Scrambled Eggs.
Four eggs, one table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter, half a teaspoonful of salt.
Beat the eggs, and add the salt to them. Melt the b.u.t.ter in a sauce- pan. Turn in the beaten eggs, stir quickly over a hot fire for one minute, and serve.
Poached Eggs.
Two eggs, two table-spoonfuls of milk, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter. Beat the eggs, and add the salt and milk. Put the b.u.t.ter in a small sauce-pan, and when it melts, add the eggs. Stir over the fire until the mixture thickens, being careful not to let it cook hard. About two minutes will cook it. The eggs, when done, should be soft and creamy. Serve immediately.
Soft-boiled Eggs.
Place the eggs in a warm saucepan, and cover with _boiling_ water. Let them stand where they will keep hot, but _not_ boil, for ten minutes. This method will cook both whites and yolks.
Soft-boiled Eggs, No. 2.
Put the eggs in boiling water, and boil three minutes and a half. By this method the white of the egg is hardened so quickly that the heat does not penetrate to the yolk until the last minute, and consequently the white is hard and the yolk hardly cooked enough. The first method is, therefore, the more healthful.
Hard-boiled Eggs.
Put the eggs in hot water to cover, and boil twenty minutes. Ten minutes will boil them hard, but they are not so digestible as when boiled twenty. Ten minutes makes the yolks hard and soggy; twenty makes them light and mealy.
Spanish Eggs.
Cook one cupful of rice thirty minutes in two quarts of boiling water, to which has been added one table-spoonful of salt. Drain through a colander, and add one table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter. Spread very lightly on a hot platter. On the rice place six dropped eggs, and serve.
Eggs Sur Le Plat.
Little stone china dishes come expressly for this mode of serving eggs. Heat and b.u.t.ter the dish, and break into it two eggs, being careful not to break the yolks. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and drop on them half a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter, broken in small pieces.
Place in a moderately-hot oven until the white is set, which will be in about five minutes. There should be a dish for each person. The flavor can be changed by sprinkling a little finely-chopped ham or parsley on the plate before putting in the eggs.
Creamed Eggs.
Boil six eggs twenty minutes. Make one pint of cream sauce. Have six slices of toast on a hot dish. Put a layer of sauce on each one, and then part of the whites of the eggs, cut in thin strips; and rub part of the yolks through a sieve on to the toast. Repeat this, and finish with a third layer of sauce. Place in the oven for about three minutes. Garnish with parsley, and serve.
Stuffed Eggs.
Cut six hard-boiled eggs in two. Take out the yolks and mash them fine. Add two teaspoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, one of cream, two or three drops of onion juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix all thoroughly. Fill the eggs from the mixture, and put them together. There will be a little filling left, to which add a well-beaten egg. Cover the other eggs with this last preparation, and roll in cracker crumbs. Fry in _boiling_ lard till a light brown.
Scotch Eggs.
One cupful of cooked lean ham, chopped very fine; one-third of a cupful of stale bread crumbs, one-third of a cupful of milk, half a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, cayenne enough to cover a silver five- cent piece, one raw egg, and six hard-boiled. Cook the bread and milk together until a smooth paste. Add to the ham, and add the seasoning and raw egg. Mix thoroughly. Break the sh.e.l.ls from the hard-boiled eggs, and cover with this mixture. Put in a frying basket, and plunge into boiling fat for two minutes. These are nice for lunch, tea, or picnics.
Eggs, Brouille.
Six eggs, half a cupful of milk, or, better still, of cream; two mushrooms, one teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, three table- spoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, a slight grating of nutmeg. Cut the mushrooms into dice, and fry them for one minute in one table-spoonful of the b.u.t.ter. Beat the eggs, salt, pepper, and cream together, and put them in a saucepan. Add the b.u.t.ter and mushrooms to these ingredients. Stir over a moderate heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Take from the fire and beat rapidly until the eggs become quite thick and creamy. Have slices of toast on a hot dish. Heap the mixture on these, and garnish with points of toast. Serve immediately.
ECONOMICAL DISHES.
Calf"s Liver, Braised.
Wash and wipe a calf"s liver. Lard one side of it. Cover the bottom of the braising pan with slices of salt pork, using about a quarter of a pound. Cut an onion and half a carrot in small pieces, and spread over the pork. Lay the liver on this, and dredge thickly with salt, pepper and flour. Cover the pan, and place where it will cook slowly for half an hour. Add a bouquet of sweet herbs and three pints of stock or water. Put the pan in a moderate oven and cook for two hours. Baste frequently with the gravy in the pan, and salt, pepper and flour.
About twenty minutes before the liver is done, add one teaspoonful of vinegar and one of lemon juice. Strain the gravy over the liver when it is dished.
Beef Stew.
Take the bones and hard, tough parts left from a roast of beef. Remove all the meat from the bones, and cut it in small pieces. Cut about a quarter of a pound of the fat of the meat in very small pieces. Put it in the stew-pan to fry. When it begins to brown, put in half a carrot, one small turnip, and two onions, cut fine. Stir over the fire for ten minutes. Take out the fat and vegetables, and put the bones in the bottom of the kettle. Add the meat and the cooked vegetables, but not the fat. Dredge well with salt, pepper, and flour, shaking in at least half a cupful of flour. Add three pints of water, and simmer gently one hour; then put in six potatoes, pared and cut in slices. Simmer one hour longer. Taste to see if seasoned enough. Draw forward where it will boil more rapidly. Stir the stew, and put in the dumplings.
Cook just ten minutes. The cover of the stew-pan must fit tightly.
There should be about two pounds of meat for this stew, not counting the bones.
Cold Meat with Puree of Potato.
Six good-sized potatoes, one table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter, one cupful of boiling milk, salt and pepper to taste. Pare and boil the potatoes, and mash light and fine. Add the b.u.t.ter, seasoning and boiling milk.
Beat up light, and spread on a hot platter. Lay on this handsome slices of any kind of cold meat, and on each slice put a table- spoonful of hot gravy. Put a little gravy around the dish, and set in the oven for five minutes. Garnish with parsley, and serve. If there is no gravy left from the dinner of the day before, make a pint in the following manner: Put a quart of water with some of the hard pieces and bones of the meat, and boil down to one pint. Put one table- spoonful of b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan, and, when hot, add one table- spoonful of flour. Stir until dark brown, and strain the broth on this. Season with salt, pepper and, if you please, one spoonful of Halford sauce.
Shepherds" Pie.
One quart of any kind of cold meat, eight large potatoes, one small onion, one cupful of boiling milk, salt, pepper, and nearly a pint of gravy or stock, thickened with one table-spoonful of flour. Season the meat and put in a deep earthen dish. Grate the onion into the gravy, and pour over the meat. Pare, boil and mash the potatoes. Add the salt, pepper and milk and one table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter. Cover the pie with this, and bake gently half an hour.
Shepherds" Pie, No. 2.
Cut into dice one quart of any kind of cold meat. Mince very fine two table-spoonfuls of salt pork, and add to the meat. Pare and cut into dice four large uncooked potatoes; grate or chop fine one onion; chop fine one table-spoonful of parsley. Mix, and season well with salt and pepper, and add a large cupful of water. Put in a deep earthen dish.
Make a paste with four potatoes, two table-spoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, a large cupful of boiling milk and a pint of flour. Pare, boil and mash the potatoes; then add b.u.t.ter, salt and milk. When all is very light, beat in the flour, gradually. Sprinkle the board with flour, and roll the paste a little larger than the dish. Make a hole in the centre, to let out the air. Cover the dish with the paste, being careful to have the edge come inside the dish. Bake gently one hour.
Escaloped Meat.
Chop the meat rather coa.r.s.e. Season with salt and pepper. For one pint of meat use half a cupful of gravy and a heaping cupful of bread crumbs. Put a layer of the meat in an escalop dish, then gravy, then a thin layer of crumbs; and continue this until the dish is full. The last layer should be a thick one of crumbs. Cook in a hot oven from fifteen to twenty minutes. All kinds of cold meat can be escaloped, but beef is so dry that it is not so good as mutton, veal, etc,
Curry of Cold Meat.