The following pages contain 615 recipes which have been tested by Domestic Science Authorities in the Cooking Departments of different colleges and other educational inst.i.tutions, and by housewives in their own kitchens. Many have been originated by Marion Harris Neil and _all_ have been tested by her.
We have undertaken to submit a comprehensive list of recipes for your use, which will enable you to serve menus of wide variety.
We hope that you have enjoyed reading this little volume and that you will derive both help and satisfaction from the recipes.
We will go to any length to help you in the cause of Better Food. We realize that women must study this product as they would any other altogether new article of cookery, and that the study and care used will be amply repaid by the palatability and healthfulness of all foods. A can of Crisco is no Aladdin"s Lamp, which merely need be touched by a kitchen spoon to produce magical dishes. But _any_ woman is able to achieve excellent results by mixing thought with Crisco.
Let us know how you progress.
Yours respectfully,
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Procter & Gamble Co.]
_Things to Remember in Connection with These Recipes_
No need for Crisco to occupy valuable s.p.a.ce in the refrigerator.
In fact, except in most unusual summer heat, it will be of a better consistency outside the refrigerator. Crisco keeps sweet indefinitely, summer and winter, at ordinary room temperature.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Use level measurements]
In making sauces, thoroughly blend the flour and Cris...o...b..fore adding the milk.
In using melted Crisco in boiled dressing, croquettes, rolls, fritters, etc., be sure that the melted Crisco is cooled sufficiently so that the hot fat will not injure the texture of the foods.
When using in place of b.u.t.ter, add salt in the proportion of one level teaspoonful to one cup of Crisco.
Remember that Crisco, like b.u.t.ter, is susceptible to cold. It readily becomes hard. In creaming Crisco in winter use the same care as when creaming b.u.t.ter. Rinse pan in boiling water and have the Crisco of the proper creaming stiffness before using. Unlike b.u.t.ter, however, Crisco"s purity is not affected by weather. It remains sweet and pure indefinitely without refrigeration.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
In deep frying, do not wait for Crisco to smoke. (See page 35.)
_Remember That_--
_When pie crust is tough:_ It is possible you have not used Crisco properly. Perhaps the measurements were not correct. Perhaps the water was too warm, or the dough was handled too much. Shortening cannot make pastry tough.
_When fried foods absorb:_ It is because Crisco is not hot enough, or because you have not used enough Crisco. Use plenty and the raw foods, if added in small quant.i.ties, will not reduce the heat of the fat. The absorption in deep Crisco frying should be less than that of another fat.
_When cake is not a success:_ It is not the fault of the Crisco.
Either too much was used, the oven heat not perfectly controlled or some important ingredient was used in the wrong proportion. Crisco should be creamed with the sugar more thoroughly than b.u.t.ter, as Crisco contains no moisture to dissolve the sugar.
_When cake or other food is not flavory:_ Salt should have been added to the Crisco, for Crisco contains no salt.
_When there is smoke in the kitchen:_ Crisco has been burned or heated too high for frying. Or some may have been on the _outside_ of the pan or kettle.
_When Crisco is too hard:_ Like b.u.t.ter, it is susceptible to heat and cold. Simply put in a warmer place.
_Hints to Young Cooks_
_Also, How to Choose Foods, Methods of Cooking, Cooking Time Table, The Art of Carving_, by MARION HARRIS NEIL.
Before commencing to cook, look up the required recipe, read and think it out. Note down on a slip of paper the materials and quant.i.ties required. Collect all utensils and materials required before commencing. Success in cookery depends on careful attention to every detail from start to finish. Quant.i.ties, both liquid and dry, should be exact. Small scales and weights should form part of the kitchen equipment where possible, and the measuring cups cost so little that no one need be without them.
Throughout this book the measurements are level
[Ill.u.s.tration]
_How to Choose Foods_
Money can be spent to infinitely better advantage in the store, than by giving orders at the door, by phone or mail. Every housekeeper knows how large a proportion of the housekeeping money is swallowed up by the butcher"s bill, so that with the meat item careful selection is most necessary in order to keep the bills within bounds.
In choosing meat of any kind the eye, the nose and the touch really are required, although it is not appetizing to see the purchaser use more than the eye.
Beef
In choosing meat it should be remembered that without being actually unwholesome, it varies greatly in quality, and often an inferior joint is to be preferred from a first cla.s.s beast to a more popular cut from a second cla.s.s animal. To be perfect the animal should be five or six years old, the flesh of a close even grain, bright red in color and well mixed with creamy white fat, the suet being firm and a clear white. Heifer meat is smaller in the bone and lighter in color than ox beef. Cow beef is much the same to look at as ox beef, though being older it is both coa.r.s.er in the grain and tougher; bull beef, which is never seen however, in a first cla.s.s butcher"s may be recognized by the coa.r.s.eness and dark color of the flesh, and also by a strong and almost rank smell.
Mutton
To be in perfection, mutton should be at least four, or better five or six years old, but sheep of this age are rarely if ever, met with now-a-days, when they are constantly killed under two years. To know the age of mutton, examine the breast bones; if these are all of a white gristly color the animal was four years old or over, while the younger it is the pinkier are the bones, which, in a sheep of under a year, are entirely red.
Good mutton should be of a clear dark red, the fat firm and white, and not too much of it; when touched the meat should feel crisp yet tender. If the fat is yellow and the lean flabby and damp, it is bad.
A freshly sc.r.a.ped wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone will speedily enable anyone to detect staleness. For roasting mutton scarcely can be hung too long, as long as it is not tainted; but for boiling it must not be kept nearly so long or the meat will be of a bad color when cooked.
Lamb
The freshness of lamb is comparatively easy to distinguish, as if fresh the neck vein will be a bright blue, the knuckles stiff, and the eyes bright and full.