During the summer months starchy and fatty foods should be eliminated from the bills-of-fare. Even ice cream contains too much fat to be used in large quantities. Water-ices, frozen fruit juices, are much more refreshing and wholesome if ice dishes can be classed among wholesome foods.
Eat less meat; substitute succulent vegetables, and fresh, ripe, uncooked fruits. Nitrogenous vegetables do not produce as much heat as meats. Fresh fruits are best raw; cooking in sugar makes them less natural, less digestible and less wholesome. As a class Americans use too few fruits ; they are not expensive as compared to meats, and are very wholesome.
The love for fruit is almost universal among children, and still it is given to them sparingly. Make it a portion of every meal, and the bulk and base of all school luncheons.
Fruits, like other foods, may be divided into several classes : succulent, sub-acid, and those containing fruit sugars, as raisins, dates and figs, and bananas, containing starch. In the succulent group we have apples, pears, quinces, oranges, limes, shaddocks, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, olives, grapes, gooseberries, currants, cranberries, barberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mulberries, with the melons—as watermelons and cantaloups—and pineapples.
The analyses of these fruits show them to be particularly rich in mineral salts, and while their nutritive value is low they contain a large amount of pure water, holding in solution fruit sugar and important vegetable acids. Use them in abundance during hot weather.
How to do with little cooking
During August a small gas or oil stove will be quite sufficient to do the cooking for a large family. Meats are more attractive when served cold; enough vegetables for two days may be cooked on one day, and this is equally true of cereals; the second heating renders them more palatable and more digestible, providing they are not stirred or mashed in cooking.
Where only one maid or no maid is kept let the cooking for the day be done during the morning hours, when it is necessary for some one to be in the kitchen. The chafing-dish plays an important part in the reheating of dainty dishes. If one has roasted chicken for dinner save all pieces left over for chicken a la creme or chicken a la Bordelaise for the next day.
Forethought in the making of bills-of-fare a week in advance will save hours of labor and many dollars of expense; one cannot think of good combinations at a moment’s notice. Cold meat dishes, the recipes for which are given in another part of the book, will help to give variety. Boned chicken, usually considered the most elaborate dish in the hands of an ordinary cook, is easily and quickly done, and makes a very pretty dish at little cost.
A word of caution is necessary about using left-over dishes containing eggs and milk. If the weather is warm and the air filled with humidity, ptomaine poisons arise very easily ; all such dishes, as well as cooked fish, should be used on the day on which they are cooked. Even in the best refrigerators foods may become contaminated, and in turn contaminate other foods.
- Broiled Tomatoes
Split solid tomatoes into halves; place them on a broiler, skin side down, and broil slowly for fifteen minutes. Dust with salt and pepper, and put over a little butter. Send at once to the table. - Boiled Tomatoes
Throw small, solid tomatoes into a kettle of boiling water; boil rapidly for ten minutes; lift with a skimmer and dish each on a heated saucer. Open the centres with a fork; put in a bit of butter, a little salt and pepper, and serve at once. This makes an admirable breakfast dish. - Panned Tomatoes
Cut tomatoes into halves, dust with salt and pepper; put a bit of butter in the centre of each, and place in a slow oven for twenty minutes. Serve on a heated plate. - Egyptian Tomatoes
Peel and scoop out the centres of five or six solid tomatoes; put on ice until perfectly cold. When ready to serve arrange the tomatoes on lettuce leaves and fill the centres with finely chopped cress that has been seasoned with grated onion, half a teaspoonful of celery seed, a dash of salt and pepper. Pour over a little French dressing, and serve at once.
1. A Vegetarian Supper Dish
Break two ounces of macaroni into short lengths, throw in boiling water and boil rapidly for twenty minutes. Rub the hard-boiled yolks of two eggs to a paste; add gradually four or five tablespoonfuls of cream.
Rub together a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour; add the egg and half a cupful of milk; stir over hot water until you have a thick, golden sauce; add half a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of pepper.
Chop the macaroni fine and add it to the sauce. Cut a slice from the stem ends of good solid tomatoes, scoop out the centres, stand the tomatoes in a baking-pan, fill the centres with the macaroni, dust with breadcrumbs, and bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes, until the tomatoes are perfectly soft but not broken. Serve on slices of toast, either plain or with cream sauce. Cheese may be added to the macaroni, which will give greater food value.
2. Corn Puffs
Score down the centre of each row oi grains of six ears of corn; with a dull knife press out the pulp. This should measure one cupful and a half. Add to this half a cupful of milk, the yolks of two eggs and half a teaspoonful of salt; then stir in one cupful and a half of pastry flour that has been sifted with one rounding teaspoonful of baking powder.
Fold in the well-beaten whites and bake in greased gem-pans in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Serve the same as breakfast muffins.
3. Creole Corn
Peel and cut in quarters four good-sized tomatoes; put these in a saucepan with a dozen okfa washed and cut in thin slices; cover and stew slowly for twenty minutes; add the pulp of a dozen ears of corn, a level teaspoonful of salt, one sweet pepper chopped fine, a dash of white pepper; cook over hot water for fifteen minutes; add either four tablespoonfuls of cream or two tablespoonfuls of butter, and send at once to the table.
This is one of the most delicious of all the summer vegetable dishes. Served with chicken it forms a good Brunswick stew, or it may be served as a vegetable with brpiled or baked chicken. The accompanying starchy vegetable should be rice.
4. Corn Pudding
Score down the centre of the grains of twelve ears of corn, press out the pulp; add half a pint of milk in which you have moistened six tablespoonfuls of flour; add a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, the yolks of three eggs, and then stir in the well-beaten whites. Bake in a shallow pan. Serve as a dinner or supper dish.
5. Fresh Peas Pudding
Boil two quarts of shelled peas for fifteen minutes until tender; press through a colander; add two teaspoonfuls of salt, half a cupful of cream and a dash of pepper. Fill into custard cups and stand in a pan of hot water and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Serve with cream sauce. This may be made in the morning and cooked just at serving-time.
6. Bean Roll
Cook lima beans in boiling water until tender; press through a sieve; add salt and pepper, and a tablespoonful of butter to each pint of pulp. Stir in two eggs well beaten, and sufficient breadcrumbs—about half a cupful—to make the mixture thick enough to roll. Wrap in greased paper, and at serving-time bake for twenty minutes in a quick oven. Serve plain or with tomato sauce.
This takes the place of meat.
7. Peach Shortcake
Sift two rounding teaspoonfuls of baking powder and one of salt with one quart of flour; add sufficient milk to make a soft dough; knead quickly, roll out in a sheet one inch thick, cut to fit the baking-pan, brush with milk, and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes.
Pull the sheet apart, butter the inside, and cover the under part with finely-chopped sugared peaches. Put on the upper crust, dust with powdered sugar, and send to the table with a pitcher of cream.
8. Peach Dumplings
Wash half a pound of rice through several cold waters; drain, throw the rice in a kettle of boiling water and boil rapidly for twenty minutes; drain. Spread a thin layer in the centre of a dumpling-cloth; place in the centre of this one small stoned peach; fold the rice over, tie tightly; throw the dumplings in a kettle of boiling water, boil rapidly for fifteen minutes, and serve hot with a pitcher of cream.
9. Peach Cup
Pare eight large, soft, ripe peaches; cut them in halves. Put aside twelve halves and mash the remaining quantity; add to them the yolks of two eggs, half a cupful of milk, a tablespoonful of butter, melted, half a teaspoonful of salt, and one cupful and a half of flour that has been sifted with a rounding teaspoonful of baking powder; beat for a moment, and fold in the wellbeaten whites.
Put a layer of the batter in the bottom of custard-cups, put on top of each half a peach, cover with two tablespoonfuls of batter, dust with granulated sugar, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Turn from the cups and serve hot with hard sauce or a pitcher of cream.
10. Chicken A La Creme
Boil a four-pound chicken until tender; when cold remove the skin and cut the flesh into blocks. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour in the chafing-dish; mix with one pint of milk; stir until the sauce thickens; add the chicken, a level teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and, if you have it, a teaspoonful of soy; stir until the chicken is thoroughly covered with the sauce.
Heat, and serve from the dish.
11. Fricassee Of Dried Beef
Pull the dried beef apart in tiny pieces, cover it with boiling water for fifteen minutes, and drain perfectly dry. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter in the chafing-dish ; when hot sprinkle in the beef; stir and cook until the meat is thoroughly heated.
Sprinkle over a tablespoonful of flour, and add half a pint of milk. Stir constantly until the mixture boils ; add a dash of pepper, and, if you have it, half a teaspoonful of kitchen bouquet. Stir constantly, and serve at once.
12. Sweetbreads and Canned Mushrooms
Boil the sweetbreads carefully for three quarters of an hour; pick them apart, rejecting the membrane. Drain and chop fine one can of mushrooms; mix them together and let them stand in the refrigerator for an hour or two.
Put two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour in the chafing-dish; add a pint of milk, stir until the sauce thickens; add the sweetbreads and mushrooms, a level teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper. Serve when hot. Chicken may be cooked after the same fashion.
13. Duck A La Bordelaise
Roast a duck and cut it in blocks ; to one pint of these blocks use a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour, and half a pint of stock. Put the butter and flour in the chafing-dish, add the stock, stir until boiling. Add the duck and a teaspoonful of mushroom ketchup, half a can of mushrooms, a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of kitchen bouquet and a teaspoonful of onion juice. When hot add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and serve.
Turkey or chicken may be substituted for the duck.
14. Lobster A La Newburg
Boil a good-sized lobster; when cold remove the meat and cut in cubes of about one inch. Hard-boil three eggs. Put the yolks through a sieve ready for use; put into the chafing-dish one tablespoonful of butter and one of flour ; mix ; add two-thirds of a cupful of good milk or cream; add a little of this sauce, when it has thickened, to the yolks of the eggs; rub to a paste, mix them with the sauce; add half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of white or black pepper and about half a saltspoonful of grated nutmeg or a drop of extract of nutmeg.
This sauce should be thick and have the general appearance of mayonnaise dressing. Add the lobster. When hot it is ready to serve.
15. Scallops A La Poulette
Wash a pint of scallops, cover with boiling water for five minutes, and drain. Put them away until perfectly cold; beat the yolks of three eggs and add to them half a pint of milk and stand aside.
At serving-time put two tablespoonfuls of butter and one of flour in the chafing-dish ; mix; add the milk and yolks of eggs and the scallops stir until the sauce is smoking hot. Put out the light immediately, or the sauce will curdle. Add half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and serve at once on a heated dish. Chicken, sweetbreads and lobster may be cooked after this method.
16. Mutton, Venison Style
Cut roasted or boiled mutton in thin slices.
Put into the chafing-dish four tablespoonfuls of tomato ketchup, one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, four tablespoonfuls of currant jelly and a tablespoonful of butter; stir all these ingredients until hot. Put in sufficient mutton to saturate the sauce thoroughly; add half a teaspoonful of salt and a sprinkling of pepper. It is now ready to serve.
17. Beef Pats
Put one pound of lean meat twice through a meat-chopper; add to it a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, a teaspoonful of onion juice and a tablespoonful of parsley; mix thoroughly, form into pats the size of a silver dollar ; arrange them neatly on a plate, and garnish with parsley. At serving-time put a rounding tablespoonful of butter in the chafing-dish; put in the pats, cook them on one side, turn and cook them on the other.
Lift to one side; add a tablespoonful of chopped onion, a tablespoonful of flour; mix and add half a pint of strained tomatoes; add half a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of pepper. Cover for three minutes, and serve.
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