Many people like one small cold boiled beet cut up fine in corned beef hash, and sometimes for a change you can put this in before you put it in the frying-pan.
Broiled Bacon
Margaret"s mother believed there was only one very nice way to cook bacon. It was like this: Slice the bacon very, very thin, and cut off the rind. Put the slices close together in a wire broiler, and lay this over a shallow pan in a very hot oven for about three minutes. If it is brown on top, then you can turn the broiler over, but if not, wait a moment longer. When both sides are toasted, lay it on a hot platter and put sprigs of parsley around. This is much nicer than bacon cooked in the frying-pan or over coals, for it is neither greasy nor smoky, but pink and light brown, and crisp and delicious, and good for sick people and little children and everybody.
Broiled Chops
Wipe off the chops with a clean wet cloth and trim off the edges; if very fat cut rather close to the meat. Rub the wire broiler with some of the fat, so that the chops will not stick. Lay in the chops and put over a clear, red fire without flame, and toast one side first and then the other; do this till they are brown.
Lay on a hot platter, and dust both sides with salt and a tiny bit of pepper. Put bits of lemon and parsley around, and send to the table hot.
Panned Chops
If the fire is not clear so that you cannot broil the chops, you must pan them. Take a frying-pan and make it very hot indeed; then lay in the chops, which you have wiped and trimmed, and cook one side very quickly, and then the other, and after that let them cook more slowly. When they are done,--you can tell by picking open a little place in one with a fork and looking on the inside,--put them on a platter as before, with pepper and salt. If they are at all greasy, put on brown paper in the oven first, to drain, leaving the door of the oven open. Be careful not to let them get cold.
Liver and Bacon
Buy half a pound of calf"s liver and half a pound of bacon. Cut the liver in thin slices and pour boiling water over it, and then wipe each slice dry. Slice the bacon very thin and cut off the rind; put this in a hot frying-pan and cook very quickly, turning it once or twice. Just as soon as it is brown take it out and lay it on brown paper in the oven in a pan. Take a saucer of flour and mix in it a teaspoonful of salt and a very little pepper; dip the slices of liver in this, one at a time, and shake them free of lumps.
Lay them in the hot fat of the bacon in the pan and fry till brown.
Have a hot platter ready, and lay the slices of liver in a nice row on it, and then put one slice of bacon on each slice of liver.
Put parsley all around, and sometimes use slices of lemon, too, for a change.
Liver and Bacon on Skewers
Get from the butcher half a dozen small wooden skewers, and prepare the liver and bacon as you did for frying, scalding, dipping the liver in flour, and taking the rind off the bacon.
Make three slices of toast, cut into strips, and put in the oven to keep hot. Cut up both liver and bacon into pieces the size of a fifty-cent piece and put them on the skewers, first one of the liver and then one of the bacon, and so on, about six of each.
Put these in the hot frying-pan and turn them over till they are brown. Then lay one skewer on each strip of toast, and put lemon and parsley around. You can also put large oysters on the skewers with pieces of bacon, and cook in the same way.
Broiled Steak
See that the fire is clear and red, without flames. Trim off most of the fat from the steak, and rub the wires of the broiler with it and heat it over the coals. Then put in the meat and turn over and over as it cooks, and be careful not to let it take fire. When brown, put it on a hot platter, dust over with salt and a very little pepper, and dot it with tiny lumps of b.u.t.ter.
Put parsley around. Steak ought to be pink inside; not brown and not red. Put a fork in as you did with the chops, and twist in a little, and you can see when it gets the right color.
Steak with Bananas
Peel one banana and slice in round pieces, and while the steak is cooking fry them in a little hot b.u.t.ter till they are brown.
After the meat is on the platter, lay these pieces over it, arranging them prettily, and put the parsley around as before.
Bananas are very nice with steak.
Frizzled Dried Beef
Take half a pound of dried beef, shaved very thin. Chop it fine and pull out the strings. Put a large tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter in the frying-pan, and when it bubbles put in the meat. Stir till it begins to get brown, and then sprinkle in one tablespoonful of flour and stir again, and then put in one cup of hot milk. Shake in a little pepper, but no salt. As soon as it boils up once, it is done, and you can put it in a hot covered dish. If you like a change, stir in sometimes two beaten eggs in the milk instead of using it plain.
Veal Cutlet
Wipe off the meat with a clean wet cloth, and then with one that is dry. Dust it over with salt, pepper, and flour. Put a tablespoonful of nice dripping in a hot frying-pan, and let it heat till it smokes a little. Lay in the meat and cook till brown, turning it over twice as it cooks. Look in the inside and see if it is brown, for cutlet must not be eaten red or pink inside. Put in a hot oven and cover it up while you make the gravy, by putting one tablespoonful of flour into the hot fat in the pan, stirring it till it is brown. Then put in a cup of boiling water, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a very little pepper; put this through the wire sieve, pressing it with a spoon, and turn over the meat. Put parsley around the cutlet, and send hot to the table.
Margaret"s father said he could not possibly manage without potatoes for breakfast, so sometimes Margaret let Bridget cook the cereal and meat, while she made something nice out of the cold potatoes she found in the cupboard.
Creamed Potatoes
Cut cold boiled potatoes into pieces as large as the end of your finger; put them into a pan on the back of the stove with enough milk to cover them, and let them stand till they have drunk up all the milk; perhaps they will slowly cook a little as they do this, but that will do no harm. In another saucepan or in the frying-pan put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and when it bubbles put in a tablespoonful of flour, and stir till they melt together; then put in two cups of hot milk, and stir till it is all smooth. Put in one teaspoonful of salt, and last the potatoes, but stir them only once while they cook, for fear of breaking them. Add one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and put them in a hot covered dish.
You can make another sort of potatoes when you have finished creaming them in this way, by putting a layer of them in a deep b.u.t.tered baking-dish, with a layer of white sauce over the top, and break-crumbs and bits of b.u.t.ter for a crust. Brown well in a hot oven. When you do this, remember to make the sauce with three cups of milk and two tablespoonfuls of flour and two of b.u.t.ter, and then you will have enough for everything.
Hashed Browned Potatoes
Chop four cold potatoes fine, and add one teaspoonful of salt and a very little pepper. Put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter in the frying-pan, and turn it so it runs all over; when it bubbles put in the potatoes, and smooth them evenly over the pan. Cook till they are brown and crusty on the bottom; then put in a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and fold over like an omelette.
Saratoga Potatoes
Wash and pare four potatoes, and rub them on the potato-slicer till they are in thin pieces; put them in ice-water for fifteen minutes. Heat two cups of lard very hot, till when you drop in a bit of bread it browns at once. Wipe the potatoes dry and drop in a handful. Have a skimmer ready, and as soon as they brown take them out and lay on brown paper in the oven, and put in another handful.
Potato Cakes
Take two cups of mashed potato, and mix well with the beaten yolk of one egg, and make into small flat cakes; dip each into flour.
Heat two tablespoonfuls of nice dripping, and when it is hot lay in the cakes and brown, turning each with the cake-turner as it gets crusty on the bottom.
Fried Sweet Potatoes
Take six cold boiled sweet-potatoes, slice them and lay in hot dripping in the frying-pan till brown. These are especially nice with veal cutlets.
Toast
Toast is very difficult for grown people to make, because they have made it wrong all their lives, but it is easy for little girls to learn to make, because they can make it right from the first.
Cut bread that is at least two days old into slices a quarter of an inch thick. If you are going to make only a slice or two, take the toasting-fork, but if you want a plateful, take the wire broiler. Be sure the fire is red, without any flames. Move the slices of bread back and forth across the coals, but do not let them brown; do both sides this way, and then brown first one and then the other afterward. Trim off the edges, b.u.t.ter a little quickly, and send to the table hot. Baker"s bread makes the best toast.
Milk Toast
Put one pint of milk on in a double boiler and let it heat.
Melt one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and when it bubbles stir in one small tablespoonful of corn-starch, and when these are rubbed smooth, put in one-third of the milk. Cook and stir till even, without lumps, and then put in the rest of the milk and stir well; add half a teaspoonful of salt, and put on the back of the stove. Make six slices of toast; put one slice in the dish and put a spoonful of the white sauce over it, then put in another and another spoonful, and so on till all are in, and pour the sauce that is left over all. If you want this extra nice, do not take quite so much b.u.t.ter, and use a pint of cream instead of the milk.