Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit Part 62

"FRAU SCHMIDT'S" LEMON PIE

Grated yellow rind and juice of one lemon, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of mola.s.ses, 1 egg, b.u.t.ter, size of a walnut; 1 tablespoonful of corn starch, 3/4 cup of water. Cream together the b.u.t.ter, sugar and egg, add the corn starch moistened with a little cold water, add grated rind and juice of one lemon, mola.s.ses, and lastly add water. Cook all ingredients together. When cool fill 2 or 3 small pie-tins lined with rich pastry; cover with top crust and bake.

PICKLES--SPICED CUc.u.mBERS

24 medium-sized cuc.u.mbers.

6 medium-sized onions.

3 red peppers.

3 green peppers.

Pare cuc.u.mbers, then cut in inch lengths. Slice onions and peppers quite thin. Place all in a large earthenware bowl and sprinkle over about 1/2 cup of table salt; mix all well together, let stand four or five hours, when place in a colander; cover with a plate and drain off all the salt water possible or squeeze through a cheese-cloth bag.

Boil together for 10 minutes the following; 1 quart of vinegar, 1 tablespoonful of cloves, 1 teaspoonful of turmeric powder (dissolved in a little of the vinegar) and 1 scant cup of sugar. Add the cuc.u.mbers, peppers and onions to the hot vinegar. Let come to a boil and allow all to boil two minutes, then place in sterilised jars and seal.

MIXED SAUCE TO SERVE WITH MEATS

Yolks of 4 eggs.

1/2 cup sugar.

1 tablespoonful mixed yellow mustard.

1 tablespoonful olive oil.

1 teaspoonful salt.

1 tablespoonful vinegar with flavor of peppers.

Thin with vinegar and boil until thick. Add 1 teaspoonful of grated horseradish.

To flavor vinegar cover finely-cut green and red peppers with vinegar and allow all to stand about 24 hours, then strain and use the vinegar.

PEPPER RELISH

Chop fine 12 sweet red peppers, 12 sweet green peppers and 8 small onions. Put all in a bowl and cover with boiling water and let stand five minutes. Drain off, cover again with boiling water and let stand ten minutes. Then place in an agate colander or muslin bag and let drain over night. The following morning add 1 quart of good sour vinegar, 1-1/2 cups sugar, 2 even teaspoonfuls salt and boil 20 minutes. While hot fill air-tight jars. This is excellent.

PICKLED RED CABBAGE

Shred red cabbage, not too fine, and sprinkle liberally with salt.

Stand in a cool place 24 hours. Then press all moisture from the cabbage, having it as dry as possible; stand the earthen bowl containing the cabbage in the sun for a couple of hours. Take a sufficient quant.i.ty of vinegar to cover the cabbage. A little water may be added to the vinegar if too sour. Add 1 cup sugar to a gallon of vinegar and a small quant.i.ty of celery seed, pepper, mace, allspice and cinnamon. Boil all about five minutes and pour at once over the cabbage. The hot vinegar will restore the bright red color to the cabbage. Keep in stone jar.

MUSTARD PICKLES

24 cuc.u.mbers, 1 quart of small onions, 6 peppers, 2 heads of cauliflower, 4 cups of sugar, or less; celery or celery seed, 3 quarts of good vinegar, 1/2 pound of ground yellow mustard, 1 tablespoonful turmeric powder, 3/4 cup of flour.

The seeds were removed from the cuc.u.mbers and cuc.u.mbers were cut in inch-length pieces, or use a few medium-sized cuc.u.mbers cut in several pieces and some quite small cuc.u.mbers. (The quant.i.ty of cuc.u.mbers when measured should be the same as if the larger ones had been used.) One quart of small whole onions, 6 peppers, red, green and yellow, two of each, cut in small pieces. Place all together in an agate preserving kettle and let stand in salt water over night. In the morning put on the range, the vegetables in agate kettle, let boil a few minutes, then drain well. Take three quarts of good vingar, 4 cups of sugar, if liked quite sweet; 2 teaspoons of either celery seed or celery cut in small pieces. Put the vinegar, sugar and celery in a preserving kettle, stand on stove and let come to a boil; then add the other ingredients. When boiling have ready a half pound of ground mustard, 3/4 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder, all mixed to a smooth paste with a little water. Cook until the mixture thickens. Add all the other ingredients and boil until tender. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Can while hot in gla.s.s air-tight jars.

AUNT SARAH'S CUc.u.mBER PICKLES

Always use the cuc.u.mbers which come late in the season for pickles.

Cut small green cuc.u.mbers from vine, leaving a half-inch of stem.

Scrub with vegetable brush, place in a bowl and pour over a brine almost strong enough to float an egg; 3/4 cup of salt to seven cups of cold water is about the right proportion. Allow them to stand over night in this brine. Drain off salt water in the morning. Heat a small quant.i.ty of the salt water and pour over small onions which have been "skinned." Use half the quant.i.ty of onions you have of cuc.u.mbers, or less. Allow the onions to stand in hot salt water on back of range a short time. Heat 1 cup of good sharp cider vinegar, if too sour, add 1/2 cup of water, also add 1 teaspoonful of sugar, a couple of whole cloves; add cuc.u.mbers and onions (drained from salt water, after piercing each cuc.u.mber several times with a silver fork). Place a layer at a time in an agate stew-pan containing hot vinegar. Allow them to remain a few minutes until heated through, when fill heated gla.s.s jars with cuc.u.mbers and onions; pour hot vinegar over until jars are quite full. Place rubbers on jars and screw on tops. These pickles will be found, when jars are opened in six months' time, almost as crisp and fine as when pickles are prepared, when taken fresh from the vines in summer. Allow jars to stand 12 hours, when screw down tops again. Press a knife around the edge of jar tops before standing away to be sure the jars are perfectly air-tight.

"ROT PFEFFERS" FILLED WITH CABBAGE

Cut the tops from the stem end of twelve sweet (not hot) red peppers or "rot pfeffers," as Aunt Sarah called them. Carefully remove seeds, do not break outside sh.e.l.l of peppers. Cut one head of cabbage quite fine on a slaw-cutter; add to the cabbage 1 even tablespoonful of fine salt, 2 tablespoonfuls of whole yellow mustard seed (a very small amount of finely shredded, hot, red pepper may be added if liked quite peppery). Mix all together thoroughly, fill peppers with this mixture, pressing it rather tightly into the sh.e.l.ls; place tops on pepper cases, tie down with cord. Place upright in stone jar, in layers; cover with cold vinegar. If vinegar is very strong add a small quant.i.ty of water. Tie heavy paper over top of jar and stand away in a cool place until used. These may be kept several months and will still be good at the end of that time.

AN OLD RECIPE FOR SPICED PICKLES

500 small cuc.u.mbers.

2 oz. of allspice.

3 gallons vinegar.

1/4 pound of black pepper.

3 quarts salt.

1 oz cloves.

6 ounces of alum.

Horseradish to flavor.

Add sugar according to strength of vinegar. Place cuc.u.mbers and pieces of horseradish in alternate layers in a stone jar, then put salt over them and cover with boiling water. Allow pickles to stand 24 hours in this brine, then pour off brine and wash pickles in cold water. Boil spices and vinegar together and pour over the pickles. In two weeks they will be ready to use. Pickles made over this recipe are excellent.

AUNT SARAH'S RECIPE FOR CHILI SAUCE

18 large red tomatoes.

10 medium-sized onions.

10 sweet peppers (green or red).

1 cup sugar.

3 scant tablespoonfuls salt.

1-1/2 cups vinegar (cider vinegar).

Tie in a small cheese cloth bag the following:

1 large teaspoonful whole allspice.

1 large teaspoonful whole cloves.

About the same quant.i.ty of stick cinnamon.

Chop tomatoes, onions and peppers rather finely; add vinegar, sugar and salt and the bag of spices and cook slowly about 2-1/2 hours. Fill air-tight gla.s.s jars with the mixture while hot. This is a particularly fine recipe of Aunt Sarah's.

This quant.i.ty will fill five pint jars. Canned tomatoes may be used when fresh ones are not available.

TOMATO CATSUP

1-1/2 peck ripe tomatoes, washed and cut in small pieces; also four large onions, sliced. Stew together until tender enough to mash through a fine sieve, reject seeds. This quant.i.ty of tomato juice should, when measured, be about four good quarts. Put tomato juice into a kettle on range, add one pint of vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1-1/2 tablespoons salt; place in a cheese cloth bag 1 ounce of whole black pepper, 1 ounce whole cloves, 1 ounce allspice, 1 ounce yellow mustard seed and add to catsup. Boil down one-half. Bottle and seal while boiling hot. Boil bottles and corks before bottling catsup. Pour melted sealing-wax over corks to make them air-tight, unless self-sealing bottles are used.