By Laura R. Talbot

At a progressive porch party the young women sharpened their wits with the following:

The "scholars" were now dismissed for fifteen minutes' recess, while EDUCATOR CRACKERS were served. An old-fashioned hand bell called them to order.

Refreshments were next served in school lunch boxes. Candy, in boxes representing books, was given as prizes.

Beat the eggs without separating the whites and yolks; beat in the sugar, fold in the flour, salt and baking powder, sifted together, then beat in the milk. Bake in a shallow pan. Turn upon a cloth, trim off the edges, spread with jelly and roll. The cake must be rolled while hot.

II

Beat the whites and yolks separately, and gradually beat the sugar into the yolks; add the lemon juice and rind and fold in the whites and flour. By this recipe the cake is good only when the ingredients are put together properly. Beating and folding are the motions needed. One not understanding how to mix a true sponge cake should omit the lemon juice and use the baking powder. The recipe for Swedish sponge cake, frequently given in these pages, makes a good cake for a jelly roll.

Query 1627.—"Recipe for Currants, Bar-le-duc."

Bar-le-Duc Currants

The preserve known by the above caption can be made at home, but, as the process of removing the seeds from the currants is tedious, most people prefer buying to making this preserve. We have had good success with the following recipe: Take selected currants of large size, one by one, and with tiny embroidery scissors carefully cut the skin on one side, making a slit one-fourth an inch or less in length. Through this with a sharp needle remove the seeds, one at a time, to preserve the shape of the currant. Take the weight of the currants in strained honey, and when hot add the currants. Let simmer two or three minutes, then seal as jelly. If the juice of the currants liquefy the honey too much, carefully skim out the currants and reduce the syrup at a gentle simmer to the desired consistency, then replace the currants and store as above.

The above recipe gives a confection equal to that put up in France. The following recipe, which entails less work, gives a nice preserve.

Currants, Bar-le-Duc

Get the largest size currants, red or white, and stem them without breaking. To each pound allow three pounds of sugar. Take some ordinary currants and bruise them while warm until you have a pint of juice. Put half a cup of this into a porcelain kettle and add three pounds of sugar. Bring slowly to a boil and skim very carefully. After boiling five minutes drop in very carefully one pound of the large currants and let simmer four minutes. Take them out without breaking them, and boil the syrup down five minutes, or longer if not very thick; as the currants are sometimes less juicy than at others, a few minutes more will be needed at one time than another. When thick, skim well and strain through a hot cloth over the fruit. Put into little jelly glasses and when cold cover as in jelly making.

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Query 1628.—"Recipe for Preserving and Crystallizing Ginger Root."

Preserving Ginger Root

Purchase the "stem" ginger. Take the weight of the ginger in sugar. Cover the ginger with boiling water and let cook rapidly till very tender. Dissolve the sugar in some of the water in which the ginger was cooked. Use about one-fourth as much water as sugar. Let cook to a thin syrup; skim, then put in the ginger and let simmer very slowly till the syrup is nearly absorbed, then cook more quickly, stirring meanwhile to cause the sugar to grain until the ginger is well glazed. Or, remove the ginger from the syrup, when it has absorbed a sufficient quantity, drain, cut in strips and roll in granulated sugar. A third method gives good results, but for lack of proper appliances is not used by amateurs.

Query 1629.—"Recipe for Mexican Tamale. Also give the number of this magazine in which a recipe for Cheese Custard was given."

Mexican Tamales

Have a chicken cooked tender in boiling water to cover; remove the meat and chop it fine; return the bones to the broth. From fresh corn husks select a wide leaf of husk for each tamale, or use dry husks steamed until pliable. Remove and discard the seeds from a dozen red chili peppers and chop the pods very fine; peel six large tomatoes and squeeze the seeds from them. Mix the tomato and pepper and let simmer twenty minutes, or until well reduced. Stir enough of the hot chicken liquor into three cups of corn meal to thoroughly moisten it, then let it stand half an hour. When everything is ready, mix the tomato and pepper with the chicken, adding a teaspoonful or more of salt as is needed to season. Salt should also be added to the corn meal, if the broth in which it was mixed had not been seasoned. Put a layer of corn meal into the corn husk and on this put two tablespoonfuls of the chicken and tomato mixture. Let the chicken come nearly to the ends of the corn meal, and the corn meal well up to the ends of the husk. Keeping the husk between the fingers and the meal, fold the meal over the chicken, from each side, to enclose the chicken completely; roll the husks over the whole, turn up the ends and tie them securely, using narrow strips torn from the husks for the purpose. Put the tamales on the top of the bones in the chicken broth, taking care that the bones keep them well out of the broth. Cover closely and let simmer one hour. Serve hot.

Cheese Custard

The recipe for Cheese Custard was given on page 286, and the illustration of the same, on page 285 of the January, 1910, issue of the magazine.

Query 1630.—"Recipes for a 'Saltine' or Salted Cracker, a Soda Cracker and Rum Omelette."

Recipes for Crackers

We are unable to supply proper recipes for making crackers.

Rum Omelet

Beat the eggs without separating till a full spoonful can be taken up; add sugar, salt and liquid and mix thoroughly. Melt the butter in the hot omelet pan, turn in the egg mixture, shake the pan till the omelet is cooked, roll and turn upon a hot platter; pour over the rum, light it and send to the table, at once, while it is burning. Roll the omelet when it is a little underdone.

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Query 1631.—"Recipes for Lady Baltimore Cake, Peanut Cookies and Maple-Walnut Sundae."

Lady Baltimore Cake

Filling and Frosting

Cook the sugar and water to 242° Fahr. Finish as any boiled frosting, adding the fruit and nuts at the last.

Peanut Cookies

Mix in the usual manner; add the egg, beaten without separating the white from the yolk. Reserve a few whole halves of nuts to garnish the tops of the cookies, and add the rest, pounded fine, at the last. Drop in a buttered tin, a teaspoonful in a place, and some distance apart. The recipe makes two dozen cookies.

Maple-Walnut Sundae

Prepare vanilla or lemon ice cream. Turn one or two tablespoonfuls of maple syrup into a glass cup; in this dispose a ball or cone of the ice cream, pour on one or two tablespoonfuls of maple syrup and sprinkle with nut meats, chopped rather coarse. Pecans or English walnuts are generally used. Butternuts are also good for this purpose.

Query 1632.—"Recipe for the rice cooked with tomatoes, cheese, peppers and bacon given in the 'Menus for a Week in May,' in this magazine."

Rice with Bacon and Tomatoes

Parboil three-fourths a cup of rice in cold water, drain on a sieve, rinse with cold water and drain again. Cut three or four thin slices of bacon into half-inch pieces and cook until crisp and light colored. Add the blanched rice to the bits of bacon. In the fat cook half a green or red pepper, cut in shreds, until softened and yellowed, then add the pepper and fat to the rice with three cups of boiling water or stock and three-fourths a teaspoonful of salt, and let cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Add a cup of well-reduced tomato purÉe and half a cup or more of grated cheese. Mix thoroughly and let stand over boiling water to become very hot.

Query 1633.—"Recipe for Peach Cordial, and Angel Cake containing cornstarch."

Peach Cordial

Mash ripe or nearly ripe peaches to a pulp. To eight pounds of pulp allow one quart of water. Let the whole be heated to the boiling point, then press out the juice. To each gallon of juice add two pounds of loaf sugar. Let stand until it has fermented and when clear bottle and seal.

Angel Cake with Cornstarch

Beat the white of eggs till foamy; add the cream of tartar and beat until dry; beat in the sugar gradually; add the extract, then fold in the flour and cornstarch, sifted together. Bake in an unbuttered tube pan. It will take from thirty to fifty minutes according to the size of the pan.

Squire's Luncheon Tongue

With a thin, sharp knife cut Squire's Luncheon Tongue in thin slices. Serve with hot spinach, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, green corn, string or shell beans. To the cooked vegetables add butter and a palatable seasoning of salt and pepper. For a more hearty dish serve the vegetables with a cream sauce; if a still more elaborate dish appeals to you, cover the creamed vegetable with cracker crumbs mixed with melted butter and let stand in the oven until the crumbs are nicely browned. When a cold dish is desirable, serve the tongue with any of the above vegetables dressed as a salad. Any variety of salad dressing may be used, but with spinach, sauce tartare is particularly good. Press the spinach while hot into molds; when cold and firm unmold each shape on a slice of tongue and dispose the sauce above or around the spinach. To make sauce tartare, add to a cup of mayonnaise dressing two tablespoonfuls, each, of fine chopped capers, olives, parsley and cucumber pickles. French dressing—oil, vinegar, salt and pepper—suffice for lettuce and tomatoes served with the tongue, though mayonnaise or a boiled dressing made without oil are to be commended with tomatoes, thus served. A slice or two of the tongue chopped fine is a good ingredient with onion, bread crumbs and such seasonings as are available for stuffed tomatoes.

SQUIRE'S LUNCHEON TONGUE

¶ This is a ready-to-serve cooked meat, its uses being the same as our Boiled Ham, for sandwiches and as a cold meat, and is also fine for salads, or in any way in which a tongue is used. ¶ The tongues are selected for size and quality, thoroughly cooked until tender, after which all gristle and the little bone at the root is removed. ¶ They are packed in tins holding twelve tongues and weighing about six pounds. ¶ After being placed in the tins, the tongues are covered with a jelly, which, when it congeals, serves to bind the meat into one piece. Put up in this form it is easy to slice thin, or, the tongues can be served whole if desired. ¶ The pans are carefully wrapped in parchment paper. ¶ The appearance is inviting, the tongues are whole and the jelly keeps them fresh and retains their delicious flavor, possible in no other way. ¶ These goods being sold within a short time after being cooked and packed, they have a better flavor than canned tongue. ¶ The quality, purity and care in preparing Luncheon Tongue is the same as that of all other Squire products. ¶ It is convenient, as any quantity, from one slice to a whole pan, can be purchased.

JOHN P. SQUIRE & CO., BOSTON, MASS.

Visitors are always welcome at our plant and restaurant in Cambridge

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