Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit Part 40

EGGS--"EIERKUCHEN" OR OMELETTE

For this excellent omelette or "eierkuchen," as Aunt Sarah called it, she used the following:

3 fresh eggs.

1 cup sweet milk.

3 level tablespoonfuls of flour.

She placed on the range a small fry pan (size of a tea plate), containing one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter. She then placed 3 tablespoonfuls of flour in a bowl, mixed smoothly with a portion of the cup of milk, then added the three yolks of eggs which had been lightly beaten and the balance of the milk and a pinch of salt.

Lastly, she stirred in lightly the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs.

Poured all into the warmed fry-pan and placed it in a moderately hot oven until lightly browned on top. The omelette when cooked should be light and puffy, and remain so while being served. Double the omelette together on a hot platter and sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the top. Serve immediately.

HARD BOILED EGGS

Eggs to be hard boiled should be carefully placed in boiling water and cooked 15 minutes from the time the water commences to boil again.

If cooked a longer time, the white of egg will look dark and the outer part of yolk will not be a clear yellow, as it should, to look appetizing when served.

SOFT BOILED EGGS

The quicker way to prepare eggs is to drop them in a stew-pan containing boiling water, and let boil 3-1/2 to 4 minutes, when the white part of the egg should be "set" and the yolk soft, but a soft boiled egg is said to be more easily digested if dropped into a stew-pan of rapidly boiling water; remove the stew-pan of boiling water the minute the eggs have been put in from the front part of the range to a place where the water will keep hot, but not allow the eggs to boil. Let the eggs remain in the hot water from 8 to 10 minutes. On breaking the egg open, the yolk will be found soft, and the white of the egg a soft, jelly-like consistency. This latter is the way Aunt Sarah taught Mary.

AN EGG AND TOMATO OMELETTE

Beat the yolks of three eggs until light, then add three tablespoonfuls of water. Beat the whites of the eggs separately. Turn the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs into the bowl containing the yolks of eggs and water. Stir lightly together and add a pinch of salt. Turn all into a small fry-pan containing a generous tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and cook on top of stove until the eggs are set, then place the pan containing omelette in a hot oven and finish cooking. When cooked, turn out on a hot platter and spread over the top the following, which was prepared while the omelette was cooking.

In a small fry-pan place a tablespoonful of finely-chopped bacon. When fried brown add half a small tomato, finely chopped, 1/4 of an onion, chopped fine, and a little chopped green pepper. Cook all together for a short time and season with salt and pepper. After spreading the mixture on the omelette, fold over and serve on a hot platter. This recipe had been given Frau Schmidt years before by a friend and she used no other for making omelette. Always make small omelettes. They are more satisfactory. Use a small pan no larger than a small tea plate, and, if wished, make two small, rather than one large one.

Always serve immediately.

MUSHROOM OMELETTE

Place the yolks of three eggs in a bowl and beat until light. Add a teaspoonful of cream and 1/2 teaspoonful of flour mixed together; 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms, salt and pepper and a dust of baking powder.

Lastly, the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs. Turn into a pan containing two tablespoonfuls of melted b.u.t.ter, stand on range a few minutes until eggs are set, then finish cooking in a hot oven. Serve at once.

A few cold, steamed mushrooms (left-overs), if finely chopped, and added to a plain omelette or roast, will improve the flavor.

A CLAM OMELETTE

Two eggs beaten separately, 1 scant cup of milk, 1 tablespoonful of flour, 6 clams run through a food-chopper. Place in a bowl the tablespoon of flour and mix smooth with a little of the milk. Then add the two yolks of eggs and beat well together. Add the milk, salt and pepper, the chopped clams, and lastly the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs, and add a trifle more flour, if necessary. Drop a couple of tablespoons at a time in a large fry-pan containing a couple of tablespoons of b.u.t.ter or drippings. They spread out about the size of a small saucer. Fry as many at a time as the pan will conveniently hold without running together. Turn when browned lightly on one side, and when the other side has cooked fold together and serve at once.

Garnish with parsley. These are very easily made for luncheon, and are very nice served with fried chicken.

DEVILED EGGS

Boil half a dozen eggs until hard. Remove sh.e.l.ls, cut in halves, mash the yolks to a smooth paste with about 1/2 teaspoon mixed mustard, 1 teaspoon softened b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt to taste. Some like a small quant.i.ty of cold boiled minced ham added. When ingredients are well mixed, press enough of this mixture into the cup-shaped whites of eggs to form a rounding top. Serve on a platter of parsley. To boil eggs uniformly, they should be placed in a wire basket and plunged into boiling water and boiled not longer than 15 to 20 minutes from time water commences to boil, then pour cold water over and sh.e.l.l them.

EGGS IN CREAM SAUCE

Four eggs, boiled hard, cut in halves lengthwise, then across, each egg cut in four pieces. A cream sauce was made using 1/2 cups sweet milk, 1-1/2 tablespoons flour, 1 generous tablespoon of b.u.t.ter, seasoned with salt. After letting milk come to a boil and adding flour mixed smoothly with a little cold milk or water, add b.u.t.ter and cook until a thick creamy consistency, then add the quartered eggs to sauce. Stand a few minutes until heated through. Pour the creamed eggs over four or five slices of nicely-toasted bread. Sprinkle a little finely-chopped parsley and a pinch of pepper over top and serve at once. This is a delicious and quickly prepared luncheon dish.

A very wholesome and digestible way to prepare an egg is to put yolk and white of a fresh egg together in a bowl, beat lightly, pour over the egg a pint of rich milk, which has been heated to the boiling point. Add a pinch of salt. Stir constantly while slowly adding the milk. The hot milk should slightly cook the egg. Eat slowly with crackers or toasted bread.

AUNT SARAH'S METHOD OF PRESERVING EGGS WITH LIQUID WATER GLa.s.s

Aunt Sarah for many years preserved eggs in water gla.s.s, or soluble gla.s.s, also known as "Sodium Silicate," a thick liquid about the consistency of mola.s.ses. It is not expensive and may easily be procured at any drug store. She used the water gla.s.s in the proportion of 10 quarts of water to one pint of the water gla.s.s. The water gla.s.s, although in liquid form, is usually sold by the pound, and 1-1/2 pounds equals one pint. The water should always he boiled and allowed to cool before combining with the water gla.s.s.

She was particular to use none but perfectly clean, fresh eggs. She placed the eggs, narrow end down, in an earthenware crock which had been well scalded and cooled. When the water gla.s.s had been thoroughly mixed through the water she poured the mixture over the eggs in the crock.

A stronger solution might be used to preserve the eggs, but Aunt Sarah declared she used eggs for baking cake which were good at the expiration of a year, which had been preserved in a mixture of 10 quarts of water to a pint of water gla.s.s, and she considered this proportion perfectly reliable. So I do not see the need of using a large quant.i.ty of the water gla.s.s, although many recipes call for a mixture of one pint of water gla.s.s to only 8 quarts of water.

Fresh eggs may be added daily until the crock is filled, having the mixture at least one inch above the last layer of eggs. It is best not to wash the eggs before packing, as this removes the natural mucilaginous coating on the outside of the sh.e.l.l. Place clean, fresh eggs carefully into the crock containing the water gla.s.s and water, with a long-handled spoon to avoid cracking the sh.e.l.l. Stand the crock containing eggs in a cool place, cover with a cloth tied over top of crock, avoiding frequent change of temperature; they should keep one year. The water gla.s.s solution may become cloudy, and resemble a soft-soap mixture, but this is a natural condition and does not affect the eggs.

April is considered the best month for packing eggs. Infertile eggs are to be preferred to others. Carefully remove the eggs from the water gla.s.s mixture with a long-handled spoon when wanted to use, as the sh.e.l.ls are sometimes not quite as hard as when placed in the crock. The eggs may be used for cooking, baking, in fact, for any purpose except soft-boiled but should you wish to boil them, a tiny puncture should be made in the sh.e.l.l of these eggs before boiling.

Ten quarts of water to one pint of water gla.s.s will cover about 12 or 13 dozen eggs.

TO TEST FRESH EGGS.

Place an egg in a tumbler, fill tumbler with cold water. If eggs are fresh they will remain in the bottom of tumbler. If not strictly fresh the egg will float on the top, or near the top of tumbler of water.

SALADS--AUNT SARAH'S SALAD DRESSING

For this she used 1 pint of sour cream, 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of mustard (pulverized dry mustard), 3 eggs, 1/4 cup b.u.t.ter (or 1/4 cup of olive oil may be used instead, if liked), 1/2 cup good sour vinegar, 1/2 teaspoonful of black pepper and a pinch of red pepper (cayenne), salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of sugar.

Place in a bowl the 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of flour with the same quant.i.ty of mustard; mix smoothly with a little of the sour cream.

Then add the eggs, beaten in one at a time, or use, instead, the yolks of five eggs. When using the whites for angel cake or any white cake Aunt Sarah usually made salad dressing from the remaining yolks of eggs. Add the sour cream and vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix all well together and strain through a fine sieve and cook in a double boiler over hot water until a creamy consistency. Pour in gla.s.s jars. This dressing will keep well on ice or in a cool place for two weeks. If too thick, thin with a little vinegar, water or milk when using it.

About 3/4 of a cup of this dressing was used for mixing with 1 cup of the meat of cold, cooked chicken in making chicken salad. The white meat of chicken was cut in dice and 3/4 cup of celery was also cut in small pieces, a couple of hard boiled eggs, cut in dice, were added and the whole was carefully mixed with the salad dressing. Cold boiled veal or pork may be used instead of chicken for salad. Potato salad was sometimes prepared by using a small quant.i.ty of this dressing, adding, also, minced onion, parsley and celery. Hot slaw was prepared by heating a couple of tablespoonfuls of the salad dressing and mixing with shredded cabbage. Or use as a dressing for lettuce when not served "Au Natural" with olive oil and vinegar at the table.

Should very _thick_, sour cream be used in making "Aunt Sarah's salad dressing," use a mixture of sour cream and sweet milk, instead of all sour cream.

"DUTCH" CUc.u.mBER SALAD

Thinly slice one large green cuc.u.mber and one medium-sized onion (if liked). Sprinkle over about one teaspoonful of salt. Allow to stand a short time, then place in a piece of cheese-cloth and squeeze out all the moisture possible. Place cuc.u.mbers, when drained, in the dish in which they are to be served, add a couple tablespoonfuls of sour vinegar, mix well. Then pour over enough thick sour cream to half cover and a dust of pepper. Cuc.u.mbers are considered less unwholesome, prepared in this manner.

CARROT SALAD

Aunt Sarah pared and cut 1-1/2 cups of uncooked carrots in thin strips, not much larger than common match sticks, and cooked in salted water until tender. When drained, pour over them a couple of tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Allowed to stand until cold. When ready to prepare the salad she drained off vinegar remaining. Lined a salad bowl with lettuce leaves or parsley, placed inside this a border of halved or sliced cold hard-boiled eggs; mixed the carrots lightly with salad dressing, placed them in the centre of the bowl and served ice cold. This is a particularly delicious, as well as an appetizing looking, salad. I have never eaten this elsewhere than at Aunt Sarah's home.

"AN OLD RECIPE" FOR CHICKEN SALAD

Two dressed chickens were cooked tender. When cold, meat was removed from bones and cut in dice (not too fine). Cut half the amount of celery you have of meat into small pieces.