The Myrtle Reed Cook Book Part 29

Presuming that we have the pot and a good quality of coffee, finely pulverized, we will proceed to brew the nectar of the G.o.ds. The water must be fresh and captured while on its first boil. Scald the coffee-pot, and put into it one heaping tablespoonful of pulverized coffee for each person and another for the poor, neglected pot. If the coffee is desired extra strong, put in another tablespoonful, or even two. Pour in one cupful of boiling water for each tablespoonful of coffee, keeping the pot over steam, but never over the fire itself.

Occasionally the grounds may be lifted from the bottom of the strainer with a spoon in order to hasten the process a bit. The strength of Samson may be given the brew by pouring out a cupful or two of the coffee after it is made, and compelling it to go over the ground(s) again.

Put the desired amount of sugar in each cup, and add a liberal quant.i.ty of cream. Fill three fourths full with coffee and weaken slightly with freshly boiling water. Coffee poured into cream and afterward weakened with boiling water is an entirely different beverage from that which results when the process is reversed. Anybody knowing why, please write.

Never, never, never under any circ.u.mstances use the same coffee twice, or add fresh coffee to the remnant in the pot, if by chance there should ever be any left. Trim over last year's hat, if you must, and buy no books for a year except this one, but do have the daily coffee _right_.

Our deep feeling on this subject is caused by our own cherished reputation for coffee making, which extends as much as three blocks in every direction of the compa.s.s.

BOILED COFFEE

One cupful of ground coffee, mixed with a raw, unbeaten egg, and part of the sh.e.l.l. Add half a cupful of cold water, and put it into the coffee-pot. Pour over four cupfuls of boiling water, and as it rises and begins to boil, stir it with a silver spoon. Let boil hard for ten or fifteen minutes, then take from the fire. Pour out one cupful of the coffee, then put it back, and set the pot on the back of the stove for five minutes to settle.

CAFe GLACe

A welcome variant in summer, even for people who do not like cold coffee. Fill iced-tea gla.s.ses three fourths full of inch cubes of ice, add a lump or two of sugar, and pour in the coffee, boiling hot. Do not stir, but add the cream immediately. For some strange reason, it is better than if the hot coffee is poured over the ice, sugar, and cream. Anybody knowing why, please write.

CHOCOLATE

Make exactly like cocoa, using milk instead of water. A few drops of vanilla added to chocolate pleasantly accentuates its flavor.

COCOA

Directions are given on the package the cocoa comes in. If not, buy another kind.

TEA

Cheap tea contains sawdust, dried and powdered hay, gra.s.s-seed, and departed but unlamented insects. Moral--buy good tea, or go without.

Have the kettle boiling, and take the water at the first boil. Scald out the tea-pot, which must never be of metal, and put into it one teaspoonful of tea for each person, and one for the pot, or more, if curly hair for the drinker is desired. Pour one cupful of boiling water for each person and another for the pot upon the tea, and pour off the tea inside of three minutes. After that the boiling water busies itself in taking tannic acid out of the tea grounds. Tannic acid hardens alb.u.men into a leathery substance of which the most courageous stomach is rightfully suspicious, and also puckers the mucous membrane of the stomach into smocking. Persistent drinking of boiled tea is quite likely to relieve the stomach altogether of its valued and hard-worked mucous membrane.

SIMPLE SALADS

A salad with mayonnaise dressing is an ideal _piece de resistance_ for luncheon. It furnishes the necessary carbon in a light and easily a.s.similated form, and, if well made, is always palatable.

Strictly speaking, there are but two salad dressings, French and mayonnaise. The boiled dressing, with all its variations, is, technically, a sauce. A true salad dressing is made almost entirely of oil.

To make French dressing, put into a bowl or soup plate a pinch of salt, a dash of red pepper, and three tablespoonfuls of olive-oil.

Stir with a silver spoon until thoroughly mixed, then add one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, and stir until thick. French dressing must not be made until it is to be used, as it very quickly wilts a vegetable salad. Four or five tablespoonfuls of oil may be used to one of vinegar or lemon-juice if desired, and French dressing may also be seasoned with tabasco sauce, Worcesters.h.i.+re, dry mustard, celery salt, or any preferred condiment.

To make mayonnaise, put into an earthen bowl the yolk of a fresh egg and a pinch of salt, a dash of red pepper and half a teaspoonful of dry mustard. Place the bowl on ice or in ice water. Pour one cupful of olive-oil into a small pitcher from which it will drop easily. When the egg and seasoning are thoroughly mixed, begin to add the oil, using a silver teaspoon, and rubbing rather than stirring. Add the oil until a clear spot is formed upon the egg, then mix until smooth. Only a few drops can be added at first, but the quant.i.ty may be gradually increased. The clear spot upon the egg is an infallible test of the right quant.i.ty of oil. If too much oil is added, the dressing will curdle. A few drops of lemon-juice and long beating will usually make it right again. If this fails, set the bowl directly on the ice in the refrigerator, and let stand half an hour. If it is still curdled, begin again with the yolk of another egg and add the curdled mayonnaise by degrees to the new dressing.

When the mayonnaise is so thick that it is difficult to stir it, add the juice of half a lemon, or more if desired. If wanted still thinner, add a little cream at serving-time, but a stiff, creamy-yellow mayonnaise is a culinary triumph.

With a little experience, mayonnaise is very quickly made. It need not take more than ten or fifteen minutes to make enough abundantly to serve six people. Packed in jelly gla.s.ses, and covered with wax paper, or the cover of a jelly gla.s.s, mayonnaise will keep a week or more in a cool place.

A quick mayonnaise can be made by putting into a bowl half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of red pepper, half a teaspoonful of dry mustard, the yolk of an egg, four tablespoonfuls of olive-oil, one tablespoonful of lemon-juice or tarragon vinegar, and beating all together with the egg beater. If it fails to thicken, it is because the egg is not strictly fresh, but even if it does not thicken, it is palatable. A small jar of mayonnaise dressing, kept upon the ice, is an ever present help in time of trouble.

All vegetables used for salads must be in prime condition. Lettuce must be crisp, and only the perfect leaves used. Ragged edges may be trimmed off with the scissors. The head lettuce is best for all salads, but the leaf lettuce may be used if the other is not obtainable. It is sometimes shredded into ribbons with a sharp knife or scissors, but lettuce should be torn rather than cut, as cutting breaks and bruises the fibres.

Salads with mayonnaise dressing are too rich to serve at dinner, and hence are relegated to luncheons, Sunday-night suppers, and hot-weather dinners, where no other meat is served.

The variety of salads is inexhaustible, and new combinations are invented every day, many of them elaborate and very difficult to make.

The following salads, however, will be found simple, convenient, and in every way satisfactory.

CHICKEN SALAD

Mix cold, cooked, shredded chicken with half the quant.i.ty of finely cut celery, mix with mayonnaise dressing, and serve on a bit of lettuce. Garnish with parsley and slices of hard-boiled egg. Canned chicken may be used, but it is not as good.

CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM SALAD

Equal parts of chicken and cooked mushrooms. Mayonnaise.

MOCK CHICKEN SALAD

Cold roast pork, shredded with the fingers and mixed with half as much finely cut celery. Mayonnaise.

CHICKEN AND SWEETBREAD SALAD

Cold, cooked, shredded chicken, and half the quant.i.ty of cooked sweetbreads cut fine. Mayonnaise.

CHICKEN AND NUT SALAD

Add a few pecans or English walnuts, cut coa.r.s.ely, to chicken salad.

ALMOND SALAD

Stone and chop six olives. Add half a cupful of blanched and shredded almonds, and half a cupful of tender celery cut fine. Serve on lettuce leaves, with mayonnaise.

ASPARAGUS SALAD

Boil, drain, and cool the asparagus. Serve on lettuce leaves with French dressing, and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg.