Wash a half cup of rice; throw it into boiling water, boil for twenty minutes, drain, add a half cup of milk, a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, a level teaspoonful of salt and a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper; stir until you have a rather smooth thick paste. Brush custard cups, line them to the depth of a half inch with this rice mixture; make a plain milk sauce, as in preceding recipe, and add a pint of seasoned chicken. Fill the s.p.a.ce in the rice cups with this cream mixture, put over a covering of rice, stand the cups in a pan of boiling water, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Turn these carefully on a heated dish, pour around cream sauce and serve. They may be garnished with green peas, mushrooms or truffles. While this is an exceedingly economical dish it is at the same time an elegant one.
Indian Hash
Chop fine sufficient cold-roasted duck, chicken, or turkey to make one pint. Cut a good-sized onion into very thin slices. Pare, core, and chop fine one apple. Put two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter in a saucepan, add the apple and the onion; toss until brown, then add not more than an eighth of a teaspoonful of powdered mace, a half teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of curry powder, a tablespoonful of flour, a teaspoonful of sugar; mix and add a half pint of stock or water; now add the meat, stir constantly until smoking hot, then stand over hot water, covering closely for twenty minutes. Add two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice and serve in a border of rice.
Mock Terrapin or a la Newburg
Pieces of cold-roasted chicken, turkey or duck may be used for making terrapin or a la Newburg. Cut the meat into pieces of fairly good size; measure, and to each pint of this allow a half pint of sauce; rub together two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and one of flour. Rub to a smooth paste the hard boiled yolks of three eggs; add to the b.u.t.ter and flour a gill and a half (three-quarters of a cup) of milk; stir until smoking hot. Do not let the mixture boil; then add this a little at a time to the yolks of the eggs, rubbing until you have a perfectly smooth golden sauce; press this through a sieve. Before beginning the sauce, sprinkle the chicken with four tablespoonfuls of sherry or Madeira, the latter preferable. Add the chicken to the sauce, stir until each piece is thoroughly covered; add a half teaspoonful of salt, just a drop of extract of nutmeg or a grating of nutmeg, an eighth of a spoon of white pepper (black pepper, of course, may be used); cover and stand over hot water, stirring occasionally until the mixture is smoking hot.
Chicken Supreme
This may be made from either chicken or turkey cut into dice; add an equal quant.i.ty of canned mushrooms; for instance, to one pint of cold chicken, add one can of mushrooms. Put two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and two of flour in a saucepan; mix without browning, then add two cups (one pint) of chicken stock; stir constantly until boiling, add two tablespoonfuls of thick cream, and the yolks of four eggs; strain, add the chicken and mushrooms, a level teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of white pepper, ten drops of celery extract or just a little celery seed.
Stand this mixture over hot water, watching carefully until it is thoroughly heated; remember that any boiling will curdle the egg. Serve this on a heated dish either in a border of rice or garnished with squares of toasted bread. This mixture is also served in bread pates, or it may be served in chicken m.u.f.fin cases.
Chicken Cutlets
Chop cold cooked chicken or turkey very fine; to each pint allow a half can of mushrooms chopped fine. Put one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and two of flour into a saucepan, mix, and add a half pint of chicken stock. When smooth and thick take from the fire, add the yolks of two eggs, the chicken and mushrooms, a teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper, a teaspoonful of onion juice, a grating of nutmeg and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley; stir over the fire for a moment; turn out to cool; when cold form into cutlet-shaped croquettes, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and fry in smoking hot fat. These may be served plain, with a garnish of peas, or they may be served with sauce Bechamel.
Duck Bordelaise
Portions of cold duck may be cut into convenient pieces, sprinkled with wine, about four tablespoonfuls to the pint, and allowed to stand while you make sauce Bordelaise. Put one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and one of flour into a saucepan; mix, add a teaspoonful of browning or kitchen bouquet and a half pint of stock; stir until boiling, add a tablespoonful of grated onion, a half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and, if you have it, a tablespoonful of finely-chopped ham; cook for five minutes and strain; add three or four fresh mushrooms or a half dozen canned mushrooms and the duck. Stand over boiling water until the mixture is thoroughly heated. Send to the table garnished with triangles of toasted bread. A few stoned olives or sliced olives may be added in the place of the mushrooms, and you would then have salmi of duck.
GAME
Bits of cold broiled or roasted game may be chopped very fine, rubbed to a smooth paste either in a bowl or mortar. To each half pint of this mixture allow two tablespoonfuls of brown sauce thoroughly rubbed with the game, and the unbeaten white of one egg; press the whole mixture through an ordinary flour sieve; then stir in the well-beaten whites of two eggs, four mushrooms chopped almost to a powder, and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Fill this into little greased molds or cups; the cups may be garnished with chopped truffle or mushrooms, or served plain. Fill in the mixture, stand the cups in a baking pan half filled with boiling water; cook in a moderate oven twenty minutes. The little bomb-shaped molds are the better sort to use for these. Serve with brown sauce either plain or flavored with mushrooms.
BREAD
The better way is to cut just sufficient bread for each meal so that there will be really no left-overs. If, however, a few slices are accidentally left, put them aside in a can or jar, never in the regular bread box with the bread; one or two slices will invariably be missed until sufficiently old to mold and contaminate the remaining quant.i.ty of bread in the box, and then, too, they are more apt to acc.u.mulate in this way than in a separate box. The neater pieces may be used for toast for breakfast or lunch or supper. The next best pieces use for bread and b.u.t.ter custard; the crusts dry, roll and put aside to be ready for breading articles to be fried, or for escalloped dishes. In this way every piece, no matter what its condition, will be utilized.
Bread and b.u.t.ter Custard
Beat two eggs, without separating, until light, add four tablespoonfuls of sugar and a pint of milk, mix and add a grating of nutmeg; turn into an ordinary baking dish, cover the top with b.u.t.tered bread, b.u.t.ter side up; bake in a moderate oven just as you would a cup custard, until you can put a spoon handle down in the center of the custard and it will come out free from milk.
Little Puddings a la Grand Belle
Roll slices of stale bread into fine crumbs. Brush small custard cups, or a border mold with melted b.u.t.ter, sprinkle over a few currants or raisins, or any fruit that you may have left over. Fill the cups with crumbs. Beat three eggs, without separating, until light; add three tablespoonfuls of sugar, a teaspoonful of vanilla and a pint of milk. Pour this carefully over the bread crumbs, let them stand for about five minutes until the mixture has been soaked up and the bread crumbs soft; then stand in a pan of boiling water, cover with oiled paper and cook in the oven a half hour.
Turn out and serve hot with egg sauce.
Bread Croquettes
Rub sufficient stale bread to make one quart of crumbs; add four tablespoonfuls of sugar, a half cup of cleaned currants, or any fruit that you have left over, and a grating of nutmeg; sprinkle over a teaspoonful of vanilla, and add sufficient beaten eggs (about three) to moisten the crumbs. Form into small cylinder-shaped croquettes, dip in egg and roll in bread crumbs and fry in smoking hot fat. Serve hot with sugar sauce.
Bread m.u.f.fins
Cover a quart of bits of bread that have been broken apart, with one pint of milk; soak for fifteen minutes, then with a spoon beat until you have a smooth paste; add the yolks of three eggs, a tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter and one cup of flour that has been sifted with a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder. Fold in carefully the well-beaten whites of the eggs, and bake in m.u.f.fin pans in a quick oven about twenty minutes.
m.u.f.fins left from breakfast may be pulled apart and toasted for lunch or supper. Pieces of stale sponge cake, in fact, any stale cake may be used for cabinet puddings, for cream puddings, or for croquettes.
EGGS
The soft boiled eggs that are left from breakfast will be at once hard boiled, put into the refrigerator, and when four have acc.u.mulated, use them for Beauregard eggs, a la Newburg dishes or garnishes. Poached eggs that are left over may be dropped at once into boiling water, cooked slowly until perfectly hard, and put aside for chopping, to use as a garnish for a curry or some vegetable dish with which they will nicely blend.
The tablespoonful or two of stewed tomatoes left in the dish from dinner will be put aside to use for tomato omelet, or they may be added to the roasted beef gravy for dinner, converting a plain homely gravy into one of better flavor. The half cup of peas may be added to to-morrow"s consomme, or used as a garnish for the breakfast omelet. The green portions of celery will be put aside for stewing; the tender white part for serving raw; while the leaves and roots will be used for flavoring soups and sauces.
The yolk of egg left over, if put into a cup or saucer will, in less than two hours, become hard, dry and useless. This same yolk dropped into a cup half filled with cold water will keep for several days, and may be used for mayonnaise or added to a sauce. When needed, it may be carefully lifted with a spoon and used the same as a fresh yolk.
Whites of Eggs
The yolks of eggs are quite easily disposed of, as sauces frequently call for the yolk of one or two eggs; then they may be used for mayonnaise dressing, or added to various dishes. The whites of eggs, however, acc.u.mulate. One of the ways of getting hard-boiled yolks, without wasting the whites, is to separate the white and the yolk before the egg is cooked; drop the yolk down into a kettle of boiling water; then stand on the back part of the stove for fifteen or twenty minutes until it is hard.
The yolk will cook in this way just as well as with the white in the sh.e.l.l. Now, you have the uncooked whites, which may be used for a simple white cake, apple float, souffles, plain or with fruit.
Beauregard Eggs
Separate the whites and yolks of five hard-boiled eggs, press through an ordinary fruit press, or chop very fine. Make a half pint of cream sauce; when boiling, add the whites of the eggs. Have ready on a heated platter five squares of toasted bread; heap the white sauce over these squares, dust the top with the yolks of the eggs, then with a little salt and pepper, and send at once to the table.
Egg Croquettes
Put five hard-boiled eggs through a vegetable press, or chopper. Put one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and two of flour into a saucepan, add a half pint of milk, stir until boiling, add a half cup of stale, unbrowned bread crumbs, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a dash of pepper and a half teaspoonful of onion juice; add the eggs, mix and turn out to cool. When cold form into cutlets, dip in egg and then in bread crumbs and fry in smoking hot fat. Serve with plain cream sauce.
These with peas make an exceedingly nice luncheon dish.
Gold Cake
One frequently has four or five yolks left after having used the whites for some light dish, as mock charlotte. Beat a half cupful of b.u.t.ter to a cream, add gradually one cupful of sugar. When very, very light, add the yolks of the eggs and beat for ten or fifteen minutes; then add one cupful of water, and two and a half cupfuls of flour, sifted with three level teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Beat thoroughly, and bake in a small round or square pan.