EGG DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.
To half a pint of milk put two well-beaten eggs, and as much wheat flour as will make a smooth, rather _thick_ batter free from lumps; drop this batter, a tablespoonful at a time, into boiling soup.
_Another Mode._--One cupful of sour cream and one cupful of sour milk, three eggs, well beaten, whites and yolks separately; one teaspoonful of salt, one level teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a spoonful of water, and enough flour added to make a _very stiff_ batter. To be dropped by spoonfuls into the broth and boiled twenty minutes, or until no raw dough shows on the outside.
SUET DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.
Three cups of sifted flour in which three teaspoonfuls of baking powder have been sifted; one cup of finely chopped suet, well rubbed into the flour, with a teaspoonful of salt. Wet all with sweet milk to make a dough as stiff as biscuit. Make into small b.a.l.l.s as large as peaches, well floured. Drop into the soup three-quarters of an hour before being served. This requires steady boiling, being closely covered, and the cover not to be removed until taken up to serve. A very good form of pot-pie.
SOYER"S RECIPE FOR FORCE MEATS.
Take 1-1/2 lbs. of lean veal from the fillet, and cut it in long thin slices; sc.r.a.pe with a knife till nothing but the fibre remains; put it in a mortar, pound it ten minutes or until in a puree; pa.s.s it through a wire sieve (use the remainder in stock), then take 1 lb. of good fresh beef suet, which skin, shred and chop very fine; put it in a mortar and pound it, then add 6 oz. of panada (that is, bread soaked in milk, and boiled till nearly dry) with the suet; pound them well together, and add the veal, season with 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1/4 teaspoonful of pepper, 1/2 that of nutmeg; work all well together; then add four eggs by degrees, continually pounding the contents of the mortar. When well mixed, take a small piece in a spoon, and poach it in some boiling water, and if it is delicate, firm, and of a good flavor, it is ready for use.
CROUTONS FOR SOUP.
In a frying pan have the depth of an inch of boiling fat; also have prepared slices of stale bread cut up into little half-inch squares; drop into the frying pan enough of these bits of bread to cover the surface of the fat. When browned, remove with a skimmer and drain; add to the hot soup and serve.
Some prefer them prepared in this manner:
Take very thin slices of bread, b.u.t.ter them well; cut them up into little squares three-fourths of an inch thick, place them in a baking pan, b.u.t.tered side up, and brown in a quick oven.
FISH STOCK.
Place a saucepan over the fire with a good-sized piece of sweet b.u.t.ter and a sliced onion; put into that some sliced tomatoes, then add as many different kinds of fish as you can get--oysters, clams, smelts, p.a.w.ns, crabs, shrimps and all kinds of pan-fish; cook all together until the onions are well browned; then add a bunch of sweet herbs, salt and pepper, and sufficient water to make the required amount of stock. After this has cooked for half an hour pound it with a wooden pestle, then strain and cook again until it jellies.
FISH SOUP.
Select a large, fine fish, clean it thoroughly, put it over the fire with a sufficient quant.i.ty of water, allowing for each pound of fish one quart of water; add an onion cut fine and a bunch of sweet herbs.
When the fish is cooked, and is quite tasteless, strain all through a colander, return to the fire, add some b.u.t.ter, salt and pepper to taste. A small tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce may be added if liked. Serve with small squares of fried bread and thin slices of lemon.
LOBSTER SOUP, OR BISQUE.
Have ready a good broth made of three pounds of veal boiled slowly in as much water as will cover it, till the meat is reduced to shreds. It must then be well strained.
Having boiled one fine middle-sized lobster, extract all the meat from the body and claws. Bruise part of the coral in a mortar, and also an equal quant.i.ty of the meat. Mix them well together. Add mace, cayenne, salt and pepper, and make them up into force meat b.a.l.l.s, binding the mixture with the yolk of an egg slightly beaten.
Take three quarts of the veal broth and put it into the meat of the lobster cut into mouthfuls. Boil it together about twenty minutes.
Then thicken it with the remaining coral (which you must first rub through a sieve), and add the force meat b.a.l.l.s and a little b.u.t.ter rolled in flour. Simmer it gently for ten minutes, but do not let it come to a boil, as that will injure the color. Serve with small dice of bread fried brown in b.u.t.ter.
OYSTER SOUP, No. 1.
Two quarts of oysters, one quart of milk, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, one teacupful of hot water; pepper, salt.
Strain all the liquor from the oysters; add the water, and heat. When near the boil, add the seasoning, then the oysters. Cook about five minutes from the time they begin to simmer, until they "ruffle." Stir in the b.u.t.ter, cook one minute, and pour into the tureen. Stir in the boiling milk and send to table. Some prefer all water in place of milk.
[Ill.u.s.tration: IDA SAXTON McKINLEY.]
OYSTER SOUP. No. 2.
Scald one gallon of oysters in their own liquor. Add one quart of rich milk to the liquor, and when it comes to a boil, skim out the oysters and set aside. Add the yolks of four eggs, two good tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, and one of flour, all mixed well together, but in this order--first, the milk, then, after beating the eggs, add a little of the hot liquor to them gradually, and stir them rapidly into the soup.
Lastly, add the b.u.t.ter and whatever seasoning you fancy besides plain pepper and salt, which must both be put in to taste with caution.
Celery salt most persons like extremely; others would prefer a little marjoram or thyme; others again mace and a bit of onion. Use your own discretion in this regard.
CLAM SOUP. (French Style.)
Mince two dozen hard sh.e.l.l clams very fine. Fry half a minced onion in an ounce of b.u.t.ter; add to it a pint of hot water, a pinch of mace, four cloves, one allspice and six whole pepper corns. Boil fifteen minutes and strain into a saucepan; add the chopped clams and a pint of clam-juice or hot water; simmer slowly two hours; strain and rub the pulp through a sieve into the liquid. Return it to the saucepan and keep it lukewarm. Boil three half-pints of milk in a saucepan (previously wet with cold water, which prevents burning) and whisk it into the soup. Dissolve a teaspoonful of flour in cold milk, add it to the soup, taste for seasoning; heat it gently to near the boiling point; pour into a tureen previously heated with hot water, and serve with or without pieces of fried bread--called _croutons_ in kitchen French.
CLAM SOUP.
Twenty-five clams chopped fine. Put over the fire the liquor that was drained from them, and a cup of water; add the chopped clams and boil half an hour; then season to taste with pepper and salt and a piece of b.u.t.ter as large as an egg; boil up again and add one quart of milk boiling hot, stir in a tablespoon of flour made to a cream with a little cold milk, or two crackers rolled fine. Some like a little mace and lemon juice in the seasoning.
MODES OF FRYING
The usual custom among professional cooks is to entirely immerse the article to be cooked in boiling fat, but from inconvenience most households use the half-frying method of frying in a small amount of fat in a frying pan. For the first method a shallow iron frying kettle, large at the top and small at the bottom, is best to use. The fat should half fill the kettle, or an amount sufficient to float whatever is to be fried; the heat of the fat should get to such a degree that, when a piece of bread or a teaspoonful of the batter is dropped in it, it will become brown almost instantly, but should not be so hot as to burn the fat. Some cooks say that the fat should be smoking, but my experience is, that is a mistake, as that soon ruins the fat. As soon as it begins to smoke it should be removed a little to one side, and still be kept at the boiling point. If fritters, crullers, croquettes, etc., are dropped into fat that is too hot, it crusts over the outside before the inside has fully risen, making a heavy, hard article, and also ruining the fat, giving it a burnt flavor.
Many French cooks prefer beef fat or suet to lard for frying purposes, considering it more wholesome and digestible, does not impart as much flavor, or adhere or soak into the article cooked as pork fat.
In families of any size, where there is much cooking required, there are enough drippings and fat remnants from roasts of beef, skimmings from the soup kettle, with the addition of occasionally a pound of suet from the market, to amply supply the need. All such remnants and skimmings should be clarified about twice a week, by boiling them all together in water. When the fat is all melted, it should be strained with the water and set aside to cool. After the fat on the top has hardened, lift the cake from the water on which it lies, sc.r.a.pe off all the dark particles from the bottom, then melt over again the fat; while hot strain into a small clean stone jar or bright tin pail, and then it is ready for use. Always after frying anything, the fat should stand until it settles and has cooled somewhat; then turn off carefully so as to leave it clear from the sediment that settles at the bottom.
Refined cotton-seed oil is now being adopted by most professional cooks in hotels, restaurants and many private households for culinary purposes, and will doubtless in future supersede animal fats, especially for frying, it being quite as delicate a medium as frying with olive oil. It is now sold by leading grocers, put up in packages of two and four quarts.
The second mode of frying, using a frying pan with a small quant.i.ty of fat or grease, to be done properly, should, in the first place, have the frying pan hot over the fire, and the fat in it _actually boiling_ before the article to be cooked is placed in it, the intense heat quickly searing up the pores of the article and forming a brown crust on the lower side, then turning over and browning the other the same way.
Still, there is another mode of frying; the process is somewhat similar to broiling, the hot frying pan or spider replacing the hot fire. To do this correctly, a thick bottomed frying pan should be used. Place it over the fire, and when it is so hot that it will siss, oil over the bottom of the pan with a piece of suet, that is if the meat is all lean; if not, it is not necessary to grease the bottom of the pan. Lay in the meat quite flat, and brown it quickly, first on one side, then on the other; when sufficiently cooked, dish on a _hot_ platter and season the same as broiled meats.
FISH.
In selecting fish, choose those only in which the eye is full and prominent, the flesh thick and firm, the scales bright and fins stiff.
They should be thoroughly cleaned before cooking.
The usual modes of cooking fish are boiled, baked, broiled, fried and occasionally stewed. Steaming fish is much superior to boiling, but the ordinary conveniences in private houses do not admit of the possibility of enjoying this delicate way of cooking it. Large fish are generally boiled, medium-sized ones baked or boiled, the smaller kinds fried or broiled. Very large fish, such as cod, halibut, etc., are cut in steaks or slices for frying or broiling. The heads of some fish, as the cod, halibut, etc., are considered tidbits by many. Small fish, or pan-fish, as they are usually called, are served without the heads, with the exception of brook-trout and smelts; these are usually cooked whole, with the heads on. Bake fish slowly, basting often with b.u.t.ter and water. Salmon is considered the most nutritious of all fish. When boiling fish, by adding a little vinegar and salt to the water, it seasons and prevents the nutriment from being drawn out; the vinegar acting on the water hardens the water.