A Little Cook Book for a Little Girl by Caroline French Benton (most interesting books to read TXT) 📖

in the oven, to drain and keep hot, and leave the door open till all are done. Lay a folded napkin on a long, narrow platter, and arrange the fishes in two rows, with slices of lemon and parsley on the sides.

Fish-balls

One morning there was quite a good deal of cold mashed potato in the ice-box, so Margaret decided to have fish-balls for breakfast. Her rule said: Take a box of prepared codfish and put it in a colander and pour a quart of boiling water through it, stirring it as you do so. Let it drain while you heat two cups of mashed potato in a double boiler, with half a cup of hot milk, beating and stirring till it is smooth. Squeeze the water from the codfish and mix with the potato. Beat one egg without separating it, and put this in, too, with a very little pepper, and beat it all well. Turn it out on a floured board, and make into small balls, rolling each one in flour as it is done, and brushing off most of the flour afterward. Have ready a kettle of hot lard, just as for smelts, and drop in three or four of the balls at one time, and cook till light brown. Lift them out on a paper in the oven, and let them keep hot while you cook the rest. Serve with parsley on a hot platter.

Creamed Codfish

Pour boiling water over a package of prepared codfish in the colander and drain it. Heat a frying-pan, and, while you are waiting, beat the yolk of an egg. Squeeze the water from the fish. Put one tablespoonful of butter in a hot pan, and when it bubbles put in two tablespoonfuls of flour, and stir and rub till all is smooth. Pour in slowly a pint of hot milk, and mix well, rubbing in the flour and butter till there is not a single lump. Then stir in the fish with a little pepper, and when it boils put in the egg. Stir it all up once, and it is done. Put in a hot covered dish, or on slices of buttered toast.

Salt Mackerel

This was a dish Margaret's grandmother liked so much that they had it every little while, even though it was old-fashioned.

Put the mackerel into a large pan of cold water with the skin up, and soak it all one afternoon and night, changing the water four times. In the morning put it in a pan on the fire with enough water to cover it, and drop in a slice of onion, minced fine, a teaspoonful of vinegar, and a sprig of parsley. Simmer it twenty minutes,—that is, let it just bubble slowly,—and while it is cooking make a cup of white sauce as before: one tablespoonful of butter, melted, one tablespoonful of flour, one cup of hot milk, a little salt. Cook till smooth. Take up the fish and pour off all the water; place it on a hot platter and pour the sauce over it.

MEATS

When it came to cooking meat for breakfast, Margaret thought she had better take first what looked easiest, so she chose—

Corned Beef Hash

1 pint of chopped corned beef. 1 pint of cold boiled potatoes. 1 cup of clear soup, or one cup of cold water. 1 tablespoonful of butter. 1 teaspoonful of finely minced onion. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 3 shakes of pepper.

Mix all together. Have a hot frying-pan, and in it put a tablespoonful of butter or nice fat, and when it bubbles shake it all around the pan. Put in the hash and cook it till dry, stirring it often and scraping it from the bottom of the pan. When none of the soup or water runs out when you lift a spoonful, and when it seems steaming hot, you can send it to the table in a hot dish, with parsley around it. Or you can let it cook without stirring till there is a nice brown crust on the bottom, when you can double it over as you would an omelette. Or you can make a pyramid of the hash in the middle of a round platter, and put poached eggs in a circle around it.

Many people like one small cold boiled beet cut up fine in corned beef hash, and sometimes for a change you can put this in before you put it in the frying-pan.

Broiled Bacon

Margaret's mother believed there was only one very nice way to cook bacon. It was like this: Slice the bacon very, very thin, and cut off the rind. Put the slices close together in a wire broiler, and lay this over a shallow pan in a very hot oven for about three minutes. If it is brown on top, then you can turn the broiler over, but if not, wait a moment longer. When both sides are toasted, lay it on a hot platter and put sprigs of parsley around. This is much nicer than bacon cooked in the frying-pan or over coals, for it is neither greasy nor smoky, but pink and light brown, and crisp and delicious, and good for sick people and little children and everybody.

Broiled Chops

Wipe off the chops with a clean wet cloth and trim off the edges; if very fat cut rather close to the meat. Rub the wire broiler with some of the fat, so that the chops will not stick. Lay in the chops and put over a clear, red fire without flame, and toast one side first and then the other; do this till they are brown. Lay on a hot platter, and dust both sides with salt and a tiny bit of pepper. Put bits of lemon and parsley around, and send to the table hot.

Panned Chops

If the fire is not clear so that you cannot broil the chops, you must pan them. Take a frying-pan and make it very hot indeed; then lay in the chops, which you have wiped and trimmed, and cook one side very quickly, and then the other, and after that let them cook more slowly. When they are done,—you can tell by picking open a little place in one with a fork and looking on the inside,—put them on a platter as before, with pepper and salt. If they are at all greasy, put on brown paper in the oven first, to drain, leaving the door of the oven open. Be careful not to let them get cold.

Liver and Bacon

Buy half a pound of calf's liver and half a pound of bacon. Cut the liver in thin slices and pour boiling water over it, and then wipe each slice dry. Slice the bacon very thin and cut off the rind; put this in a hot frying-pan and cook very quickly, turning it once or twice. Just as soon as it is brown take it out and lay it on brown paper in the oven in a pan. Take a saucer of flour and mix in it a teaspoonful of salt and a very little pepper; dip the slices of liver in this, one at a time, and shake them free of lumps. Lay them in the hot fat of the bacon in the pan and fry till brown. Have a hot platter ready, and lay the slices of liver in a nice row on it, and then put one slice of bacon on each slice of liver. Put parsley all around, and sometimes use slices of lemon, too, for a change.

Liver and Bacon on Skewers

Get from the butcher half a dozen small wooden skewers, and prepare the liver and bacon as you did for frying, scalding, dipping the liver in flour, and taking the rind off the bacon. Make three slices of toast, cut into strips, and put in the oven to keep hot. Cut up both liver and bacon into pieces the size of a fifty-cent piece and put them on the skewers, first one of the liver and then one of the bacon, and so on, about six of each. Put these in the hot frying-pan and turn them over till they are brown. Then lay one skewer on each strip of toast, and put lemon and parsley around. You can also put large oysters on the skewers with pieces of bacon, and cook in the same way.

Broiled Steak

See that the fire is clear and red, without flames. Trim off most of the fat from the steak, and rub the wires of the broiler with it and heat it over the coals. Then put in the meat and turn over and over as it cooks, and be careful not to let it take fire. When brown, put it on a hot platter, dust over with salt and a very little pepper, and dot it with tiny lumps of butter. Put parsley around. Steak ought to be pink inside; not brown and not red. Put a fork in as you did with the chops, and twist in a little, and you can see when it gets the right color.

Steak with Bananas

Peel one banana and slice in round pieces, and while the steak is cooking fry them in a little hot butter till they are brown. After the meat is on the platter, lay these pieces over it, arranging them prettily, and put the parsley around as before. Bananas are very nice with steak.

Frizzled Dried Beef

Take half a pound of dried beef, shaved very thin. Chop it fine and pull out the strings. Put a large tablespoonful of butter in the frying-pan, and when it bubbles put in the meat. Stir till it begins to get brown, and then sprinkle in one tablespoonful of flour and stir again, and then put in one cup of hot milk. Shake in a little pepper, but no salt. As soon as it boils up once, it is done, and you can put it in a hot covered dish. If you like a change, stir in sometimes two beaten eggs in the milk instead of using it plain.

Veal Cutlet

Wipe off the meat with a clean wet cloth, and then with one that is dry. Dust it over with salt, pepper, and flour. Put a tablespoonful of nice dripping in a hot frying-pan, and let it heat till it smokes a little. Lay in the meat and cook till brown, turning it over twice as it cooks. Look in the inside and see if it is brown, for cutlet must not be eaten red or pink inside. Put in a hot oven and cover it up while you make the gravy, by putting one tablespoonful of flour into the hot fat in the pan, stirring it till it is brown. Then put in a cup of boiling water, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a very little pepper; put this through the wire sieve, pressing it with a spoon, and turn over the meat. Put parsley around the cutlet, and send hot to the table.

Margaret's father said he could not possibly manage without potatoes for breakfast, so sometimes Margaret let Bridget cook the cereal and meat, while she made something nice out of the cold potatoes she found in the cupboard.

Creamed Potatoes

Cut cold boiled potatoes into pieces as large as the end of your finger; put them into a pan on the back of the stove with enough milk to cover them, and let them stand till they have drunk up all the milk; perhaps they will slowly cook a little as they do this, but that will do no harm. In another saucepan or in the frying-pan put a tablespoonful of butter, and when it bubbles put in a tablespoonful of flour, and stir till they melt together; then put in two cups of hot milk, and stir till it is all smooth. Put in one teaspoonful of salt, and last the potatoes, but stir them only once while they cook, for fear of breaking them. Add one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and put them in a hot covered dish. You can make another sort