The Myrtle Reed Cook Book Part 13

PHILADELPHIA Sc.r.a.pPLE

Use the head, heart, and feet of fresh pork. Boil until the flesh slips from the bone. Cool, take out the bones and gristle, and chop the meat fine. Set aside the water in which the meat was cooked, and when cold take the cake of fat from the surface. Bring the liquor to the boil once more, add the chopped meat, and when at a galloping boil, sprinkle in, slowly, enough corn-meal to make a thick mush. Cook slowly for an hour or more. Pour into a pan wet with cold water and let stand in a cold place over night. Turn out on a platter, cut in half-inch slices, and fry.

SAUSAGE

p.r.i.c.k the skins with a needle or fork to prevent bursting. Cover with boiling water, parboil five minutes, drain, wipe, and fry as usual.

The sausage meat is made into small flat cakes, dredged with flour and fried. Bread crumbs may be used in making the sausage cakes if desired. If the cakes do not hold together readily, add a little beaten egg.

BAKED SAUSAGE

p.r.i.c.k the sausages and lay each one on a strip of b.u.t.tered bread its own length and width. Arrange in a baking-pan and bake in a very hot oven till the sausages are brown and the bread crisp.

SAUSAGES BAKED IN POTATOES

p.r.i.c.k medium-sized sausages and brown quickly in a spider. Take out and keep warm. Core large potatoes, draw the sausages through the cores, and bake. A pleasant surprise for the person peeling the potato.

BROILED SWEETBREADS

Parboil, in slightly acidulated water, for five minutes, then throw into cold water. Remove pipes and fibres and let cool--the colder the better. Split, rub with melted b.u.t.ter, season with pepper and salt, and broil or fry. They may also be dipped in egg and crumbs and fried or broiled. Serve on a hot platter. A sauce of melted b.u.t.ter, lemon-juice, and minced parsley is a pleasing accompaniment.

FRIED TRIPE

Tripe as it comes from the market is already prepared. Wash thoroughly, boil until tender, drain, and cool. Cut into strips, season with salt and pepper, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in b.u.t.ter or drippings until brown. It may be prepared for frying the day before and kept in a cool place. Breaded tripe may also be broiled on a b.u.t.tered gridiron.

FRICa.s.sEED TRIPE

Cut a pound of tripe in narrow strips, add a cupful of water, a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg, and a tablespoonful of flour, rubbed smooth in a little cold water. Season with salt and simmer thirty minutes. Serve very hot, on toast if desired.

TRIPE a LA LYONNAISE

One pound of cooked tripe cut into inch squares, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, one tablespoonful of chopped onion, one tablespoonful of vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Put the b.u.t.ter and onion in a frying-pan. When the onion turns yellow, add the tripe and seasoning, boil up once more, and serve immediately, on toast.

TRIPE a LA POULETTE

Fry a chopped onion in three tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter. When brown, add a pound of tripe, cut into dice, season with salt and paprika, and fry until the mixture is partially dry. Add a heaping tablespoonful of flour, and when the b.u.t.ter has absorbed it, add slowly two cupfuls of stock or milk and a slight grating of nutmeg. Simmer till the tripe is tender. Beat together one tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter and one tablespoonful of lemon-juice, stir into the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, take the tripe from the fire, mix thoroughly, and serve at once.

MINCED VEAL AND EGGS

Chop cold cooked veal very fine. Add hard-boiled eggs cut fine, one to each two cupfuls of meat. Reheat in hot water, adding melted b.u.t.ter, or in a cream sauce. A bit of green pepper, parsley, grated onion, pimento, or capers finely cut may be used for flavoring. Other meats may be prepared in the same way.

SUBSt.i.tUTES FOR MEAT

Certain things are well suited to replace meat at the breakfast table.

It is a good idea to bar out the potato, unless in hash, for the simple reason that the humble vegetable appears at dinner about three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, and even a good thing may be worked to death. Americans have been accused, not altogether unjustly, of being "potato mad." Potato left-overs can be used at luncheon, if not in hash for breakfast.

FRIED EGGPLANT

Slice the eggplant in slices one third of an inch thick, pare, put into a deep dish, and cover with cold water well salted. Soak one hour. Drain, wipe, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry brown.

BROILED MUSHROOMS

Choose large, firm mushrooms. Remove the stems, peel, wash, and wipe dry. Rub with melted b.u.t.ter and broil. Serve with a sauce made of melted b.u.t.ter, lemon-juice, and minced parsley.

FRIED MUSHROOMS

Prepare as above, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Or saute in b.u.t.ter in the frying-pan. Breaded mushrooms may be broiled if dipped in melted b.u.t.ter or oil before broiling.

BAKED MUSHROOMS

Prepare as above. Place in a shallow earthen baking-dish, hollow side up, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place a small piece of b.u.t.ter on each. Baste with melted b.u.t.ter and a few drops of lemon-juice.

Serve very hot, on b.u.t.tered toast.

GRILLED MUSHROOMS

Cut off the stalks, peel, and score lightly the under side of large, firm, fresh mushrooms. Sprinkle with pepper and salt and soak a few moments in oil. Drain and broil. Serve with lemon quarters and garnish with parsley.

FRENCH TOAST

Make a batter of two eggs, well beaten, a cupful of milk, a tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter, and spice or grated lemon- or orange-peel to flavor. Dip the trimmed slices of bread in this batter and fry brown in b.u.t.ter.

CORN OYSTERS

Two cupfuls of green corn, grated, half a cupful of milk, one cupful of sifted flour, two eggs, a teaspoonful of salt and one tablespoonful each of b.u.t.ter and lard. Beat the yolks of the eggs, add the milk, then the flour and salt. Beat to a smooth batter, add the corn, then beat again, adding the well beaten whites of the eggs last. Put the lard and b.u.t.ter into a frying-pan, and when very hot put in the batter by small spoonfuls. Brown on one side, then turn. If the batter is too thick, add a little more milk. The thinner the batter, the more delicate and tender the oysters will be. Canned corn may be used, if it is chopped very fine, but it is not so good. By scoring deeply with a sharp knife each row of kernels on an ear of corn, the pulp may be pressed out with a knife. The corn may be cut from the cob and chopped, but the better way is to press out the pulp.

Regardless of the allurements of wood and field, it is always safest to buy mushrooms at a reliable market. So many people are now making a business of raising them that they are continually getting cheaper.

The silver spoon test is absolutely worthless. In fact, the only sure test is the risky one: "Eat it, and if you live it's a mushroom--if you die it's a toadstool." However, when buying mushrooms of a reliable dealer, one takes practically no risk at all, and, even at the highest price, a box of mushrooms is much cheaper than a really nice funeral.