on a cloth in front of the fire and sprinkle them with fine salt.

BARONESS PUDDING – Shred one-half pound of suet, and chop fine. Seed and chop one-half pound raisins. Mix the suet and raisins with half a pound of stale bread-crumbs, four ounces of sugar, and a pint of milk. Wring a pudding cloth out of boiling water, dust thickly with flour, tie the pudding up in it, put into a large pot of boiling water, and boil steadily for four hours. Turn out of the cloth, dust thickly with powdered sugar, and serve hot with any pudding sauce.

ENGLISH APPLE TART – Lay a disk of puff paste n a round time, and place a strip of paste all round it, as for an ordinary jam tart. Spread on the inside a layer of apple marmalade a quarter of an inch thick. Peel and core some apples, cut them in slices a quarter of an inch thick, trim all the slices to the same shape, dispose these slices over the marmalade, overlapping each other, and in some kind of pattern; strew plenty of sugar over, and bake in a quick oven till the apples are a good color.

FRENCH PANCAKES – Beat two ounces of granulated sugar, and two ounces of butter to a cream. Beat two eggs separately, the yolks to a cream and the whites to a froth, and add the yolks to the butter and sugar. Stir a half-pint of milk into these ingredients. Butter six tin pie-plates. Sift two ounces of flour with a teaspoonful of baking powder, and stir it quickly into the above mixture with the whites of the eggs. Put the batter quickly upon the buttered plates, and bake the pancakes brown in a quick over. Dust with powdered sugar, lay them one over the other, with a little jelly between, and serve hot.

CODFISH WITH CREAM – Pick out carefully in flakes all the flesh from the remnants of some boiled codfish. Melt a piece of butter in a saucepan, and add to it a large pinch of flour and a gill of milk or cream, with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste, also the least bit of cayenne. Stir well, put in the fish, and gently shake it in this sauce until quite warm. If the composition be too dry, add a little milk or cream. Then dry, add a little milk or cream. Then add, off the fire, the yolks of two eggs beaten up with a little milk, and serve.

PEA SOUP – Soak a pint of split peas in water for twelve hours, drain off the water, put the peas into a saucepan with three pints of cold water, a piece of bacon (about half a pound), two springs of dried mint, a bay leaf, some parsley, an onion stuck with two or three cloves, some whole pepper, and salt to taste. Let the whole boil three hours, then pas the puree through a hair sieve, make it hot again, and serve with dice of bread fried in butter.

OMELET – Break three eggs, putting the whites in one dish, and the yolks in another. Add quarter of a saltspoon of salt and a dash of pepper to the yolks, and beat half a minute. Put a bit of butter as large as a chestnut into a clean omelet pan, and set over the fire to heat. Beat the whites to a stiff froth, mix the yolks gently into it, and put the omelet into the pan. Stir the omelet with a fork, running it close to the bottom of the pan, and piling the omelet in a heap in the center. When done enough, pile it on one side of the pan, hold a hot dish close to it, and toss the omelet out on it. Serve immediately. An omelet of three eggs is large enough for two persons; if more are to be served, cook another the same size, as a larger one will not be so light.

DECEMBER 12, 1879

PRESERVING CITRON

                A correspondent at Richmond, Ky., furnishes the following recipe:

                Pare the citron, take out the seed, and cut it into small pieces. Put it into cold water and let it boil very tender. When about half done, put in one teaspoonful of dry saleratus and a piece of alum about the size of a very small walnut. When perfectly clear, take them up and place them on a large dish to drain. Then make the syrup and place them in.

                Directions for making syrup: To every pound of sugar add one gil of water, and let stand until it is dissolved. For every twelve pounds of sugar allow half an ounce of Russian isinglass; dissolve the isinglass by pouring over it a little boiling water. Put it in with the sugar. When cold, place the whole over the stove. As soon as it begins to boil skim it until no more scum will rise. The syrup is ready for the citron.

                To ten pounds of citron, take six lemons, which was and cut into thin slices, and, after removing all the seed, add them to the syrup, with one-quarter of a pound of green ginger. When done put in small tumblers or jars. Cover close and keep in a dry, cool place.

BUTTERSCOTCH - One pound of white sugar, three-fourths of a pint of water, once and a half teaspoonfuls of butter, lemon juice. Boil sugar and water over a slow fire until it ropes; add butter and juice of lemon. Pour on a pan to cool. Any other flavoring can be used.

ICING - The white of an egg not beaten, one teaspoonful of cold water and a pint of powdered sugar, stirred together. Will make icing for one cake. Less sugar makes the soft icing on baker?s cake.

LEMON BUTTER - One and a half cupfuls of white sugar, whites of three eggs, yolk of one, grated rind and juice of a lemon and a half, or two small ones; cook over a slow fire twenty minutes, stirring all the while. Very nice for tarts, or to be eaten as preserves.

MARYLAND STEWED OYSTERS - Put the juice into a saucepan and let it simmer, skimming it carefully. Then rub the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs and one large spoonful of lour well together, and stir into the juice. Cut in small pieces quarter of a pound of butter, half a teaspoonful of whole allspice, a little salt, a little cayenne, and the juice of a fresh lemon. Let all simmer ten minutes, and just before dishing add the oysters. This is for two quarts of oysters.

CROQUETTES OF CHICKEN - Put in a stewpan a piece of butter the size of an egg, one spoonful of flour, salt and pepper to taste, mix well and let it melt. One cold chicken well chopped and stirred in the mixture till hot. When cold, add the yolk of one egg well beaten. Take large spoonfuls and rub them into oblong shapes, and dip them in egg in which you have stirred a little pepper and salt. Roll in cracker crumbs and fry in hot, lard. These croquettes are very nice made of meal.

PIG-'S FEET - If you have more than you want to use now, boil them until the bones drop out, them mince them coarsely and boil in a little of the same water. Season well. Pour into a crock. Press down closely, and when cold cover with vinegar, and it will keep until warm weather. It will be firm, like jelly, and can be cut into slices. This is very good for laboring men who work out of doors. There is no oil or grease for boots and shoes that can compare with the grease skimmed, when cold, off the kettle in which pigs? feet have been oiled. It is very softening, and there will be jut enough of the gluey substance in it to make a good mixture and give a nice shine.

WHEN AN EGG IS FRESH - An egg is said to be fresh, when in the summer it has been laid only a couple of days, and in the winter three to six. The shells being porous, the water in the interior evaporates and leaves a cavity of greater or less extent. To determine the exact age of eggs, dissolve about four ounces of common salt in a quart of pure water, and then immerse the egg. If it be only a day or so old, it will sink to the bottom of the vessel, but if it be three days old it will float in the liquid. If more than five it comes to the surface, and rises above in proportion to its increased age.

MARMALADE - Half a peck of pippin apples, a quarter of a peck of pears, half a peck of peaches, a quarter of a peck of quinces, two quarts of water and the peel of a large orange grated and added with the juice half an hour before the marmalade is done. Put the parings and cores of the quinces into the water and boil a short time, closely covered to prevent evaporation. Strain them out and put the water on the quinces and pears, all cut small. Boil them for an hour. Then add the other fruit and five pounds of sugar. Boil gently two hours, stirring them to prevent burning. Add the juice and rind of the orange, and boil half an hour longer.

DECEMBER 19, 1879

BAKING MEATS - In baking meat and fish, besides keeping the bottom of the pan covered with broth or water, place a piece of bettered paper over the object in the pan. It not only prevents it from burning, but acts as a self-basting operation and keeps the top moist and juicy.

QUINCE MARMALADE - Gather the fruit when quite ripe; pare, quarter, and core it. Boil the skins in the water measuring a teacupful to a pound of fruit. When they are soft, mash and strain them, and put back the water into the preserving kettle. Add the quinces and boil them until they are soft enough to mash fine. Rub through a sieve, and put three quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Stir them well together, and boil them over a slow fire until it will fall like jelly from a spoon. Pour it in pots or tumblers, and secure it, when cold, with paper sealed to the edge of the jar with the white of an egg.

TOMATO CATSUP - Mrs. Endicot says in the Rural New Yorker: Select perfectly ripe sound tomatoes, cut in slices, and boil them until the pulp is cooked out. Rub it through a sieve to take out the skins and seeds, and return to the kettle for cooking. To each gallon of the pulp add three tablespoonful each of salt, ground pepper and mustard, and one each of ground cloves and allspice. Cook it until it is thick enough to run slowly from a bottle. Let it get cold, bottle and seal. I made what we call farmer's rice, for dessert for dinner today. We all enjoyed it so much that there was not enough left for baby Katy's supper, as I intended there should be. It is so easily and quickly made, I wonder it is not oftener found on country tables. I put about three quarts of milk on the stove in a pan. While it was coming to a boil, I mixed two eggs with flour until it was dry enough to roll through my fingers in grains. Then stirred it into the milk quickly, so as to keep it cooking all the time. Five minutes are long enough to finish it. Turn into a dish and eat while warm with plenty of cream and sugar.

JANUARY 9, 1880

TO REMOVE MILDEWS - Pour a quart of boiling water on two ounces of chloride of lime. Then add three quarts of cold water, and soak the linen in it twelve hours.

CEMENT FOR GLASS AND CHINA - White of eggs mixed up with little quicklime (or chalk burned in the fire and powdered to dust) will make a capital cement.

CORN LOAF - Take one pint of sweet milk, half pint of sour milk, half cup of butter, one of molasses, three eggs, one of wheat flour, a little salt, corn meal to make a thick batter, one teaspoonful of soda. Bake two hours slowly.

BROWN BREAD - Take on quart of buttermilk, one of sweet milk. Thicken with half Indian meal, and half rye flour or wheat. Add salt and molasses, if wished, a heaping teaspoonful of soda.

ENGLISH COOKIES - One cup of brown sugar, half cup butter, one egg, two tablespoonfuls sour cream, a little soda, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg. Make hard enough with flour to roll out. Cut in thin cakes.

BROWN BREAD NO. 2 - Take one quart of corn meal, pour on boiling water or milk. When cool add a cup of yeast, two spoonfuls of molasses, a little salt and one quart of rye flour, wet with milk, and stir with a spoon. Pour in tins or pans to rise. Bake slow.

TO REMOVE MILDEW FROM LINEN - Rub it over with soap; then scrape fine chalk or whitening, and rub on. Lay it in the sun, wet it from time to time. If not removed, repeat the process. Lemon juice and salt is also good.

DRINK FOR THE SICK - Two tablespoonfuls arrow root in a quart pitcher with a little cold water; three tablespoonfuls white sugar, the juice of one lemon, and part of the rind. Stir all quickly while pouring boiling water until the pitcher is full. Drink cold.

OYSTER SAUCE - One pint of oysters boiled three or four minutes in their own liquor. Stir in two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in a spoonful of flour, the juice of half a lemon with pepper and salt to taste. Heat a teacupful of milk, pour into the oysters and turn at once into the sauce-boat ? Rural New-Yorker.

ORANGE CAKE - The whites of six eggs beaten to a froth; three tablespoonful of melted butter; one cup of sugar; half a cup of milk; a cup and a half of flour, in which have been stirred two teaspoonful of baking powder and a very little salt. This makes three thin cakes. About half an hour before eating, take the juice of one large orange, the white of one egg, beaten stiff, and thicken with granulated sugar, spread between the three cakes, and dust powdered sugar over it. I doubled these proportions making two cakes.  [Mrs. Endicot]< /FONT>

JANUARY 16, 1880

TO WASH SILK STOCKINGS - One tablespoonful of lemon juice to a quart of tepid water. Wash thoroughly, using no soap. Dry quickly in the shade. The flesh tint will be preserved.

RAISED BISCUITS - Take some light bread dough sufficient for two square tins of biscuit, mold in four ounces of butter, and let it rise again, and when light, pick up small bunches of dough and drop on buttered tins. Let it rise a few minutes, then bake slowly.

CHILI SAUCE - Eighteen large, ripe tomatoes, three green tomatoes, two small onions, one cup of sugar, two and one half cups of vinegar, two-thirds of a cup of all kinds of spices, four teaspoonfuls of salt. Boil one hour.

HAM CAKE - A capital way of disposing of the remains of a ham, and making an excellent dish for breakfast. Take a pound and a half of ham, far and lean together & put it into a mortar and pound it, or pass it through a sausage machine. Boil a large slice of bread in a half-pint of milk, and bear it and the ham well together. Add an egg beaten up. Put the whole into a mold, and bake a rich brown.

WHITE SOUP - This white vegetable soup will be found most excellent. Take four or five good turnips, two heads of celery, four fine leeks, and wash then and slice them down. Then put them into a stew pan with a piece of butter and a knuckle of ham. Moisten with a quart of stock, and let them stew gently till tender. Then add a pint of milk and crumbs of bread. Give all a good boil up, strain, and send to the table very hot.

NURSERY POWDER - Take one ounce of pulverized hemlock-bark, one ounce of magnesia, and one ounce of laundry starch. Pulverize finely by laying upon a platter and grinding with a knife. Sift through a hair-sieve and put into a tight box, and you have the same article which costs you, if prepared by chemists, a dollar and a quarter per box. Anyone can make a puff of swan?s down or scraped linen lint, if they think it better than a pinch sifted from between the thumb and finger.

OMELETTE SOFFLE - Separate 6 eggs, and beat them light; having added tot he yolks two tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar and part of a grated nutmeg. Just before cooling stir in the whites and the yolks together. Have on the fire a pan with a tablespoonful of lard, when boiling hot pour in the omelette. Keep lifting the eggs greatly with a knife allowing the top to run underneath until done. Then slip the knife under one side and fold the omelette. Turn out on a warm dish. Sprinkle with sugar and serve at once.

AUTUMN LEAVES FOR LAMP SHADES - Lamp shades made of autumn leaves are very beautiful. To make them, cut the shade in stiff white paper, when the leaves which have been previously dried and pressed, are arranged on it in a wreath, and fastened down by gum. It is then covered with a very coarse net, and the edges bound with gilt or colored paper. The effect of the light shining through the shade is exceedingly pretty; and it is one of the cheap decorations which all persons possessed of a little taste and ordinary skillful fingers make for themselves.

BAKED CALF'S HEAD - A calf's head, a good one, will cost forty cents, and will last two days. Boil the head until you can pick out all the bones, and mind you keep the water the head is boiled in. Take your pieces and lay them in a dish, having cut them small. Use some salt, pepper, a little parsley, a grate of nutmeg, a small piece of butter, and some dry bread crumbs, say a teacupful of the latter. Moisten it all with some of the water the head has been boiled in. Put in a baking dish, and let it bake half an hour. When we can afford it, we take the yolks of two eggs and make a sauce with the boiled liquor. We make soup of the rest of the liquor.

USEFULNESS OF BORAX - Borax water moderately used and afterwards followed by frequent brushings, makes the hair beautifully soft and flossy, and does not injure it in the least. A little borax added to starch will impart a fine gloss to linen when ironed, which is considered by many so desirable. Borax is very much to be preferred to soda as aid to the softening of water for washing purposes, making the clothes very clean and white, while being harmless to the fabric and hands. It is a very useful addition to the household economy in many ways, and will keep perfectly sweet in solution for a long time.

MEAT SCALLOP - Take pieces of cold beefsteak or roast veal. Chop them very fine. Butter a pudding dish, put a layer of meat then a layer of crackers. Season with salt, pepper, pieces of butter and moisten well with milk. Then put in another layer of meat as before, and over the whole spread a thick layer of pulverized crackers, and moisten with an egg beaten in a cup of milk, or more, according to the size of the dish. Scatter pieces of butter over the top and bake three quarters of an hour or an hour. This is a nice dish if made moist enough.

SOFT SOAP - Twenty pounds of pure grease to fourteen pounds of potash will make a clean fish barrel full. The potash can be procured at any drug store. Dissolve it in water in a brass kettle over the fire. Put the grease in the barrel. First pour the solution of potash over the grease, and stir it with a stick. Let it stand twenty-four hours, then pour a pail of cold water in the barrel, and stir it thoroughly. Let it stand twelve hours, and as it thickens, add a pail of cold water and stir again, and add water every twelve hours, and stir until the barrel is full. In cold weather we use barrel tight, as lye will leak through where water will not. A barrel will not answer more than twice, as the lye destroys it.

FEBRUARY 13, 1880

TOPICS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD

A girl that can cook a good square meal is better than two that can personate Josephine in Pinafore. [Dr. J. G. Holland]

CORN BREAD - Take two quarts of Indian meal, one pint of bread sponge, water enough to wet it. Mold in a half pinto of wheat flour, a tablespoonful of salt. Let it rise, and knead a second time. Bake an hour and a half.

CORN BREAD, No. 2 - Take three teacupfuls of corn meal, on eof wheat flour, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar. Mix well while dry. Dissolve one teaspoonful of soda in warm water. Mix to a thin batter, and bake in a quick oven three-fourths of an hour.

Single cream is cream that has stood on the milk twelve hours. It is best for tea or coffee. Double cream stands on its milk twenty-four hours, and cream for butter frequently stands forty-eight hours. Cream that is to be whipped should not be butter cream lest in whipping it change to cutter.

CUSTARD PIES WITHOUT MILK - Boil together five eggs, five tablespoonful of sugar, and a little salt. Pour one pint of boiling water, stirring briskly while adding the water. Flavor with spices most pleasing to the taste, and complete the pie the same as other custards. The quantity is sufficient for two.

CORN FRITTER PUDDING - A teacupful of milk, three eggs, a pint of green corn grated, a little sugar, and as much flour as will form a batter. Beat the eggs, yolks and whites, separately. To the yolks, add the corn, sugar, milk, and flour enough to form the batter. Beat the whole well. Stir in the whites, and drop the batter a teaspoonful at a time into hot lard.

BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES - Mix a large cupful of lukewarm milk with about a quarter of a pound of buckwheat flour. Add to this three eggs and a little more milk to form it into a smooth batter. Let it stand in a warm place for an hour. Add a teaspoonful of baking powder, and fry as usual. Serve rolled up with sugar and lemon juice.

PICKLED OYSTERS - Take of oysters six quarts, salt, four tablespoonfuls; vinegar, half a pint; of black pepper, whole, allspice, and mace, each two tablespoonfuls; of cloves, two dozen. Drain all the liquor from the oysters, add the spice to it. Boil fifteen minutes, skimming carefully, then put in the oysters and boil till they are done, which will be when they are nicely plumped.

CORN BREAD NO. 3 - Take two quarts of corn meal wet with three pints of warm water. Add a tablespoonful of yeast, the same of salt, two of sugar. Let it stand in a warm place five hours. Then add one and a half teacups of flour and a half pint of warm water. Let it rise again an hour and a half. Then pour it into a well-greased pan and when light, bake it in a hot oven. It is best cold.

CABINET PUDDING - One-quarter of a pound of butter and one and a half pound of granulated sugar beaten to a cream. Add the well-beaten yolks of five eggs and one-half0cupful of milk. Then half a pound of flour, with the whites of five eggs. Lastly half a pound of seeded and chopped raisins, with a quarter of a pound of well-washed and dried currants. The fruit must be floured before mixing. Use a buttered mold or floured bag. Boil three hours. Then plunge quickly into cold water. Turn it out at once to prevent sticking. Serve hot with sweet sauce.

PRESSED CHICKEN - Two chickens boiled until the meat leaves the bones easily. Then pull to pieces and chop fine, letting the liquor in which they were cooked, boil away until only a cupful remains. About half as much ham as chicken is then added, roll two soda crackers, season highly and pour the stock over. Mix all well together, put in a deep, long pan, pressing down hard with the hand. Fold a napkin several times over the top and put on a weight. This should be prepared the day before using, when it will slice down easily. I examined my pickles which are cucumbers made sweet, after the following recipe. To one gallon of vinegar, add one quart of water, five pounds of sugar, a tablespoonful of salt, one stick of cinnamon. Pour over boiling hot, let stand ten days, then pour over the liquor and boil again, after which they are ready to be set away for us. I found them all right. [Mrs. Endicott]

FEBRUARY 20, 1880

OATMEAL - One quart water, one and a half cups oatmeal, one-half teaspoon salt. Let boil over a brisk fire for one hour, do not burn. Set back on the stove and boil gently for another hour. Serve in soup plates with sugar and milk.

BAKED BEETS - These excellent vegetables are quite as good baked as boiled, and the sugar is better developed by the baking process. The oven should not be too hot, and the beets must be frequently turned. Do not peel them until they are cooked, then serve with butter, pepper, and salt.

WHEAT CAKES - Three cups flour, two of Indian meal, white. Dissolve one small cake compressed yeast in a cup of water, pour into a jar, add flour and meal. Mix to a stiff batter with lukewarm water, set in a warm place to rise over night. In the morning add a tablespoon syrup, one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon soda, bake on a hot griddle. Save a cup batter to commence next day.

SWEET POTATO PUDDING - Ingredients: Two pounds of raw sweet potato, half pound brown sugar, one-third pound butter, one gill cream, one grated nutmeg, a small piece of lemon-peel, and four eggs. Boil the potato well and mash thoroughly, passing it through a colander. While it is warm mix in sugar and butter. Beat eggs and yolks together and add when the potatoes cold. Add a tablespoonful of sifter flour. Mix all in the grated lemon peel and nutmeg very thoroughly. Butter a pan, and bake twenty-five minutes in a moderately hot oven. May be eaten with a wine sauce.

FISH PIE - Boil one quart of potatoes in boiling water and salt. Soak one pound of stale bread in cold water, and wring it dry in a clean towel. Season it well with the pepper, salt, and a tablespoon of chopped parsley. Cut two pounds of codfish in small pieces, and lay in cold water. When the potatoes are done, peel them, mash them through a colander, and season them with salt and pepper. Put the fish and bread in alternate layers in a pudding dish. Make a top crush of the potatoes, and bake the pie an hour in a moderate oven.

A QUEER POT-AU-FEU - The Courier des Etats Unis contains the following original recipes, which it declares may be found in an English cookery-book: Pot-au-f-u-a-la Francaise. Put in an earthen-ware crock a pound of beef or mutton. Boil it in from six to eight pints of water, with potatoes, onions, and chopped mint. Let it boil an hour or two, and color it with three tablespoons of molasses. It can now be understood why English people do not take kindly to French cooking. Very possibly those who have tried this ragout must have entertained a very sad idea of our culinary tastes.

CRANBERRY DUMPLINGS - One quart of flour, one teaspoon of soda, and two teaspoons of cream of tartar, sifted together; mix into a soft dough with sweet milk; roll the dough out very thin in oblong shapes, and spread over it one quart of cranberries picked and washed clean. Add half a pound sugar, sprinkled evenly. Fold over and over, then tie in a pudding cloth and put into steamer, where let it cook over a steady fire for one hour, with faith, never looking into the pot. Serve with sweet meat sauce. [Harper's Bazaar]

MUTTON SOUP - A shoulder of mutton weighing about four pounds, remove skin and fat, then put in four quarts cold water, simmer two hours.   Boil one yellow turnip, one medium-sized carrot, four potatoes, two bulbs soup celery. Cook the turnip and carrot one hour, the potatoes and celery half an hour. When cooked put in cold water, peel, chop fine. Remove the meat, add the vegetables and one cup boiled rice or barley. Let simmer ten minutes, then add one tablespoon chopped onion and parsley. Cook ten minutes more, as cooking onion or parsley too much destroys the flavor.

PORK AND BEANS - One quart white beans, put in three quarts water, let come slowly to a boil. Cook three ours, do not boil rapidly or they will not cook evenly. Season, teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper, and as much cayenne as will go on the end of a pen-knife blade. Put in a deep baking pan; if they have not absorbed all the water, keep some of what they were boiled in as they will need it if too dry. One and a half pounds bacon, nicer than port, skin and score. After the beans have been baking in a slow oven four hours put on top of them the bacon, bake two hours; if too dry, add boiling water.

GOLDEN BUCK - A golden buck is simply a Welsh rarebit with a poached egg placed upon it. Take fresh, but rather rich cheese, and cut into small even-sized pieces, the quantity to be regulated by the size or number of rarebits needed, and melt upon a rather slow fire. If the cheese be dry, add a small quantity of butter. A little (say a sherry-glass to each rarebit) sour ale, or in absence, ordinary bitter or fresh ale should be added as the cheese melts. After the cheese is thoroughly melted and the above ingredients stirred in, add a quantity of celery salt, and immediately pour upon a piece of toast previously placed upon a hot plate. By placing a poached egg upon this becomes a golden buck, the further addition of a slice of boiled bacon renders it a Yorkshire buck.

MARCH 5, 1880

TOPICS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD

A mixture of chloride of lime and sweetened water of sweeten water will poison cockroaches and water bugs.

Cold plates at this time of year are execrable. All of the dishes on which cooked food is served should be thoroughly warmed.

Color does not determine the quality of flour. The best flour is that which absorbs the greatest amount of water.

To beat the white of eggs quickly, add a pinch of salt, which will cool and freshen them, as the cooler the eggs are, the quicker they will froth.

Don't forget the birds when you eat celery. Save the tender ends and greens, and if you dine at night place these in water to give the songsters for their morning refreshment.

Onions and potatoes that have a green tinge should be immersed in warm water one hour before cooking, that they may be easily digested.

A common sized tumbler holds half a pint. A tablespoonful is equal to sixty drops, or half an ounce of liquids. Four teaspoonful are equal to one tablespoonful.

TO BROIL A STEAK - Always butter your gridiron, cook the steak quickly over a bright fire, turning as often as they drip. Lay upon a hot dish, season with butter and salt, cover with heated platter.

The popular maxim that dirt is healthy, has probably arisen from the fact that playing in the open air is very beneficial to the health of children, who thus get dirt on their person and clothes.

The importance of cleanliness in person and dress can never be fully realized by those ignorant of the construction of the skin, and of the influence its treatment has on the health of the body.

When seasoning remember that salt should always be cooked in food. Pepper may be added when done, to suit the taste. Black pepper is not healthful, but drying tot eh blood. It is distasteful to many, and is considered vulgar by the majority of persons. Cayenne pepper, used moderately, is wholesome.

A writer in the Live Stock Journal says: I have kept dogs all my life, but no fleas. Take common tobacco stems, such as you can get at any cigar factory, and put it in the dogs bed and you will have no fleas. In the winter I make beds of equal quantities of hay and tobacco stems, in the summer all stems.

The following measures will be found useful by housekeeper. Wheat flour, on quart weighs 1 lb.; Indian meal, one quart weighs 1 lb. 2 oz.; butter, (when soft), one pint weighs 1 lb.: white sugar, (powdered), one quart weighs 1 lbs. 1 oz.; brown sugar, (beat), one quart weighs 1 lb. 2 oz.; ten hen eggs weigh 1 lbs.

BUCKWHEAT CAKES - Pour on to one quart of buckwheat flour enough warm water to make a thin batter. Add teaspoonful salt, two tablespoonfuls of molasses, a large handful of Indian meal, and four tablespoonfuls of yeast, or half a yeast cake well dissolved. Set to rise over night in a warm place. In the morning stir in a scant teaspoonful soda well dissolved in tepid water, and if too thick a little warm water.

VEGETABLES - Miss M. Parlos, in her new book of First Principles of Household Management and Cookery gives the following general rule for cooking all kinds of vegetables. Green vegetables should be thoroughly washed in cold water, then be dropped into water which has been salted, and is just beginning to boil. There should be a tablespoonful of salt for every two quarts of water. If the water boils a long time before the vegetables are put in, it has lost all its gases, and the mineral ingredients are deposited on the bottom and sides of the kettle; so that the water is flat and tasteless; then the vegetables will not look of have a fine flavor. The time for boiling green vegetables depends very much upon the age and how long they have been gathered. The younger and more freshly gathered, the more quickly they are cooked. Below is a good time-table for cooking vegetables.

Mins.

Potatoes, boiled 30

Potatoes, baked 45

Sweet Potatoes, boiled 45

Sweet Potatoes, baked 60

Squash, boiled 25

Squash, baked 45

Green peas, boiled 20 to 40

Shelled beans, boiled 60

Green corn 25 to 60

Asparagus 15 to 30

Turnips, white 45 to 60

Hours

String beans, boiled 1 to 2

Spinach 1 to 2

Tomatoes, fresh 1

Tomatoes, canned 1/2

Cabbage 3/4 to 2

Cauliflower 1 to 2

Dandelions 2 to 3

Beet greens 1

Onions 1 to 2

Beets 1 to 5

Turnips, yellow 1 to 2

Parsnips 1 to 2

Carrots 1 to 2

Nearly all these vegetables are eaten with salt, pepper and butter, but sometimes a small piece of lean pork is boiled with them and seasons them sufficiently.