ROAST TURKEY
Singe and clean the turkey the same as chicken. Fill with plain bread stuffing or chestnut stuffing. Tie down the legs and rub entire surface with salt and let stand overnight. Next morning place in large drippings or roasting-pan on rack and spread breast, legs and wings with one-third cup of fat creamed and mixed with one-fourth cup of flour. Dredge bottom of pan with flour. Place in a hot oven and when the flour on the turkey begins to brown, reduce the heat and add two cups of boiling water or the stock in which the giblets are cooking, and baste with one-fourth cup of fat and three-fourths cup of boiling water. When this is all used, baste with the fat in the pan. Baste every fifteen minutes until tender; do not p.r.i.c.k with a fork, press with the fingers; if the breast meat and leg are soft to the touch the turkey is done. If the oven is too hot, cover the pan; turn the turkey often, that it may brown nicely.
Remove strings and skewers and serve on hot platter. Serve with giblet sauce and cranberry sauce. If the turkey is very large it will require three hours or more, a small one will require only an hour and a half.
STUFFED TURKEY NECK (TURKISH STYLE)
Take neck of turkey, stuff with following: One-quarter pound of almonds or walnuts chopped fine and seasoned with chopped parsley, pepper and salt, put two hard-boiled eggs in the centre of this dressing; stuff neck, sew up the ends and when roasted slice across so as to have a portion of the hard-boiled egg on each slice; place on platter and surround with sprigs of parsley.
*STUFFINGS FOR MEAT AND POULTRY*
TO STUFF POULTRY
Use enough stuffing to fill the bird but do not pack it tightly or the stuffing will be soggy. Close the small openings with a skewer; sew the larger one with linen thread and a long needle. Remove skewers and strings before serving.
CRUMB DRESSING
Take one tablespoon of chicken fat, mix in two cups of bread crumbs, pinch of salt and pepper, a few drops of onion juice, one tablespoon of chopped parsley, and lastly one well-beaten egg. Mix all on stove in skillet, remove from fire and stuff fowl.
BREAD DRESSING FOR FOWL
In a fryer on the stove heat two tablespoons of drippings or fat, drop in one-half onion cut fine, brown lightly and add one-quarter loaf of stale baker"s bread (which has previously been soaked in cold water and then thoroughly squeezed out). Cook until it leaves the sides of the fryer, stirring occasionally. If too dry add a little soup stock. Remove from the fire, put in a bowl, season with salt, pepper, ginger, and finely chopped parsley, add a small lump of fat, break in one whole egg, mix well and fill the fowl with it.
MEAT DRESSING FOR POULTRY
If you cannot buy sausage meat at your butcher"s have him chop some for you, adding a little fat. Also mix in some veal with the beef while chopping. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg or thyme. Grate in a piece of celery root and a piece of garlic about the size of a bean, add a small onion, a minced tomato, a quarter of a loaf of stale bread; also grated, and mix up the whole with one egg. If you prefer, you may soak the bread, press out every drop of water and dry in a heated spider with fat.
POTATO STUFFING
Add two cups of hot, mashed Irish or sweet potatoes to bread stuffing.
Mix well and stuff in goose, stuffed veal or lamb breast, or in beef casings, cleaned and dressed.
CHESTNUT STUFFING
Sh.e.l.l and blanch two cups of chestnuts. Cook in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and force through a colander or a potato ricer. Add one-fourth cup of melted chicken fat, one-fourth teaspoon of pepper, three-fourths of a teaspoon of salt, one cup of grated bread crumbs, and enough soup stock to moisten.
RAISIN STUFFING
Take three cups of stale bread crumbs; add one-half a cup of melted chicken fat, one cup of seeded raisins cut in small pieces, one teaspoon of salt and one-fourth teaspoon of white pepper. Mix thoroughly.
*VEGETABLES*
All vegetables should be thoroughly cleansed just before being put on to cook.
Green vegetables; such as cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, should be soaked heads down in salted cold water, to which a few spoons of vinegar may be added.
To secure the best results all vegetables except beans, that is the dried beans, should be put in boiling water and the water must be made to boil again as soon as possible after the vegetables have been added and must be kept boiling until the cooking is finished.
In cooking vegetables, conserve their juices.
The average housewife pours down the sink drainpipe the juices from all the vegetables which she cooks; she little realizes that she thus drains away the health of her family. Cook vegetables with just sufficient water to prevent them from burning, and serve their juices with them; else save the vegetable "waters" and, by the addition of milk and b.u.t.ter convert them into soups for the family use. Such soups, derived from one or several vegetables, alone or mixed together, make palatable and healthful additions to the family bill-of-fare.
ASPARAGUS
Cut off the woody part, sc.r.a.pe the lower part of the stalks. Wash well and tie in bunches. Put into a deep stew-pan, with the cut end resting on the bottom of the stew-pan. Pour in boiling water to come up to the tender heads, but not to cover them. Add one teaspoon of salt for each quart of water. Place where the water will boil. Cook until tender, having the cover partially off the stew-pan. This will be from fifteen to thirty minutes, depending upon the freshness and tenderness of the vegetable. Have some slices of well-toasted bread on a platter. b.u.t.ter them slightly. Arrange the cooked asparagus on the toast, season with b.u.t.ter and a little salt and serve at once. Save the water in which the asparagus was boiled to use in making vegetable soup.
CANNED ASPARAGUS
Open one end of the can, as indicated on wrapper, so tips will be at opening. Pour off the liquid and allow cold water to run over gently and to rinse. Drain and pour boiling water over them in the can and set in a hot oven to heat thoroughly. When ready to serve, drain and arrange carefully on hot platter and serve same as fresh asparagus, hot on toast or cold with salad dressing, or with "Sauce Hollandaise", poured over.
ARTICHOKES (FRENCH OR GLOBE)
French artichokes have a large scaly head, like the cone of a pine tree.
The flower buds are used before they open.
The edible portion consists of the thickened portion at the base of the scales and the receptacle to which the leaf-like scales are attached.
When the artichoke is very young and tender the edible parts may be eaten raw as a salad. When it becomes hard, as it does very quickly, it must be cooked. When boiled it may be eaten as a salad or with a sauce.
The scales are pulled with the fingers from the cooked head, the base of each leaf dipped in a sauce and then eaten.
The bottoms (receptacles), which many consider the most delicate part of the artichoke, may be cut up and served as a salad, or they may be stewed and served with a sauce. To prepare the artichoke remove all the hard outer leaves. Cut off the stem close to the leaves. Cut off the top of the bud. Drop the artichokes into boiling water and cook until tender, which will take from thirty to fifty minutes, then take up and remove the choke. Serve a dish of French salad dressing with the artichokes, which may be eaten either hot or cold. Melted b.u.t.ter also makes a delicious sauce for the artichokes if they are eaten hot.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE
This vegetable is in season in the fall and spring, and may be cooked like kohl-rabi and served in a white cream or sauce. The artichoke may also be cooked in milk.
When this is done, cut the washed and peeled artichoke into cubes, put in a stew-pan, and cover with milk (a generous pint to a quart of cubes). Add one small onion and cook twenty minutes. Beat together one tablespoon of b.u.t.ter and one level tablespoon of flour, and stir this into the boiling milk. Then season with one teaspoon of salt and one-fourth teaspoon of pepper, and continue the cooking one-half hour longer. The cooking should be done in a double boiler. The artichoke also makes a very good soup.