1 tablespoonful of sugar.
2 eggs.
2 cupfuls of flour.
1 teaspoonful of baking-powder.
Milk enough to make a smooth, rather thin batter.
Rub the b.u.t.ter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, beaten together lightly, then the flour, in which you have mixed the baking-powder, and then the milk. It is easy to know when you have the batter just right, for you can put a tiny bit on the griddle and make a little cake; if it rises high and is thick, put more milk in the batter; if it is too thin, it will run about on the griddle, and you must add more flour; but it is better not to thin it too much, but to add more milk if the batter is too thick.
Sweet Corn Griddle-cakes
These ought to be made of fresh sweet corn, but you can make them in winter out of canned grated corn, or canned corn rubbed through a colander.
1 quart grated corn.
1 cup of flour.
1 cup of milk.
1 tablespoonful melted b.u.t.ter.
4 eggs.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
Beat the eggs separately, and put the yolks into the corn; then add the milk, then the flour, then the salt, and beat well.
Last of all, fold in the whites and bake on a hot griddle.
Waffles
2 cups of flour.
1 teaspoonful baking powder.
1 1/2 cups of milk.
1 tablespoonful b.u.t.ter.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
3 eggs, beaten separately.
Mix the flour, baking-powder, and salt; put the beaten egg yolks in the milk, and add the melted b.u.t.ter, the flour and last the beaten whites of the eggs. Make the waffle-iron very hot, and grease it very thoroughly on both sides by tying a little rag to a clean stick and dipping in melted b.u.t.ter. Put in some batter on one side, filling the iron about half-full, and close the iron, putting this side down over the fire; when it has cooked for about two minutes, turn the iron over without opening it, and cook the other side. When you think it is done, open it a little and look to see if it is brown; if not, keep it over the coals till it is. Take out the waffle, cut in four pieces, and pile on a plate in the oven, while you again grease the iron and cook another. Serve very hot and crisp, with maple syrup or powdered sugar and thick cream.
Some people like honey on their waffles. You might try all these things in turn.
Last of all the things Margaret learned to make for breakfast came coffee, and this she could make in two ways; sometimes she made it this first way, and sometimes the other, which is called French coffee.
Coffee
First be sure your coffee-pot is shining clean; look in the spout and in all the cracks, and wipe them out carefully, for you cannot make good coffee except in a perfectly clean pot. Then get three heaping tablespoonfuls of ground coffee, and one tablespoonful of cold water, and one tablespoonful of white of egg. Mix the egg with the coffee and water thoroughly, and put in the pot. Pour in one quart of boiling water, and let it boil up once. Then stir down the grounds which come to the top, put in two tablespoonfuls of cold water, and let it stand for a minute on the back of the stove, and then strain it into the silver pot for the table. This pot must be made very hot, by filling it with boiling water and letting it stand on the kitchen table while the coffee is boiling. If this rule makes coffee stronger than the family like it, take less coffee, and if it is not strong enough, take more coffee.
French Coffee
Get one of the pots which are made so the coffee will drip through; put three tablespoonfuls of very finely powdered coffee in this, and pour in a quart of boiling water. When it is all dripped through, it is ready to put in the hot silver pot.
PART II.
THE THINGS MARGARET MADE FOR LUNCHEON OR SUPPER
So many things in this part of Margaret"s book call for white sauce, or cream sauce, that the rule for that came first of all.
White or Cream Sauce
1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
1 cup hot milk or cream, one-third teaspoonful of salt.
Melt the b.u.t.ter, and when it bubbles put in the flour, shaking the saucepan as you do so, and rub till smooth. Put in the hot milk, a little at a time, and stir and cook without boiling till all is smooth and free from lumps. Add the salt, and, if you choose, a little pepper.
Cream sauce is made exactly as is white sauce, but cream is used in place of milk. What is called thick white sauce is made by taking two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and two of flour, and only one cup of milk.
Creamed Oysters
1 pint oysters.
1 large cup of cream sauce.
Make the sauce of cream if you have it, and if not use a very heaping tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter in the white sauce. Keep this hot.
Drain off the oyster-juice and wash the oysters by holding them under the cold-water faucet. Strain the juice and put the oysters back in it, and put them on the fire and let them just simmer till the edges of the oysters curl; then drain them from the juice again and drop them in the sauce, and add a little more salt (celery-salt is nice if you have it), and just a tiny bit of cayenne pepper.
You can serve the oysters on squares of b.u.t.tered toast, or put them in a large dish, with sifted bread-crumbs over the top and tiny bits of b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven. Or you can put them in small dishes as they are, and put a sprig of parsley in each dish.
Panned Oysters
Take the oysters from their juice, strain it, wash the oysters, and put them back in. Put them in a saucepan with a little salt,--about half a teaspoonful to a pint of oysters,--and a little pepper, and a piece of b.u.t.ter as large as the end of your thumb. Let them simmer till the edges curl, just as before, and put them on squares of hot b.u.t.tered toast.
Scalloped Oysters
1 pint of oysters.
12 large crackers, or 1 cup of bread-crumbs.
1/2 cup of milk.
The strained oyster-juice.
b.u.t.ter a deep baking-dish. Roll the crackers, or make the bread-crumbs of even size; some people like one better than the other, and you can try both ways. Put a layer of crumbs in the dish, then a layer of oysters, washed, then a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a few bits of b.u.t.ter. Then another layer of crumbs, oysters, and seasoning, till the dish is full, with crumbs on the top. Mix the milk and oyster-juice and pour slowly over.
Then cover the top with bits of b.u.t.ter, and bake in the oven till brown--about half an hour.