Boiled Eggs.

THE white and yolk should be equally well cooked in a boiled egg, the white being soft and creamy. Put the eggs in a deep saucepan, and pour over them a generous amount of boiling water,—one quart or more of water for four eggs. Cover the saucepan, and set on a part of the range where it is so cool that the hand can rest on it comfortably. At the end of ten minutes the eggs will be cooked to a soft creamy consistency. If the eggs be liked medium well done, cook for five minutes longer; if to be hard, they may remain in the water for twenty minutes.

Poached Eggs.

Put in a frying-pan boiling water to the depth of two or three inches. To each pint of water add a teaspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of vinegar. Have the water just bubbling at one side of the pan. Break an egg close to the pan, and drop it gently into the water. Continue putting in eggs until you have the required number. When the white of the egg is set, slide a cake-turner under the egg, and lift it from the water. Slide it upon a slice of buttered toast.

In most parts of New England eggs cooked in this way are called dropped.

Muffin rings may be placed in the pan of water, and the eggs be dropped into them. This gives a better shape. There are several inventions in the market by the use of which eggs can be poached easily and successfully.

Fried Eggs.

These are usually served with ham, but they may be served separately. Put into a pan any kind of clean sweet fat; ham or bacon fat is generally considered as the best. Have the fat about a quarter of an inch deep in the pan. Break the eggs separately, and slide them gently, one at a time, into the hot fat. With a long spoon dip up the fat and pour over the eggs. As soon as the whites are set, slide a cake-turner under the eggs and place them on a warm dish. They may be arranged on slices of ham, or the ham may be put in the centre of the dish, and the eggs arranged around it.

Scrambled Eggs.

Beat the eggs with a spoon. Add the salt. Put the butter on the fire, in a frying-pan, and when hot stir in the eggs. Continue stirring until the eggs begin to set. Instantly turn them into a warm dish and serve.

Eggs au Gratin.

Mix the salt, pepper, cheese, and butter with the crumbs. Beat the white of one egg to a stiff froth; then add the yolk and beat for a moment longer. Stir this egg mixture into the other ingredients.

Butter a gratin dish—or a small pie plate will do—and make little nests in it with the preparation. Cook in rather a hot oven for ten minutes. Take from the oven, and then break a fresh egg into each nest. Return to the oven and cook for three minutes longer. If there be objection to cheese, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and a few drops of onion juice may be substituted for it.

Baked Eggs.

Butter a gratin dish, or a deep pie plate, and break the required number of eggs into it. Put the plate in a moderate oven, and cook until the white is set. It will take from five to eight minutes to bake the eggs.

Pretty round and oval dishes come for this purpose. They are made of French china, and are fireproof.

Breaded Eggs.

Boil four of the eggs for ten minutes. Drop them into cold water and remove the shells. Cut the eggs in halves, lengthwise, and season them with the salt and pepper. Beat the uncooked egg in a soup plate. Dip the halves of eggs in this, and then roll in the bread crumbs. At serving time put the breaded eggs in the frying basket, and plunge into hot fat. Cook for about two minutes; then drain, and serve on a hot dish with the bisque sauce poured around them.

Creamed Eggs.

Cut the eggs into thin slices. Cut the slices of toast in halves, and lay them in a warm platter. Put the butter on the fire, in a frying-pan, and when it becomes hot add the flour. Stir until the mixture is smooth and frothy. Gradually add the cold milk, stirring all the time. When this boils up, add the salt and pepper.

Mix the eggs with the sauce and spread on the toast. Bake in a moderate oven for six minutes and serve immediately.

Egg Cutlets.

Put four of the eggs in a deep saucepan, and fill up with boiling water. Cover, and let them stand on the hearth or the coolest part of the range for twenty minutes. At the end of this time pour off the hot water and cover with cold water. Remove the shells and cut the eggs in two, lengthwise, using a plated knife.

Let a soup plate stand in hot water until heated through. Put the butter, salt, and pepper in this plate, and stir until the butter is melted. Beat the fifth egg in another soup plate, and have a third plate filled with dry and sifted bread crumbs. Drop the eggs, one at a time, in the melted butter, then in the beaten egg, and finally roll them in the crumbs. Lay them on a platter and set in a cold place until it is time to cook them; then put them in the frying basket and cook in hot fat for one minute. Serve with a bisque or curry sauce.

This dish is suitable for luncheon or supper.

Plain Omelet.

Beat the egg enough to break it well, but not to make it light. Have the omelet pan warmed, and put the butter in it. Place over a very hot fire. As soon as the butter becomes so hot that it turns slightly brown, pour the eggs into the pan. With the left hand lift the pan a little at the handle side, tipping it forward slightly, so that the liquid egg shall flow to the other side. As soon as the egg begins to set, draw it up to the raised side of the pan. While the egg is yet quite soft, begin to roll the omelet. Begin at the left hand, and turn over in small folds until the lower part of the pan is reached. Let the omelet rest a few seconds, and then turn out on a hot dish.

The work of making an omelet is very simple, but there must be intense heat, and the work of folding and removing from the pan must be done rapidly. Practice is essential to perfect omelet making. The great mistake which beginners usually make is, that they work too slowly, and cook the omelet too much. It should be a soft, creamy mass when done.

One can make a great variety of omelets by adding a few spoonfuls of any kind of delicate meat, fish, or vegetable, hashed fine and heated in a sauce. Spread the heated mixture on the omelet before you begin to fold it.

Baked Omelet.

Heat one gill of the milk to the boiling point. Mix the corn starch with the half-gill of cold milk and stir into the boiling milk. Cook for one minute, stirring all the time. Add the salt and butter, and take from the fire. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately; then stir them into the cooked ingredients. Turn the mixture into a buttered baking dish and cook in a moderate oven for about twelve minutes. Serve at once.

Bread Omelet.

Have the bread free from crust. Pour the boiling water over it. When soft, add the salt and milk, and break up with a spoon. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately, and stir into the bread mixture. Put the butter in a frying-pan of good size, and set on the fire. When hot, turn in the omelet, and cook until it begins to set; drawing it back a little, as you would a plain omelet. Fold, and brown slightly. Turn out on a hot dish, and serve at once.

Break the cheese into small bits. Beat the egg, and add the other ingredients to it. Put the mixture in a small saucepan, which place in another of boiling water. Stir over the fire until the mixture becomes a smooth, creamy mass. Immediately spread this on the hot toast, and serve. The rarebit can be made on the table in the chafing dish.

Roasted Oyster Crackers.

Melt the butter in the water; then stir the crackers into the mixture, that they may all get a slight coating of butter and water. Spread them in a shallow pan and put in a hot oven for ten or twelve minutes. They should be brown and glossy at the end of that time. Serve in a deep dish with oyster soup or oyster stew.

Fried Bread.

Cut slices of stale bread into half-inch squares. Put into a small frying-pan or granite-ware saucepan six tablespoonfuls of lard, and set on the fire. When the lard is so hot that it smokes all over, put in one square of the bread. If this becomes browned in one minute and a half, the lard is hot enough; if it is not hot enough, make another test very soon. Now put in the rest of the squares of bread,—there should be about half a pint. Fry until brown, which will be in about a minute and a half. While the bread is frying, stir it with a fork, in order that all parts may be equally browned. Take from the fat with a skimmer and drain on brown paper. When the fat has become slightly cooled, strain it through a piece of cheese-cloth and it will be ready to use again.

This bread is to serve with tomato, pea, and other soups.

Maple Syrup from Sugar.

Break up a pound of maple sugar and put it in a saucepan with half a pint of hot water. Boil for ten minutes. Pour into a pitcher, and when cold, cover, and put in a cool place. It is well to buy maple sugar in the spring and keep it in a cool, dry place for use in making syrup until the fresh syrup comes the next year.

Batter for Fruit Fritters.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the milk, and beat the batter until light and smooth. Add the butter, and beat again. Finally add the egg, well beaten. This batter will answer for any kind of fruit.

Apple Fritters.

Core and pare large tart apples. Cut them in slices about one third of an inch thick. Season the slices with nutmeg, then dip them in the batter. Lift them, one by one, from the batter and drop gently into hot fat. Cook for three minutes; then lift from the fat, drain, and serve immediately. Powdered sugar may be sprinkled on the fritters when they are arranged on the dish.

Peaches, bananas, oranges, grapes, pears, etc., may be cooked in the form of fritters.

Mix the flour with one gill of cold milk. Put the remainder of the milk in the double-boiler and set on the fire. When the milk boils, stir in the flour mixture, and cook for ten minutes. Toast the bread till it is nicely and evenly browned. Stir the salt and butter into the cooking mixture; then dip the slices of toast in it. Lay the toast in a deep warm dish and pour the remainder of the cream over it. Cover the dish and serve.

Indian, brown, or graham bread may be used for this toast.

Baked Toast.

For this toast use a flat dish, such as comes for baking eggs, or a meat platter of stone china. Toast the bread and spread it, one slice deep, in the platter. Cover it with cold milk, and put in a moderately hot oven. When the milk is boiling hot, add bits of butter, and let the toast cook for one minute longer. Serve in the dish in which it was cooked. If salt be liked, sprinkle a little on the toast before the milk is added.

Allow one pint of milk and one teaspoonful of butter to five slices of toast.

If cream be plentiful, use that, and omit the butter.

Soft Butter Toast.

Toast stale bread till nicely browned. Dip it quickly into hot salted water, spread it with soft butter, and serve.

The butter must be only soft enough to spread easily. It will spoil it to melt it.

Use one teaspoonful of salt to a quart of boiling water.

Toast crackers and drop them into a cream, made as for milk toast. Let them soak in this for ten minutes; then dish and serve.

The crackers will be more delicate if they be soaked in cold water and toasted as for butter toast before being put in the cream.

Cracker Butter Toast.

Split Boston butter crackers and soak them in cold water until they begin to swell. Remove them from the water and drain on a plate. Arrange in the double-broiler and toast brown on both sides. Butter, and serve at once on a hot dish.

Mush.

Time was when the housekeeper was limited to three or four kinds of material for mush; but that is all changed, and the market is filled with many different preparations of wheat, oats, corn, etc. Each new article is pronounced by its makers to be the best. One of the principal recommendations which each manufacturer claims for his product is that it can be cooked in a short time. Many good articles that are prepared for the table by the printed directions on the package, calling for about ten minutes’ cooking, are discarded because of unsatisfactory results, whereas if the cooking were continued for half an hour or more the dish would be delicious. It must be remembered that all cereals require thorough cooking, because of the starch in them. No matter what the cereal product may be, it should be cooked not less than half an hour.

Be sure to have the full quantity of water called for in the receipt, and to have it boiling when the meal is stirred into it. When dry meal is to be sprinkled into boiling water, stir the water briskly for a few moments before adding the meal, and stir constantly while the meal is being sprinkled in. Rules can be given here for only a few kinds of cereals, but these rules can be followed in cooking almost any one of the breakfast cereals.

Oatmeal Mush.

Stir the boiling water; then sprinkle in the oatmeal, stirring all the time. After adding the salt, cover the stewpan, and set back where the contents will cook gently for half an hour or longer. Do not stir the mush after the first five minutes.

Corn Meal Mush.

Put the meal in a stewpan and gradually pour the boiling water upon it, stirring all the time. Add the salt, and put the stewpan where the mush will cook gently for an hour or more. Stir frequently, and keep the stewpan covered.

Fried Mush.

Mix the dry ingredients well in a stewpan and pour the boiling water on them, stirring all the time. Beat vigorously and cook slowly for three hours, keeping the stewpan covered. At the end of that time dip a small bread-pan in cold water, and pour the mush into it, packing smoothly. Set away to cool.

In the morning turn the mush out on a board and cut in slices about half an inch thick. Roll these in dry flour and fry in hot fat until brown. Drain on sheets of brown paper, and serve very hot.

Boiled Hominy.

Wash the hominy in two or three waters, and stir into the boiling water. Add the salt. Cover the stewpan, and set where the hominy will cook gently for half an hour or more. Stir frequently. Use the fine breakfast hominy. This mush may be served with sugar and milk, or as a vegetable, with meat.

Fried Hominy.

Cook the hominy as directed in the rule for boiled hominy. Wet a deep dish and pour the hot hominy into it. When cold, cut in slices about half an inch thick. Roll the sliced hominy in flour.

Put two tablespoonfuls of sweet drippings in the frying-pan and place on the fire. When the fat is hot, lay in the slices of hominy. Cover the pan, and cook until brown on one side; then turn, and brown on the other. It will take about twenty minutes’ time to brown the hominy. Serve very hot. Bacon or ham fat is the best for this dish.

Hominy Cakes.

Beat the hominy well with a fork, and add the seasonings and the egg, well beaten. Shape with the hands into small, flat cakes, and, after sprinkling these lightly with flour, fry them until brown on one side, and then turn and brown on the other side. Beef, pork, ham, bacon, or sausage fat may be used for frying. Do not use more than the tablespoonful.

These cakes are good for breakfast, luncheon, or tea.

Fruit Sauces.

All kinds of fruit may be used for sauces. The juicy fruits will require but little water, whereas the dry ones will need a great deal. The amount of sugar used in these fruit sauces depends upon the acidity of the fruit and the taste of the family. If the fruit is to be kept whole, add the sugar when the fruit is put on to stew, and cook slowly.

Never cook fruit in tin.

Fruit sauces that are to be served with meats should have very little sugar added to them.

Baked Sweet Apples.

Wash and wipe the apples. Put them in a deep earthen dish, with water enough to come up about an inch. Sprinkle sugar over the apples and bake in a moderate oven for two hours. Baste them twice with the water in the dish. Six apples will require two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a scant half-pint of water.

Baked Sour Apples.

Wash, wipe, and core six large apples, and place them in a deep earthen dish. Fill the holes with sugar, and sprinkle two extra tablespoonfuls over the apples. Pour a gill of hot water into the dish. Bake in a moderately hot oven until tender. It will take about an hour’s time to cook them.

Pare, core, and cut tart apples in slices about half an inch thick. Dip the slices into melted butter, and broil them over rather a bright fire. When soft, put them on a warm dish and sprinkle with sugar. Serve at once.

Fried Apples.

Pare and slice the apples. Put the drippings in a frying-pan and set on the fire. When hot, add the apples. Cover the pan and cook until the apples are tender, turning them often. Add the sugar, and cook ten minutes longer.

These are particularly good when served hot with fresh pork.

Green Apple Sauce.

Pare, quarter, and core some tart apples and put them in a granite-ware or porcelain stewpan. Nearly cover them with water; then cover the stewpan and place on the fire. Cook until the apples are tender, and season with sugar. The exact time of cooking and the amount of sugar cannot be stated for any given measure of apples, because some apples cook so much more quickly than others, and some require more sugar.

Should you wish to have the pieces of apple kept whole in the cooking, add the sugar when the fruit is put on to stew, and cook slowly. If, on the other hand, the apple be liked all broken up and of light color, boil rapidly, and sweeten after the fruit is stewed.

Evaporated Apple Sauce.

Wash the apples and let them soak over night in the quart of cold water. In the morning put the apples and water in a granite-ware or porcelain stewpan; cover, and place on rather a cool part of the range. Cook gently for one hour; then add the sugar, and cook for half an hour longer. There should be water enough to cover the apples generously when they are put on to stew. Do not stir this sauce. The juice of a lemon may be added if you choose.

Evaporated Peaches.

Cook this fruit the same as the evaporated apples.

Evaporated Apricots.

This fruit is to be cooked the same as evaporated apples.

Baked Pears.

Wash the pears and put them, with the water and sugar, in a deep earthen dish. Cover the dish and bake the pears in a slow oven for three hours.

Stewed Prunes.

Put the prunes in a bowl of cold water. Wash them one by one by rubbing them between the hands, and drop them into a bowl of cold water. Wash them in this second water and put them in a stewpan. To half a pound of prunes add one quart of cold water. Place the stewpan on the range and cook the prunes slowly for two hours or more. When done, they will be plump and tender. Turn them into a bowl and put in a cool place.

Pick over the cranberries. Wash them, and put in a granite-ware or porcelain stewpan; then add the water and the sugar. Cook the sauce rapidly for ten or fifteen minutes; then turn into a bowl and set away to harden. This gives a sauce that will jelly. If liked softer, use a little more water.

Cranberry Jelly.

Make the same as cranberry sauce, but cook five minutes longer; then rub through a strainer fine enough to keep back the seeds.

Rhubarb Sauce.

Rhubarb may be stewed or baked. Pare and wash the stalks and cut them in pieces about an inch long; then put in a granite-ware stewpan. To a quart of the rhubarb add one gill of sugar and one gill of water, and stew gently until done; then turn into an earthen bowl. Another way is to put the rhubarb, water, and sugar in an earthen dish, cover the dish, and bake in a moderate oven for an hour and a half.

If the sauce be liked sweet more sugar may be used.

Dumplings.

Mix the dry ingredients and rub through a sieve. Wet with the milk, and stir quickly into the form of a smooth ball. Sprinkle the bread board with flour and roll the dough into a sheet about three quarters of an inch thick, which should then be cut into small cakes. If the dumplings are to be cooked with the stew, set the stewpan where the contents will cook rapidly, and arrange the dumplings on top of the stew. Cover the pan, and cook for exactly ten minutes. If they are to be steamed, place them on a plate in the steamer and cook for twelve minutes.