Split and cut in two, lengthwise, lambs" or sheep"s kidneys. Wash and wipe them. Season with salt and pepper, and dip in melted b.u.t.ter and fine bread crumbs. Run a small skewer through each, to keep it open.
Put them in the double broiler and cook about six minutes over a bright fire. Serve on a hot dish with _maitre d"hotel_ b.u.t.ter.
Ham and Eggs on Toast.
Chop fine the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs from cold boiled or roasted ham. Toast and b.u.t.ter slices of stale bread. Spread the ham on these, and place in the oven for about three minutes. Beat six eggs with half a cupful of milk, a little pepper and one teaspoonful of salt. Put this mixture in a sauce-pan with two table-spoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, and stir over the fire until it begins to thicken. Take off, and beat for a moment; then spread on the ham and toast. Serve immediately.
Ham Croquettes.
One cupful of finely-chopped cooked ham, one of bread crumbs, two of hot mashed potatoes, one large table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter, three eggs, a speck of cayenne. Beat the ham, cayenne, b.u.t.ter, and two of the eggs into the potato. Let the mixture cool slightly, and shape it like croquettes. Roll in the bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg and again in crumbs, put in the frying-basket and plunge into boiling fat. Cook two minutes. Drain, and serve.
Canapees.
After cutting the crust from a loaf of stale bread, cut the loaf in very thin slices, and toast to a delicate brown. b.u.t.ter lightly, and spread with any kind of potted meat or fish. Put two slices together, and, with a sharp knife, cut them in long strips. Arrange these tastefully on a dish and serve at tea or evening parties. Sardines may be pounded to a paste and mixed with the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, also pounded to a paste, and used instead of potted meats. In this case, the slices of bread may be fried in salad oil.
Welsh Rare-Bit.
Half a pound of cheese, two eggs, a speck of cayenne, a table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter, one teaspoonful of mustard, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a cupful of cream. Break the cheese in small pieces and put it and the other ingredients in a bright sauce-pan, which put over boiling water. Stir until the cheese melts; then spread the mixture on slices of crisp toast. Serve immediately. A cupful of ale or beer can be used instead of the cream.
Welsh, Rare-Bit, No. 2.
Grate one pint of cheese. Sprinkle on it half a teaspoonful of mustard, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of salt and a speck of cayenne.
Heap this on slices of b.u.t.tered toast. Put in the hot oven for a few moments, and when the cheese begins to melt, serve at once.
Corn Pie.
Four ears of cold boiled corn, two eggs, one table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter, one of flour, half a cupful of milk, half a teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper. Cut the corn from the cobs. Mix the milk, gradually, with the flour. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately, and add them and the other ingredients to the flour and milk. The b.u.t.ter should be melted. Bake twenty minutes in two squash pie plates. This is a dish for breakfast.
Hominy.
Wash a cupful of hominy in two waters; then stir it into one quart of boiling water, with a teaspoonful of salt, and boil from thirty to sixty minutes. The latter time is the better. Be careful that the hominy does not burn. It can be used more than oatmeal, as it is good with any kind of meat. It is appropriate for any meal, and is nice eaten warm or cold with milk.
Oatmeal.
Oatmeal, Indian meal and hominy an require two things for perfection-- plenty of water when put on to boil, and a long time for boiling. Have about two quarts of boiling water in a large stew-pan, and into it stir a cupful of oatmeal, which has been wet with cold water. Boil one hour, stirring often, and then add half a spoonful of salt, and boil an hour longer. If it should get too stiff, add more boiling water; or, if too thin, boil a little longer. You cannot boil too much. The only trouble in cooking oatmeal is that it takes a long time, but surely this should not stand in the way when it is so much better for having the extra time. If there is not an abundance of water at first the oatmeal will not be very good, no matter how much maybe added during the cooking. Cracked wheat is cooked in the same way.
Strawberry Short-Cake.
One pint of flour, measured before sifting; one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of soda, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of salt, two table-spoonfuls of sugar, four of b.u.t.ter, one tea-cupful of milk. Mix the other dry ingredients with the flour, and rub through a sieve. Rub the b.u.t.ter into the mixture, and add the milk. b.u.t.ter two tin squash-pie plates. Spread the mixture in them, and bake in a quick oven from eighteen to twenty minutes. Mash one quart of strawberries with three-fourths of a cupful of sugar. When the cakes are taken from the oven, split and b.u.t.ter them, and put half of the strawberries and sugar in each cake. Serve immediately.
Sweet Strawberry Short-Cake.
Three eggs, one cupful of sugar, two of flour, one table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter, one scant teaspoonful of cream of tartar, a small half teaspoonful of soda. Beat the b.u.t.ter and sugar together. Add the eggs, well beaten. Mix the soda and cream of tartar with the flour, and rub through a sieve. Stir into the beaten egg and sugar. Bake in deep tin plates. Four can be filled with the quant.i.ties given. Have three pints of strawberries mixed with a cupful of sugar. Spread a layer of strawberries on one of the cakes, lay a second cake over this, and cover with berries. Or, a meringue, made with the white of an egg and a table-spoonful of powdered sugar, may be spread over the top layer of strawberries,
m.u.f.fINS AND CAKES.
English m.u.f.fins.
One quart of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, one-third of a cake of compressed yeast, or one-third of a cupful of liquid yeast; one cupful and a half of water. Have the water blood warm. Dissolve the yeast in one-third of a cupful of cold water. Add it and the salt to the warm water, and gradually stir into the flour. Beat the dough thoroughly; cover, and let it rise in a warm place until it is spongy (about five hours). Sprinkle the bread board with flour. Shape the dough into b.a.l.l.s about twice the size of an egg, and drop them on the floured board. When all the dough has been shaped, roll the b.a.l.l.s into cakes about one-third of an inch thick. Lay these on a warm griddle, which has been lightly greased, and put the griddle on the back of the stove, where there is not much heat. When the cakes have risen a little, draw the griddle forward and cook them slowly, turning often, to keep the flat shape. It will take about twenty minutes for them to rise on the griddle, and fifteen to cook. Tear them apart, b.u.t.ter them, and serve.
m.u.f.fins, No. 1.
One quart of flour, two cupfuls of milk, half a cupful of sugar, two eggs, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, one of soda, half a teaspoonful of salt, b.u.t.ter the size of an egg. Mix the other dry ingredients with the flour, and rub through a sieve. Melt the b.u.t.ter with four table-spoonfuls of boiling water. Beat the eggs light, and add the milk. Stir into the flour, and add the b.u.t.ter. Beat thoroughly. Bake in b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin pans from twenty-five to thirty minutes, in a quick oven.
m.u.f.fins, No. 2.
One cupful of milk, one of flour, one teaspoonful of sugar, a scant half teaspoonful of salt, two eggs. Beat the eggs light, and add the milk, salt and sugar. Pour gradually on the flour. Beat till light and smooth. Pour into b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin pans and bake in a _hot_ oven for twenty minutes.
Raised m.u.f.fins.
One pint of warm milk, half a cake of compressed yeast, or half a cupful of liquid yeast; one quart of flour, one table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter. Beat two eggs well, and add them and the salt, b.u.t.ter and yeast to the milk. Stir gradually into the flour. Beat until the batter is light and smooth. Let it rise four hours in a warm place.
Fill b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin pans two-thirds to the top with the batter, and let them stand until the batter has risen to the brim. Bake half an hour.
Graham m.u.f.fins.
Into a bowl put one and a half pints of Graham, half a cupful of sugar, and a teaspoonful of salt. Into a sieve put half a pint of flour, a teaspoonful of saleratus and two of cream of tartar. Mix thoroughly with the flour, and sift on to the material in the bowl.
Mix all thoroughly while dry, and add two well-beaten eggs and a pint of milk. Fill m.u.f.fin cups about two-thirds to the top, and bake in a quick oven.
Raised Graham m.u.f.fins.
These are made the same as Graham bread. Fill tin m.u.f.fin pans two- thirds to the brim and let the mixture rise to the top. This will take an hour. Bake in a rather quick oven for twenty minutes.
Corn m.u.f.fins.
One pint of flour, one of Indian meal, one-third of a cupful of sugar, one teaspoonful of soda, two of cream of tartar, two eggs, a pint of milk, one table-spoonful of melted b.u.t.ter. Mix the dry ingredients together, and sift them. Beat the eggs light, add the milk to them, and stir into the dry ingredients. Bake twenty minutes in b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin pans. Two dozen m.u.f.fins can be made with the quant.i.ties given.
Fried Indian m.u.f.fins.
One pint of Indian meal, one pint of _boiling_ water, two eggs, one teaspoonful of salt, one table-spoonful of sugar, one heaping table-spoonful of flour. Pour the boiling water gradually on the meal, salt and sugar. Beat thoroughly, and set away in a cool place. In the morning add the eggs, well beaten, and the flour. Dip a table-spoon in cold milk, fill it with batter, and drop this into boiling fat Cook ten minutes.