Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit Part 28

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful b.u.t.ter.

1 tablespoonful lard.

1 egg.

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder, sugar, and add 1/2 cup of granulated, yellow cornmeal. Mix with 1 cup milk, 1 beaten egg, and the 2 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and lard. Beat thoroughly. Add a tablespoonful more of flour if not as stiff as ordinary cake batter.

Pour in well-greased bread tin and bake about 40 minutes in a hot oven.

AUNT SARAH'S DELICIOUS CREAM BISCUITS

Place in a flour sifter 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt and 1/2 teaspoonful of sugar. Sift twice; stir together 1/2 cup of sweet milk and 1/2 cup of thick, sweet cream.

Quickly mix all together, cutting through flour with a knife, until a soft dough is formed, mixing and handling as little as possible. Drop spoonfuls into warmed m.u.f.fin tins and bake at once in a hot oven.

Serve hot.

These are easily and quickly made, no shortening other than cream being used, and if directions are closely followed will be flakey biscuits when baked.

Aunt Sarah was always particular to use pastry flour when using baking powder, in preference to higher-priced "Hard Spring Wheat," which she used only for the making of bread or raised cakes, in which yeast was used.

MARY'S m.u.f.fINS

2 cups of flour.

3 even teaspoonfuls of baking powder.

2 tablespoonfuls of sugar.

1 cup of sweet milk.

2 eggs.

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.

Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl; add 1 tablespoonful of sugar and a pinch of salt; add the 2 yolks of eggs to the 1 cup of milk, and mix with the flour and baking powder; lastly, add the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Place large spoonfuls of the batter in small Gem pans. Bake in a hot oven 20 minutes. These m.u.f.fins are fine.

CORN m.u.f.fINS (AS MADE BY "FRAU SCHMIDT")

2 eggs.

1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of sugar.

1 cup of granulated yellow cornmeal.

1-1/2 cups of sweet milk.

2 cups of white flour.

3 teaspoonfuls of baking powder.

1 tablespoonful melted b.u.t.ter.

A pinch of salt

Beat together eggs and sugar, add milk and cornmeal and the white flour, sifted, with baking powder and salt; add the 1 tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter. Bake 20 minutes in warmed Gem pans, in a hot oven.

Mary's Aunt taught her to utilize any left-over m.u.f.fins by making a very appetizing pudding from them called "Indian Sponge" Pudding, the recipe for which may be found among pudding recipes.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE (AS FRAU SCHMIDT MADE IT)

1 pint of flour.

3 teaspoonfuls of baking powder.

2-1/2 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter or lard.

1 egg.

1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Milk or water.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, and cut b.u.t.ter or lard through the flour. Add 1 beaten egg to about 1 cup of sweet milk, and add gradually to the flour, cutting through it with a knife until a soft dough is formed, mixing and handling as little as possible.

Divide the dough into two portions, roll out one portion quickly and place on a large pie tin; spread the top of cake with softened (not melted) b.u.t.ter, lay the other cake on top and bake in a quick oven.

When baked and still hot, the cakes may be easily separated without cutting; when, place between layers, and, if liked, on top of the cake, crushed, sweetened strawberries. "Frau" Schmidt thought a crushed banana added to the strawberries an improvement. Serve the hot shortcake with sweet cream and sugar.

Or, the recipe for baking a plain (not rich) layer cake might be used instead of the above. When baked and cooled, spread between the layers the following:

To the stiffly-beaten white of 1 egg, add 1 cup of sugar; beat well.

Then add 1 cup of crushed strawberries. Beat all together until the consistency of thick cream. Serve cold.

PERFECTION WAFFLES

Sift together 4 cups of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking soda and 1 teaspoonful of salt, four times.

Separate 3 fresh eggs. Place the yolks in an earthenware mixing bowl.

Beat well with a spoon. Then add 3-1/2 cups of sour milk or sour b.u.t.termilk and 1/2 cup of sour cream, and 1 teaspoonful of melted b.u.t.ter. Mix a smooth batter with the sifted flour and soda. Lastly, add the stiffly-beaten whites of 3 eggs. Mix the batter quickly and thoroughly. Bake on a hot, well-greased waffle iron and serve at once.

The waffles may be b.u.t.tered as soon as baked and sugar sifted over, or a saucer containing a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, or a small jug of maple syrup may be served with them. Twelve waffles were made from this recipe.

RECIPE FOR MAKING "BAKING POWDER"

Sift together three times (through a fine sieve) 8 tablespoonfuls of cream of tartar, 4 tablespoonfuls of baking soda (salaratus), 4 tablespoonfuls of flour. Cornstarch may be subst.i.tuted for flour. This latter ingredient is used to keep the cream of tartar and soda separate and dry, as soda is made from salt and will absorb moisture.

This recipe for making a pure baking powder was given Mary by Fran Schmidt, who had used it for years with good results.

FRITTERS, CROQUETTES, DUMPLINGS AND CRULLERS

When cooking any article to be immersed in fat use about this proportion: 2 pounds of sweet lard to 1 of suet, which had been previously tried out. It is cheaper, also more wholesome, to use part suet than to use all lard. Save all pieces of left-over fat, either raw or cooked, from steaks, roasts, bacon or ham. Cut all up into small pieces and place in a pan in the oven until tried out, or put in a double boiler and stand over boiling water until fat is tried out.

Strain and stand aside to be used as drippings. To clarify this fat, pour boiling water over, let cook a short time, strain and stand away in a cool place, when a cake of solid fat will form on top, which may be readily removed and used as drippings, or it may be added to the kettle of fat used for deep frying. Always strain fat carefully after frying croquettes, fritters, etc. Should the frying fat become dark add to the can of soap fat the economical housewife is saving. Return the clear-strained fat to the cook pot, cover carefully, stand aside in a cool place, and the strained fat may be used times without number for frying. The housewife will find it very little trouble to fry fritters, croquettes, etc., in deep fat, if the fat is always strained immediately after using, and returned to the cook pot, kept especially for this purpose. Stand on the hot range when required and the fat will heat in a few minutes, and if the fat is the right temperature, food cooked in it should not be at all greasy. When the housewife is planning to fry fritters or croquettes she should, if possible, crumb the articles to be fried several hours before frying, and stand aside to become perfectly cold. When the fat for frying is so hot a blue smoke arises, drop in the fritters or croquettes, one at a time, in order not to chill the fat or plunge a frying basket, containing only a couple of fritters at a time, in the hot fat, as too many placed in the fat at one time lowers the temperature too quickly and causes the fritters to be greasy and soggy. To test the fat before dropping in the fritters, if a small piece of bread is dropped in the fat and browns in about one minute the fat is the right temperature for frying fritters, and fritters fried at the correct temperature should be a rich brown and not at all greasy. When removing fritters from hot fat place on coa.r.s.e brown paper to absorb any remaining fat. Fritters composed of vegetables, or oysters, should be served on a platter garnished with parsley, and fritters composed of fruit, should have pulverized sugar sifted over them liberally. Should a small piece of bread brown in the fat while you count twenty, fat is the correct temperature for frying croquettes, but is too hot for frying crullers or any food not previously cooked.

KARTOFFLE BALLA (POTATO b.a.l.l.s)

Boil until tender, 8 medium-sized (not pared) potatoes; when quite cold remove parings and grate them; fry one finely-chopped onion in a little b.u.t.ter until a yellow-brown; add this, also 1 egg, to the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and add flour enough to mold into b.a.l.l.s; use only flour enough to hold the mixture together. The chopped onion may be omitted, and instead, brown small, dice-like pieces of bread in a little b.u.t.ter, shape dumplings into b.a.l.l.s the size of walnuts, place a teaspoonful of the browned bread crumbs in the centre of each and add also a little chopped parsley. Drop the dumplings in salted boiling water and cook uncovered from 15 to 20 minutes. When dumplings rise to the top they should be cooked sufficiently, when remove from kettle with a skimmer to a platter; cut dumplings in half and strew over them bread crumbs, browned in b.u.t.ter.

"BOOVA SHENKEL"

For this excellent "Pennsylvania German" dish, which I am positive has never before been published, take 2-1/2 pounds of stewing meat (beef preferred), season with salt and pepper and cook slowly several hours until tender.

For the filling for the circles of dough, take 12 medium-sized white potatoes, pared and thinly sliced, steamed until tender; then add seasoning to taste of salt and pepper, 2 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, 2 tablespoonfuls of finely-minced parsley and 1 finely-chopped onion (small); lastly, add 3 eggs, lightly beaten together, to the mixture.

Allow this to stand while the pastry is being prepared in the following manner: