LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ©i^. .._'^.©a|n)n5]^1o Shelf. Q<^^ — i^i^^ UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. MES. OWENS COOK BOOK, AND USEFUL HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. <& r -n'y / By MES. FEANCES E. OWENS; - fi t>-^'c6t-:'wuHr;'i* " Six cv ^••M-^w4-iJ w; Chicago, III.: "*^* Household- Publishing Societt, 530 Pulton Steebt. J. B. SMILEY, PgBLiSHEB. 1882. A / \0 xr.5 c^*^' Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, Bt Mrs. FRANCES E. OWENS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Copyright, 1882, by Mrs. FRANCES E, . OWENS. All Rights Reserved, Copyright, 1882, l)y Mrs. FRANCES E. All Rights Reserved. OWENS. TO THOSE UNTIRING WORKERS, who are compelled to add to the Responsible Positions of Wives and Mothers THE cares and PERPLEXITIES OF HOUSEKEEPERS, WHOSE ANXIOUS LABORS' I HAVE SHARED, I Respectfully Dedicate This Book, WITH the fond hope THAT IT WILL HELP Lighten their Burdens. PREFACE. Every housewife has a notably good way of doing certain things. The province of this book is to present a large number of these successes in a cheap and convenient form for daily reference. Since it became known that I had undertaken to publish this little book, letters have come to me from friends living in all sections, containing choice cooking recipes and hints for the household, culled from practical eveiy day experience. In many cases the writers had collected from their immediate friends, thus adding to the number. The different departments will be found sufficiently elabo- rate for almost any occasion in an ordinary domestic life. But the special object of this work is to help those of our sisterhood who unite the qualities of wives, mothers and house maids. And the easiest way has been selected whenever a choice could be made with that end in view. The housewife whose means are unrestricted need not study the little harrowing details of trying to make one dollar do duty for five in providing for her table. But the masses, from sheer necessity, must count their pennies and tighten their purse strings when tempted to indulge the appetite beyond a pre- scribed limit. 6 PREarACE. There are suggestions in these pages which, if carried out, will vary a bill of fare and make it pleasing to the eye and appetizing to the palate at the smallest possible outlay of money. In the section devoted to " Hash " there are directions for using up remnants of food that will go very far towards furnishing the bulk of one meal per day to a family. These dishes are palatable, too, and very distinct from the cheap boarding-house commodity know by that name. " The Latjndbt " hints, if acted upon, will add years to the lives of our women who toil. I know whereof I speak. A woman with a house full of little ones, having but two hands to do the work which would give employment to six, must husband her strength if she would be spared to her children. It is worse than folly to devote ten hours to a task which may be accomplished in five. These aids will make that difference. Give them one month's trial, and the old ways will belong to the dead past, never to be revived. Mrs. Owens' Cook Book, SOUPS. Soup bones or soup meat should be put to cook in plenty of cold water and simmer, not boil. As soon as the scum rises, take it off. Beef is considered the best meat for a stand by, but we subjoin recipes that include other kinds, all of which will be found palatable. It is well to keep a stock pot of meat broth on hand for soups. Any bits of bones or trimmings, the bones from roasts, the tough ends from porter-house steaks, or the cold bits of cooked meats, or fowls, should be put into it, and when cooked done the broth should be strained through a colander, and into an earthern vessel, for future use. This may then be made the basis of almost any kind of soup; maccaroni, vermicelli, different vegetables, rice, or noodle. Keep it in a cool place; take off the fat that rises. Force meat balls for soup are made of cooked meat or fowl, minced fine, and seasoned well, and bound together with egg. Roll in cracker or bread crumbs, 8 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK and fry in hot lard in balls the size of the yolk of an CKOUTONS. Cut bread free from crusts, half an inch square. Fry in smoking hot fat. Keep on a plate, unless served immediately. Serve in pea soup. GEEMAN SOUP BALLS. Mix together butter and cracker crumbs into a firm round ball. Drop into the soup a very short time before serving. Yery nice with chicken broth. [Catsups and different sauces are added to soups, according to the tastes of families.] NOODLES. Take one egg, a pinch of salt, half an egg-shell • full of water. Stir in all the flour it will take; roll as thin as you possibly can; hang over a chair-back on a napkin to dry. Then roll up Kke jelly-cake and slice off as thin as a wafer. SUGGESTIONS. If soup is over salted add a teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon of vinegar, and it will help modify it. K soups or sauces, or beef tea, have an excess of AlO) USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 9 fat, dip in a piece of coarse brown wrapping paper, and it will absorb the fat, and the liquid will run off. Two or three papers will free it sufficiently. GUMBO SOUP. Olive H. Boil a spring chicken, though one a year old is just as good if sufficiently boiled; when almost done add a quart of fresh-picked oki-a, seasoning with salt, pepper, spice; for variety add chopped onions and cabbage (though they are not an ingredient proper of Gumbo) and parsley. Just before serving break in a half dozen butter crackers, and add a large lump of butter. This is iona fide Gumbo soup, and is for three quarts of soup. EICE SOUP. Mrs. J. W. S. Boil a beef bone till the meat is well cooked. Half an hour before dinner, put in half a cup of rice. Season well. (Excellent.) WHITE SOUP. Six potatoes, four onions, three tomatoes if desired, four tablespoons of crushed tapioca, one and-a-half pints milk; butter, pepper and salt. Boil the vege- tables in two quarts of water till soft, rub through a 10 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK sieve, return the paste to the water, add the tapioca and boil fifteen minutes; season, add the 'milk, and as soon as hot, serve. ECONOMICAL SOUP. A. C. P., in Household. In cool weather, save up all the bones and trim- mings from roasts and steaks for two or three days. Put into a kettle with four or five quarts of water early in the day; add half a cup of beans and a large ripe tomato. Keep it boiling gently till an hour be- fore dinner, then strain through a colander. Return soup to the boiler, slice in three or four potatoes, a grated carrot, salt, pepper, and pot-herbs, cut fine. Then beat up an egg, and lightly mix with a cup of flour. Stir this mixture into the soup in crumbs, let boil ten minutes, and serve. TOMATO SOUP. Take eight ripe tomatoes, or half a can, and put to boil in two quarts of soup stock, with a bunch of herbs. When well done, thicken with a little flour made smooth with water. Then strain, season with butter, pepper and salt, and serve. TOMATO SOUP. Mrs. Rice, Sioux Falls, Dak. Six tomatoes skinned. Boil in a pint of water till AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 11 done; season with butter, pepper and salt, and add a quart of milk. Eemove from the fire as soon as it comes to a boil, to prevent curdling. POTATO SOUP. Peel and . slice thin, three or four large potatoes, and boil in enough water to cover them until done. Then season and add a quart of milk. ONION SOUP. Put a quarter of a pound of butter in a stewpan, with six large white onions cut in slices; let them fry a nice brown, then add six crackers rolled, pepper to taste, and a quart of boiling milk and water; let it simmer for fifteen minutes and serve. PEA HULL SOUP. W. T. W. After hulling the peas from the pods, tie the pods in a bag made of some coarse cotton or linen cloth; place the bag in cold water over a moderate fire; boil until the sweetness is extracted from the pods; re- move the bag; then squeeze it so that all the juice will be left in the water; after that is done season as any other soup, and depend on it you will have as fine and highly flavored a plate of soup as ever graced a table or tempted an appetite. Don't throw away 12 MBS. OWENS' COOK BOOK the pods of the peas when a soup can be had for so small a cost. BEAK SOUP. ' A pint of beans put into two quarts of water. Simmer slowly on the back of the stove several hours. A very delicious soup. No seasoning but salt and pepper. OX TAIL SOUP. Chop the ox tails into small pieces. Brown over the fire in a spoonful of butter; then put it in water and cook slowly until done. Season with pepper and salt, A little turnip, onion, carrot, tomatoes and parsley, (all minced fine,) may be added fifteen min- utes before serving. CHICKEN SOUP. Cut a chicken up small; cook until tender; take out and use for salads or pressing. Season the broth for soup with a little taste of onion, celery, tomato, or anything preferred. Before sending to the table, add a well-beaten egg and cook slightly. LOUISIANA PLANTATION SOUP. THE GENUINE GUMBO SOUP. Take one squirrel, or if not to be had, take chicken or veal, instead. One ham bone; the leaves of okra, AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 1'6 and young corn and tomatoes. The quantities may be estimated from other recipes in the book. CONFEDEEATE AKMY SOUP, AS MADE AT GENERAL PICKETTS' HEAD QUARTERS. One ham bone, one beef bone, one pod red pepper, black-eyed peas. Boil in a mess kettle. Splendid soup for a wet day. CHESTNUT SOUP. Boil a quart of chestnuts and rub the meats through a fine sieve with a potato masher. Take a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter, mix smooth in a saucepan over the fire, add gradually, a quart of milk. When scalding hot, season with a saltspoon of salt, a pinch of pepper and pinch of nut- meg, and add the sifted chestnuts. GIBLET SOUP. Take a turnip, carrot and onion, and slice them, and fry in hot butter; add a little flour and the gib- lets. Let them brown and then add the amount of water required. Simmer four or five hours. Season with salt and pepper and thicken with a spoonful of browned flour. Take yolks of hard boiled eggs and put one in each soup plate when it is served. The giblets of one chicken will make but little more than a quart of good soup. 14 MK8. OWENS' COOK BOOK MOCK TUETLE SOUP. N. A. D. Take a calPs head and feet, boil them until the meat separates from the bones; pick the bones out and cut the meat into inch pieces; put back and boil two hours more; chop the brains fine; add eight or ten onions and a little parsley ; mix mace, cloves, pep- per and salt with this, and put it in the soup an hour or more before it is done; roll six or eight crackers with half a pound of butter, and when nearly done, drop it in; brown a little flour and put in; make force meat balls of veal, fry them and put in the bot- tom of the tureen. [The following soup recipes were procured direct from Miss Juliet Corson, by the vsrriter, while in at- tendance at her course of Demonstrative Lessons in Cookery. They are published with the full consent of Miss Corson. The writer has tested them, and finds them excellent.] TO CLAEIFY SOUP. Skim off the cold fat that is at the top. Put in the bottom of a sauce pan for each quart of soup stock the white and shell of one egg and one table- spoon of water; mix, and then pour the soup on. Set the saucepan on the fire, and let boil very slowly. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HLNTS. 15 As the soup heats, the white will harden, and the egg will rise to the surface together with the blood and cloudiness that remain in the soup. Let boil slowly until the under portion is very clear; then strain through a towel laid in a colander. SOUP STOCK, OK BROTH. For clear soup leave the vegetables whole, simply peeling them. This gives all the flavor, without the cloudiness arising from the vegetables cut up. Use the neck of beef, one pound of meat or bone for each quart of soup. Have the meat cut from the bone in a solid piece, to serve afterwards ; crack the bone and put in the bottom of the soup kettle, the meat on the bone, then add cold water. Place over the fire to heat gradually; as it boils, the blood and albumen will rise. For clear soup, this must be skimmed off. It is never necessary to wash meat if it comes from a clean market; it detracts from its flavor and nutri- ment. Add a carrot, turnip, and an onion for three or four quarts. Stick six or eight cloves in the onion; salt and pepper lightly; add a bouquet or fagot of herbs; a small bunch of parsley, (two tablespoons,) take the roots if you wish the green for a garnish; the green stalk of celery is nice to add. A sprig of any kind of dried sweet herb, except sage, and one bay leaf. A single leek may be used instead of the onion. If wished for the gelatinous property, a knuckle of MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK ret*l may be added to the soup stock. Cook slowly two hours after adding the vegetables; that time will secure the flavor. If cooked longer, it will assume a jellied consistency. Strain through a sieve, or through a folded towel laid in a colander into an earthern ves- sel, not in metal. When cold, remove the fat that rises. This soup is perfectly clear. YEFvY CHEAP SOUP. COSTING LESS THAN TEN CENTS A GALLON. Take a cup full of little cut pieces of meat either cooked or raw. Take a cup each of carrots and turnips, half cup onions, all cut small; one cup rice, salt and pepper to taste; five quarts cold water; cook slowly two hours. A cup of tomatoes, when in season. If mutton is used, substitute barley for rice. BKUNOISE, OK BROWN SOUP. One cup of vegetables cut up into half inch pieces, any kind you like, for four quarts of soup. Brown them over the fire in a tablespoon each of sugar and butter, in the kettle in which the soup is to be made. When browned, pour on the soup broth ; cook slowly till tender. PEA SOUP. A pint of dried peas or beans, will make six quarts of soup. Use split yellow peas. If put on to cook in cold water, add half a cup of cold water every AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS, 17 fifteen minutes. Let them get soft before salting. Wien tender, rub them through a fine colander with a potato masher. Take the empty saucepan and set over the fire. Rub together in it a tablespoon each of butter and flour. When made perfectly smooth, add the strained soup. The meal of the peas will be held in suspension by the addition of the butter and flour, and the result will be a creamy, even soup. Meat bones may be used if desired, but should not be put in till after the peas commence boiling. If an onion is used, fry it in a saucepan before the peas are put over. POTAGE A LA REII^E. Take bits of cold chicken, same quantity of rice, boil together till very tender. " Rub through a sieve; then make of the consistency of cream, with boiling milk. Season to taste, with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. One pound of chicken and one pound of rice will make four quarts of soup. OX-TAIL SOUP. Have the ox-tail cut up small, wash thoroughly. Put on the stove in a kettle of cold water and let come to a boil; then take out and dry on a towel. Fry brown in a tablespoon of butter or drippings in a saucepan over the fire. Add a tablespoon of flour and stir amongst it. Cover with water, cut a carrot, 18 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK a turnip, and a potato in dice; stick six or eiglit cloves in a wliole onion. Put all of tliese vegetables together witli a bouquet of lierbs into the soup. Season palatably, and cook slowly two hours; take out the onion and bouquet, then serve. PUEEE OF GAME. For this soup, potted, or canned, game may be used, or cold roast game. If the latter, boil the skin and bones for a half hour in water, and use that water, strained, for the soup. Rub the flesh of the game through a fine colander with a potato masher. For each quart wanted, take a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter, put in a saucepan over the fire, and stir till they are brown, then add the water or broth, spoken of above, and the sifted flesh. Season with Bait and pepper. PUEEE OF FISH, OE OKEAM SOUP OF FISH. A pound of cold boiled fish will make about two quarts of soup. It must be rubbed through a fine sieve. For each quart take a tablespoon of butter, . same of flour, mix smooth in a saucepan over the fire and add a quart of milk, or milk and water; then add the puree of fish. Any game or vegetable soup may be made the same way. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 19 WEEXHAM SOUP. One pound of lean meat cut in small pieces, either beef or mutton. Peel and slice one large or two small carrots, one large turnip, half a dozen medium sized onions, a pint of tomatoes, a green stalk of celery, if In season, and a small bunch of parsley. Tie up the parsley, celery, a dozen cloves, same of pepper, a sprig of any sweet herb, except sage. Put in a saucer a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of sugar and a salt spoon of pepper; mix, and put all these ingredients in layers in a jar, and two quarts of cold water. Paste the cover on, and bake slowly five hours. CKEAM OF SPIIN'ACH— SOUP. "Wash very carefully. Take the leaves for the soup. Half a peck will make about two quarts of leaves. One quart of leaves will answer for four quarts of soup. Throw the leaves into two quarts of boiling salted water. Cook only till tender. Frequently it will take but three minutes, and never over ten. When done, put them into cold water to set the color. For each quart of soup take one tablespoon of but- ter, the same of flour, mix in a saucepan over the fire ; when melted smoothly, begin to pour in milk, stirring all the while half a cup at a time, until a quart has been used. Season with a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of nutmeg and pepper. This soup may be 20 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK made of all milk, or half milk and half water, all water, or of cream. Rub the cooked spinach through a fine colander with a potato masher, and add to the cream, and the soup is ready to serve. JULIENNE SOUP. Use vegetables of at least three colors, carrots, tur- nips, and either lettuce, celery, cabbage or string beans. Cut the vegetables into strips an inch and a half long, and these strips into match-like pieces, very, very thin. Keep in cold water till wanted. The proportion of vegetables is a cup full all together for a gallon of soup. Put each kind separately into boil- ing salted water. When tender, drain and lay in cold water. This way retains the flavor and color per- fectly. Then dish up in the hot soup. Foreigners add a tablespoon of vinegar to a quart of Julienne Boup. BEOWN FISH SOUP. Any kind of fish will answer; cut in small pieces; roll in flour and brown in some olive oil or butter in a saucepan; cover with hot water. Season with salt and pepper, and boil slowly for about fifteen minutes. See that there is plenty of water. One pound will make a quart of soup. A clove of garlic may be added. (Excellent.) AKD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HTNTS. 21 FISH. Notice that the body of the fish is firm and the eyes full, and the gills red. Do not allow fish to remain but a short time in water. It makes them soft and flabby. To thaw out frozen fish, lay them in cold water till the ice cleaves from the body. Large fish are usually boiled or baked. Small ones fried or broiled. A fish is scaled more easily by plunging for an instant in hot water. FISH CHOWDER. Fresh cod or haddock are regarded as best for chowder, although our common lake fish may be used. Cut into two inch pieces. Fry some slices of salt pork in an iron pot crisp. Take out and chop fine, leaving the fat. Put a layer of fish in this fat, then a layer of split crackers, then some bits of the pork, some thick slices of peeled potatoes and some chopped onion and pepper. Then another layer of -fish, with a repetition of the other articles. Cover with boiling water and cook half an hour. 22 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Skim it out in the dish in which it is to be served, thicken the gravy with flour, add a little catsup, boil up and pour over the chowder. Remove the bones if convenient, when dishing up. EELS. Skin them. Take off head and tail, cut up into frying pieces, throw into boiling water for five min- utes, then drain, roll in flour or corn meal peppered and salted, and fry in very hot lard. FROGS. Cook the same way as eels. The hind legs only are used. BOILED FISH. "Wrap a large fish in a cloth. Secure it with a string. Put it on in cold water, salt well, and it will generally cook in half an hour. Remove the cloth and serve with drawn butter. FRIED FISH. Clean the fish well. Cut up into pieces about two by four inches. Lay around in a colander skin down, and sprinkle with salt. Let stand an hour, or half a day if need be. Have the fat hot in a frying pan. Roll in flour or corn meal, fry slowly and cook a long AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 23 time, till thorouglily done through. It is nice dipped in beaten egg and rolled cracker after the flour, but is not essential. BAKED FISH. Clean well, sprinkle with salt for an hour before cooking. Tie it with a string, sprinkle flour over it, baste with butter, place on a wire gridiron across a dripping pan. Allow one and one-half hours. STUFFING FOR FISH. Mrs. E. B. B. One-half cup of fat pork chopped fine. One large spoon butter. Parsley, thyme, sweet marjoram, salt and pepper, a few oysters, two beaten eggs. All mixed with bread crumbs. A much simpler dressing is good, when the above ingredients are not at hand. Bread crumbs are usu- ally on hand, and with a little seasoning and mincing, serve very well. CODFISH STEW. Cut up into inch pieces, allowing half a teacup full to a pint of milk. Put on the stove in a stew pan or spider, well covered with cold water. When it comes to a boil drain, and pour in a pint or quart of milk, according to size of family. When hot, thicken with 24 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK a spoonful of flour made smooth with cold milk or water. An egg broken in and stirred rapidly at the last is an improvement. Season with a teaspoon of butter. Serve with baked potatoes. CODFISH BALLS. Larra Lemland. One pint salt codfish picked very fine but not fresh- ened, two pints whole, raw, peeled potatoes, boil together in (cold) water till potatoes are well cooked, remove from the fire and drain off all the water, mash and beat well, add butter size of an egg, two well- beaten eggs, and a little pepper. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Into a frying pan of boiling lard or drippings drop a spoonful of the mixture and fry brown. Do not mold cakes, but drop them from spoon. These fish balls are not only fashionable but good. • CLAM CHOWDEE. Creusa. Butter a deep tin basin, put in a layer of grated bread crumbs or cracker crumbs. S^Drinkle in pepper and bits of butter, then put in /a double layer of clams, and season with pepper and butter, another layer of crumbs, then of clams, and finish with bread crumbs or a layer of soaked crackers. Add a cup of milk or water, turn a plate over the basin, and bake AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 25 three-fourths of an hour. To fifty clams, one-half pound soda biscuit and one-fourth pound butter is the right proportion. CLAM FRITTEKS. Take twenty-five clams and stew them in their own liquor, salt and pepper them slightly, cook for fifteen minutes slowly, drain the clams, chopping them as fine as possible, removing all the hard portions first. Make a batter of four eggs, with a half pint of sifted flour and a pint of milk, get it as smooth as possible, mix the clams with it, use butter for fiying. A small addition of parsley is excellent. FKESH MACKEEEL. This is one of the most delicate and dainty dishes to be found. It is best broiled. Kub over it melted butter or drippings, or olive oil if preferred. Grease the bars of the gridiron. Butter it and garnish with chopped parsley. SALT MACKEEEL. They may be cooked in several difierent ways. The one most in vogue is boiling. To freshen, put in a large pan of water, skin side up, eai'ly in the evening. Before bedtime change the water, and in the morning rinse in clear water. Boil about five minutes in a 26 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK frying pan. Take up carefully on a platter. Have ready in a basin a cup of cream or rich milk with a spoon of butter, heated, and pour over. SALT MACKEEEL. Put half a cup of vinegar in the spider with a little water. Boil the mackerel in it. Serve with slices of lemon. SALT MACKEREL. Mrs. L. S. H. After freshening, hang up for a day or two, or until perfectly dry. Then put in a dry tin and set in the oven for ten minutes. It will be found cooked through. Serve with drawn butter. LOBSTER SALAD. Mrs. M. A. S. Chop lobster up fine. Chop some lettuce fine, mix, season with pepper, salt, mustard and vinegar. If lettuce is not to be had, use fine white cabbage. PICKLED EISH. Stella. Spice the vinegar as for cucumbers, put your fish in, and let them boil slowly for a few minutes, until done, without breaking, then set them away for sev- eral weeks, and the bones will be entirely destroyed. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 27 [The following very nice recipes for cooking fish were procured from Miss Juliet Corson at her cooking lessons, and are published by her consent. They may be safely relied upon:] BOILED PIKE WITH EGG SAUCE. Any fish will do. After it is dressed, tie it in the form of a circle by putting its tail into its mouth, and take a stitch with a trussing needle in its head and tail to hold it in place. To two quarts of water put half a cup of vinegar, a teaspoon of whole cloves, same of whole peppers, a bay leaf. Half a lemon sliced is a nice addition, and a tablespoon of salt. Put over in cold water and boil till the fins pull off easily. The skin may be easily removed if desired. Serve with egg sauce, made by adding hard boiled eggs cut up in small pieces to a white sauce. Pour the sauce inside the circle of fish. Lay a sprig of parsley on top of one side of the fish, and a few slices of lemon at the side on the platter. HALIBUT— CKEOLE STYLE. Get a thick, square piece of halibut, or other fish if preferred. Wash it and lay it on a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Chop a clove of white garlic about the size of a bean, and strew over the fish, then put on a cup of canned or fresh tomatoes. 28 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Bake until tlie flakes separate. Disli up without breaking. The combination of garlic and tomatoes gives the name Creole to a dish. BAKED FISH WITH CREAM SAUCE. Take a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of flour, mix in a saucepan over the fire, add either milk or water till a pint has been used. Season with salt and pepper. Take any kind of baked fish, remove the bones and skin, put in a balling dish, cover with the sauce, and dust with cracker dust. Bake a deli- cate brown. TO FEY SMELTS. Dry on a towel. Dip in milk, then in cracker dust, then in beaten egg, then in cracker dust again, and the dust will all stay on. Fry in hot fat. SHAD ROE WITH OYSTERS. Fish spawn, especially the shad, is a delicacy greatly prized by epicures. Wash and wipe, fry in hot fat in a frying pan on both sides. Season. It takes fifteen or twenty minutes to cook. Dish up on a platter and place around it a row or double row of plain fried oysters. Put a bunch of parsley in the center, and half a lemon with the peel cut in saw teeth, and the eflfect is very pretty. AJSTD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 29 BOILED FISH WITH HOLLAND AISE SAUOE. A thin, long fish like a pike is best for boiling. Do not have it split open, but draw it at the gills. A large fish should be put over in cold water, but a small one in boiling water, for the reason that a fish cooks so quickly that almost as soon as it touches the boiling water it is done; and if a large one were put on in boiling water the outside would be done and the inside raw. If you have no fish kettle, wrap in a cloth. Sew the fish very securely in the shape of a letter S, by drawing cord through it and fastening tightly. When cooked, and strings loosened, it will retain its shape, and is exceedingly pretty to look at. Pour the sauce around it on the platter, and put a sprig of parsley at the side. HOLLANDAISE SAUCE. For each pint use one tablespoon each of butter and fiour, mix in a saucepan over the fire, and gradu- ally add boiling water. Stir into this the yolks of three eggs, a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar, three tablespoons salad oil, and a little mustard, if liked. FISH OKOQUETTES. Stir together in a saucepan over the fire a table- spoon each of flour and butter. Add either water or 30 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK milk, making a thick sauce. This quantity is for a pint of cold flakes of fish. Let the sauce boil up, season with salt and pepper, put in the cold fish and scald up, then remove and stir into it the yolks of two or three eggs. E.ub a deep plate with salad oil, and pour the mixture in and let get thoroughly cold. Then make up into cork-shaped rolls. Wet the hands to prevent sticking. Roll in sifted bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg, then again in bread crumbs, and fry in smoking hot fat, like doughnuts, until a delicate brown. Take out of the fat with a skimmer, and lay on a brown paper an instant to absorb the fat. A teaspoon of onion chopped fine and fried in the butter before the sauce is made, imparts a nice flavor to the croquettes. A perfect croquette is semi- liquid in the center. Melted butter is not so good as oil for greasing the dish, as it will not prevent stick- ing. The finer the cracker dust the more easily the croquettes are prepared, and the nicer they will fry. They should be rolled and sifted. TURBANS OF FISH. Flounders are best. Cut down the middle of the fish till the bone is reached, then cut the fillet or strip out from the side, avoiding the bone. Lay the fillet on the board, remove from the skin by turning the blade of the knife between the flesh and skin, and AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 31 keeping it perfectly parallel witli tlie board, and tliiis cutting and separating tlie skin and flesh. After cutting tlie entire fisli into fillets, roll each one up and fasten with a broom straw. These little rolls are called Turbans. Thej are nice stuffed with highly seasoned soaked bread. If they are not stuffed, spread some butter on the bottom, of the pan, but no water. Cook in the oven only long enough for the flakes to separate. They are to be lifted out and placed on tartar sauce. For Tartar Sauce, see "Sauces and Catsups." POTTED FISH. Kemove the fins and head of the fish, clean well, cut in slices an inch thick, pack it in a little jar hav- ing a cover, in layers, and between the layers put whole cloves, whole peppers, salt, some blades of mace, using about a teaspoon each of cloves and pepper, two blades of mace, a bay leaf, tablespoon of salt. When all is used, cover with vinegar and water, half and half. Put over it a buttered paper, or else fasten the jar cover on with paste. Put in a hot oven and bake four or five hours. The bones will have entirely disappeared. Eat cold or hot. BEOILED FISH. To broil a shad or any other fish, grease the bars of the broiler well. Put the inside to the fire first. The 32 MBS. owenb' cook book back "bone is easily removed by running a knife along under it, and tbe long bones can be loosened and taken out, one or more at a time, with a little knifie. after the back bone is cut away from tbem. Let brown witliout burning, till the flakes separate. Turn the skin part to the fire just long enough to brown. Season either before or after cooking. OYS'tERS. Use the very largest for frying, the medium for scallops and broiling, small for soup, and very small for raw. Every oyster should be looked at that no bit of shell remain attached to it. This is a very important matter, and should not be neglected. A very pretty center piece for a table at an enter- tainment or gathering of any kind, is a large block of ice on a handsome platter, with a center melted out and filled with raw oysters. Garnish the edge with slices of lemon, and green sprigs may decorate the bides if desired. OTSTEK FRICASSEE. Juliet Corson. A tablespoon each of butter and flour mixed in a saucepan over the fire till a smooth paste is formed, USD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 33 then add the oyster liquor strained. A little water may be added if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, a very little nnimeg, boil up, add the oysters and cook till the edges curl. Remove from the fire and stir in the yolks of three raw eggs, thre6 table- spoons salad oil, one tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice, and one tablespoon chopped parsley. Serve. MOBILE BOAST OYSTERS. Use deep oyster shells, place them in a tin in the oven, and heat so hot that they begin to scale off. Put a half teaspoon of butter and a pinch of salt and pepper in each shell, drop an oyster in each, turn it over and serve in the shell. If not quite done, set in the oven for a minute. OYSTER SOUP. To the liquor of one quart of oysters add a quart of water. Let it boil. Skim, season with a pinch of cayenne pepper, good piece of butter, add the oysters. Let boil up once, put in salt and serve. YIRGINIA OYSTER STEW. Take a quart of oysters, strain the liquor off, and put it over to boil. Take the yolks of three hard boiled eggs and one-half teaspoon mustard, make into a smooth paste with one tablespoon or more of salad 9 84 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK oil. Add one cup of tlie boiling liquor, stir well and keep warm. To th? remaining liquor add the oysters and cook till tlie edges curl. Pour part of the liquor in the oysters over toast, let the remainder be with the oysters, and add to it the egg salad, and seasoning of salt, pepper or sauces to suit the taste. Serve the toast with the oysters. Much nicer than crackers. OYSTEE STEW. Three pints of oysters. Put the liquor in a stew pan, let it boil up, skim carefully, put in a quart or more of milk, let it come to a boil, add the oysters, having looked them over and removed every bit of shell. The moment they curl up remove from the fire and salt to taste. Season well with butter. Serve in hot soup scallops. FRIED OTSTEES. Only the large selects are fit for frying. Dry them on a folded towel. Allow six eggs to a quart. Eoll cracker very fine and put salt and pepper in it. Beat eggs very light, dip an oyster in the cracker, then in the egg, then in the cracker again, and fry in plenty of hot butter and lard mixed; or better still, in olive oil. STEAMED OYSTEES IN THE SHELL. "Wash well and lay in a steamer. When they are cooked enough, the shell will open. They may be AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 35 turned into hot dishes or served in the shells. To be seasoned by the consumer. STEAMED OTSTEES. Take select oysters, put in a round vegetable dish, season with salt, pepper and butter, set in a steamer over boiling water, and steam till they begin to curl. Yery fine. SCALLOPED OYSTEKS. A layer of rolled cracker in a buttered pudding dish, then a layer 6f oysters with seasoning of butter, pepper and salt. Repeat till the dish is full, with crumbs on top. Pour on the liquor mixed with a little milk. A beaten egg with milk is nice to put over the top. Cover and bake about half an hour. Remove cover and brown before sending to table. OYSTER SAUCE WITH TUREIEY. A pint of oysters cut up small and boiled up in their own liquor, add a cup of cream, tablespoon of flour made smooth with part of the cream; salt, pep- per and butter. CREAM OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL. Pour into your saucepan a cup of hot water, another of milk, and one of thick" cream with a little salt. Set the saucepan into the kettle of hot water until it 86 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK just boils, when stir in two tablespoons of bntter, and two heaping tablespoons of rice flour, corn starch, or arrow root, wet up with a little cold milk. Have your oyster shells washed and buttered (clam shells are more roomy) and a fine large oyster laid in each one. Arrange them closely in a large baking pan, propping them up with pebbles or bits of shell, and fill up each shell with the prepared cream, having stirred and beaten it well first. Bake five or six minutes in a hot oven until brown, and serve in the shell. STUFFED OTSTEES. Chop fine a dozen oysters, mix with them the beaten yolk of one egg, and thicken with bread crumbs, a tablespoon of thick cream, salt and pepper to taste. Fill the shells, rounding them nicely on the top. Brown in a quick oven. PICKLED OYSTERS. Drain the liquor from the oysters and add to it whole pepper, allspice, a few sticks of mace, and salt. When the liquor boils drop in the oysters and boil them one minute. Then take them out quickly and cool them. Add half as much vinegar as liquor, boil a few minutes and pour over the oysters. NEW WAT OF COOKING OYSTERS. Take mashed potatoes, mix a can of oysters with the potatoes, and with a knife cut the mass up fine. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 37 Add one-half pound of rolled crackers. Season witli butter, pepper and salt, and moisten the whole with oyster juice. Take little pats of this, roll them in powdered cracker crumbs and fry till brown in butter, and the result when served warm is delicious. STEWED OTSTEKS WITH CELEKY. In a large stewpan put a pint of strong and clear broth, made of the cuts of beef. Instead of milk and water, or milk even, as the prevailing practice is, use, only the richest and sweetest of cream. Of this cream add one pint to the same quantity of the best of beef broth. Also four ounces of the most excel- lent table butter, three teaspoons of salt, two of white pepper, as much more of ground mace, and a tea- spoon of extract of pelery. If the celery is to be had in stalk, chop up fine and throw in. ISTo more delicate or healthy flavor can be added to any stew, soup or broth than this exquisite vegetable. Now set to cooking, and while on the fire dredge in finely powdered cracker dust and a. little of the best com starch flour, until thickened to your taste. Have ready, parboiled, not in water, but in their own juice, fifty of the same oysters in a hot tureen. Pour over these parboiled oysters the sauce compounded as above, and serve while still scalding hot. 88 ME8. OWENS' COOK BOOK STGGESTIONS. Peanut oil or cotton seed oil may be procured much more cheaply than olive oil, and answers every purpose. In cases where butter is given to be used with oysters, many prefer olive oil. Use but half the quantity that you would butter. OYSTER PIE. Make a pie paste for the sides of a large baking dish. Take one quart large fresh oysters, season with pepper, salt and butter. Take the yolks of three hard boiled eggs, chop fine, and mix with grated bread crumbs. Sprinkle this over the oysters after putting them in the dish. Pour the liquor over, cover with pie crust, and bake quickly. OYSTER OMELET. One dozen large fresh oysters chopped into small pieces, half a teaspoon of salt sprinkled on them, and then let them stand in their own liquor half an hour. Beat six eggs, the yolks and whites apart, the former to a firm, smooth paste, the latter to a stifi* froth. Add to the yolks a tablespoon of rich, sweet cream, pepper and salt in sufficient quantity, and then lightly stir the whites in. Put an ounce and a half of butter into a hot fiying pan. When it is thoroughly melted AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 39 and begins to fry, pour in your egg mixture, and add as quickly as possible tbe oysters. Do not stir, but witb a broad-bladed omelet knife, lift, as the eggs set, the omelet from the bottom of the pan, to pre- vent its scorching. In five minutes it will be done. Place a hot dish bottom upward over the omelet, and dexterously turn the pan over with the brown side uppermost upon the dish. Eat without delay. EGGS. BOILED EGGS. Use a wire egg-boiler for boiling eggs. Three minutes cooks the white about right for soft boiled eggs. If put into cold water and let remain to a boiling point, they are cooked more evenly than by plunging into hot water at first. And it is further recommended to pour boiling water on the eggs and set the vessel on the hearth for five minutes. SCEAMBLED EGGS. Put a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan. When hot put in the requisite number of eggs beaten lightly. Pepper and salt them, and add half a cup of milk to a dozen eggs. Stir constantly, and as soon as they begin to set, take off and pour out. They must not be hard. 40 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK FKIED HAM A^D EGGS. Freshen the ham, if it requires it, by putting it on the stove in cold water, and pouring off as soon as it comes to a scald. Fry the ham in its own fat, then fry the eggs afterwards in the same. Dish up on the same platter. BEOILED HAM AND EGGS. Broil thin slices of ham. Put a bit of butter on each piece when done. Poach the eggs in water, and lay one neatly on each piece of ham. PROPER WAY TO COOK EGGS. Butter a tin plate and break in your eggs. Set in a steamer, place over a kettle of boiling water and steam till the whites are cooked. If broken into patty pans they look nicer, by keeping their forms better. Or still better, if broken into egg cups and steamed until done, they are very nice. Cooked in this way there is nothing of their flavor lost. BAKED EGGS. Take a large platter. Break on it as many eggs as you need for your meal, sprinkle over with salt, pepper and lumps of butter. Set in the oven, and in about five minutes the whites will be set and the eggs sufiiciently cooked. A handy way on washing or ironing days, when the top of the stove is all in use. Try it. AUD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 41 EGG CHOWDER Fry tlie pork, cook onions, potatoes, etc., just tlie same as for a fish chowder. After everything is done, just before you take it off, break in as many eggs as there are persons to eat, and let it boil up sufficiently to cook them through. I think those who try it will like it, and no danger of choking children with bones. POACHED EGGS. Set some muffin rings in boiling water. Break each egg in a ring, and it will take the form of the ring, and be much more pleasing to the eye than the old way. FKIED EGGS. Butter some gem irons and break an egg in each one and set in the oven, after seasoning with salt and pepper. Yery nice. PANNED EGGS. Make a minced meat of chopped ham, fine bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and some melted butter. Moisten with milk to a soft paste, and half fill some patty pans with the mixture. Break an egg carefully upon the top of each. Dust with pepper and salt, and sprinkle some finely powdered cracker over all. Set in the oven and bake about eight minutes. Eat hot. 42 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK SCALLOPED EGGS. Prepare a cup of thick drawn butter gravy, and a dozen liard boiled egg '. Butter a pudding disb and place in it a layer of ine bread crumbs moistened with milk or broth. Add two beaten eggs to the drawn butter. Cut the boiled eggs in slices, dip each slice in gravy and place in layers upon the bread crumbs. Sprinkle these with cold meat or fowl minced fine. Repeat the layers and put over all a covering of sifted bread crumbs. Heat well through in a moderate oven. HOT EGG SALAD. Juliet Corson. A tablespoon salad oil made hot. Break three eggs into it, and stir a little. Season with salt and pepper. Turn out as soon as it hardens a trifle, sprinkle over the top a tablespoon chopped cucumber, same of grated lemon rind, a tablespoon lemon juice and three tablespoons salad oil. OMELET. Mrs. M. A. S. For minced ham, veal, beef or tongue. To twelve eggs beaten to a froth put three ounces of minced meat (add little salt to veal), melt four ounces butter and put part with the eggs, the remainder put in a AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 43 frying pan. When hot, turn in the mixture and stir till it begins to set. When brown on the under side it is cooked sufficiently. The pan should be small enough to have the omelet an inch thick. Place a flat dish over the top and turn the frying pan upside down when you wish to take it up. EGG OMELET. Six eggs, six tablesjjoons milk, one tablespoon melted butter, and one of flour. Beat well together. Turn into a well-buttered and hot frying pan, and when the edge begins to cook roll it over and over like a jelly roll, and turn out on a hot platter with as little handling as possible. OMELET SOUFFLE. Beat the yolks of six eggs light, add half a tea- spoon of lemon juice, grated lemon, some nutmeg, and half a teaspoon of sugar. Beat well and add lightly five tablespoons of cream. Butter the omelet pan, heat, pour in the eggs and stir in lightly with a fork the well-beaten whites. Cook five or six minutes in a quick oven. Turn upside down on a hot plate and serve instantly. Note. — If possible, keep one pan for omelets alone. OMELET SACCHAKINE. To the yolks of six eggs add a tablespoon of pow- dered sugar, and a teaspoon or moTe of some essence. 44: MKS. OWE^^S' COOK BOOK Mix and add carefully to the well-beaten whites. Pour into a hot buttered frying pan. As it cooks at the edges, lift it with a fork and toss to the center. Take up on a hot dish and dust with powdered ^gar. OMELET CELESTINE. Juliet Corson. The same as the above, by adding a couple of spoons of currant jelly before taking up. OKAKGE OMELET. Three eggs, a teaspoon of orange juice, and a tea- spoon of grated rind of orange. Beat the yolks and whites separately, then add them carefully together and put in a buttered heated frying pan PICKLED EGGS. Boil eggs very hard and remove the shell. Take one teaspoon each of cinnamon, allspice and mace, put in a little muslin bag in cold water, boil well, and if it boils away add enough to make half a pint when the spices are taken out. Add one pint of strong vinegar, pour over the eggs. If you want them col- ored, put in some beet juice. Yery good TO KEEP EGGS. Take a colander full at a time and pour a teakettle full of boiling water over them. I have known eggs AlID USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 45 to be used several montlis after being put up in this way, and thej were equal to new laid eggs. They should be kept in a cool place. I kept eggs three months last winter in an egg case with no preparation whatever. The last I used were as good as the first. Close contact would have spoiled them. TO COLOK EGGS FOE EASTER. Wind strips of bright-colored calico around the eggs, and then boil in ashes lye; you will find them gayly colored. To color them yellow, boil with onion skins. FOAVLS. To singe a fowl pour a few drops of alcohol on a plate and burn. Handier than burning a paper. To draw a chicken for stuffing, cut a slit under one of the legs, so it may be hidden by sewing up. Take the crop out from a cut in the back of the neck. Rub clear lard, or lay a piece of fat pork over a fowl when put to roast.. A peeled lemon laid inside of a wild fowl will ab- sorb that strong fishy taste if left in for a few hours. The giblets of poultry are the head, neck, wings, feet, gizzard, heart and liver. 46 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK KOAST POULTRY. If prepared the day before, it will be all the bettei seasoned. Half an hour to the pound is a good gen- eral rule. Baste frequently. FULL DIKECTIONS FOR CUTTING UP A CHICKEJS". As Demonstrated by Miss Corson in her Cooking Lessons. After singeing the fowl, wipe with wet towel. Don't wash it, because if it is so dirty as to need washing, it is not fit for food ; and, by washing a clean chicken, you draw out with the water more or less of the blood and, consequently, the nourishment which the chicken contains. In order to get as many pieces as possi- ble, cut off the wings so that a little piece of the breast remains with the wing. Remove the crop by cutting the skin at the back of the neck. Cut off the neck close to the body. l!^ext take off the wing side- bones. Having cut them loose from the backbone, bend them toward the front and they will part at the joint ; loosen them with the knife. Take off the legs next. Instead of making a division between the sec- ond joint and drum-stick, cut midway the second joint, and then just below the joint, and trim off the lower end of the drum-stick. Next cut through the side just where the breast-bone joins the ribs. Then the breast-bone can be puUed free from the back, and AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 47 the entrails can be taken out easily witliout breaking, wbich is decidedly a consideration, because if, in drawing a chicken, tlie entrails are broken, it becomes necessary to wasli the chicken very thoroughly, and you thus destroy its flavor. Cut off the lower part of the breast-bone without splitting it, because, while that is a very nice piece, it is apt to be a very small one. If there are any pieces of ribs attached to the sides of the breast-bone trim them off. Cut the up- per part into two pieces right down the middle, or into four — down the middle and then each piece in two — according to the size of the chicken. Having cut up the breast-bone, the entrails are to be taken away from the back, cutting around the vent being necessary in order to loosen them. The oil bag is of course to be removed; the liver also, without break- ing the gall, which can be avoided by leaving a little piece of the liver attached to it. There are two or three ways of preparing the gizzard. Adopt the easiest. Instead of taking the trouble,* to split the gizzard, and trying to take out the bag of stones within, I believe it best to cut from the outside just that por- tion of purplish flesh which is used. If there is on it any appearance of the contents wash it; not other- wise. Now separate the backbone and neck and notice the back side-bones, where are located the " oys- ters." If the back were split entirely down the "oysters" would be cut in two; but cutting off the 48 ME8. OWENS' COOK BOOK end of the backbone tliej are preserved. To some, t^ey are tbe cboicest part of the chicken. KOAST TUKKET. A year old is considered best. After dressing, salt and pepper the inside. Take a loaf and a half of stale baker's bread for a good sized turkey. Rub fine with the hands; cut a large white onion and cook a few minutes in butter in a frying pan. Do not brown it. Then stir in your bread, one teaspoon salt, ditto of pepper, ditto of sage; mix the onion in, and use melted butter sufficient to bind it all together; stuff, tie the wings and thighs, to keep in place. Salt and pepper the outside. Put a cup and a half of water in the dripping pan with the turkey. Lay two or three pieces of fat pork on the top, or rub well with lard. Roast three hours in a moderate oven, with an even fire. If oysters are liked, a pint may be chop- ped with the di'essing. Lay the giblets by the side of the turkey, and when done chop fine, and put in the gravy, thickened with a tablespoon of flour. Serve with cranberry sauce, celery, turnips, boiled onions, or any vegetable, fresh or canned. CHICKEN STEW. Cut a chicken up small. Boil till tender; make a thickening of flour and milk, using a pint of rich AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 49 milk, or cream, if it is to be had. Season well with butter, pepper and salt. Have readj in a tnreen, some fresh soda, or baking powder biscuits broken in halves. Pour some of the gravy over them, and re- serve the remainder to serve with the fowl in a plat- ter. Be sure and have plenty of gravy; it will all be wanted. CHICKIEN PIE. Stew chicken till tender. Season well with butter, pepper and salt. Thicken the gravy with a table- spoon of flour. Have ready some peeled, boiled pota- toes. Line the sides of a deep dish with rich crust; put in a layer of chicken and a layer of potatoes in thick slices. Repeat, and pour over the gravy. Cover with the pie-crust. Serve hot. CHICKEIT POT PIE. Cut up good sized chicken small. Put a smaU plate in the bottom of the kettle. Cover the chicken well with water. Season high, with butter, pep- per and salt. A half hour before it is done, drop in small lumps of dough made like biscuit. A quart of flour is sufficient for one large chicken. Cover closely. Take out with skimmer carefully, and if gravy is not thick enough, thicken it with a small spoon of flour and water made smooth. Serve with mashed potatoes and any vegetables wished. 4 50 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK SMOTHEEED CHICKEN. Cut your cliickens open at the back after dressing them. Sprinkle salt and pepper and little lumps of butter over. Put them in a baking pan with another over, and bake one hour. Baste often, with butter. (Delicious.) FRICASEE CHICEIE]^. Cut every joint separate, the back in two, and the breast in three or more. Stew in water enough to cover them at first, until the meat is very tender, and only about a teacup of water is left in the pot. Add £v large cup of sweet milk, in which a tea- spoon of flour is smoothly mixed; season with salt and 23ej)per, and boil a few moments longer; if you add, about half an hour before serving up, a couple of slices of salt pork in fine strips, you will find it an improvement, and not fatty, unless the pork is boiled too lonor. ^&* FKIED CHICKEK Cut young tender chickens at the joints. Season with salt and pepper, dip into flour and fry slowly in butter and lard until browned on both sides. When done, lay on a hot platter and turn in cream or milk, and thicken with a spoon of flour; pour over the chicken. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 51 PKAIEIE CHICKEN. Cut open ; lay on tliem thin slices of salt pork and put in a dripping pan and cook in tlie oven. Serve with thickened gravy. ROAST GOOSE. Parboil for two hours, at least. Then stuff with seasoned mashed potatoes, and roast. Baste often. GERMAN RELISH. Take a nice fat goose, turkey or chicken, take off the loose fat of the goose, season with a little salt and pepper, boil till nearly tender, with just water enough to cook it, then put in one pint good cider vinegar, then boil till very tender, like pigs' feet; then pack in stone crock, leaving the bones in with the meat. It is a very dainty relish. To be sliced up cold. ROAST DUCKS. If parboiled for an hour, or even longer, the strong taste is lessened. Baste same as turkey. STUFFING FOR DUCKS. Mrs. E. B. B. Half pound of fat pork chopped fine; eight rolled crackers; one egg; one onion; one pint milk; sage, pepper and salt. 52 MKS. o wens' oook book DIKECTIONS FOE BONING A CHICKEN OE TUEKEY. R. E., in Household. "Witli a sharp pen-knife, cut the skin off your whole fowl down the back from neck to oil-bag, and cut and scrape off close to the bones, all the meat and skin; scrape, after jointing the thigh, leg and wing bones, the last joint of the wing cut off, and be care- ful of the skin of the second joint. When you have removed the skeleton and entrails, save all of the giblets. Make an ordinary filling of bread and but- ter minced fine with the giblets, and the dark meat of the fowls, an4 the light too, if desired; but, it is nice to leave the light for chicken salad. Fill out wherever the bones have been taken out, and shape up nicely, sewing the skin all down the back. "When hot, draw out the threads, handle carefully, and serve either hot or cold. Any kind of filling may be nsed. The bones may be boiled up for soup. DIEECTIONS FOE BONED CHICKEN. Juliet Corson. Use two-thirds as much force meat, as the chicken weighs. Lean veal, and lean fresh pork choj)ped fine, and for each pound, take one whole egg, one teaspoon of cloves and allspice mixed, one teaspoon salt. In- stead of the veal, another fowl's flesh may be used. AND TJSEFTJL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 53 After tlie bones liave all been removed, and tbe fowl is laid flat down, spread on a layer of force meat, then strips of fat pork and the liver, then a layer of mush- rooms. Then run a string around tlie edges of the chicken and draw it up like a wallet. Having sewed up the ends, then sew the cut that was first made down the back. Then roll it up in a tight bundle in a towel. Tie the ends like a sack of flour and tie two or three tapes around the middle as tight as you pos- sibly can. Boil half an hour to the pound. Take out of the towel, wipe off, wrap in a clean towel and lay on a platter, put another over and place a weight on. The easiest fowl to bone is a year old turkey. CUEKY OF DUCK. Juliet Corson. A GENUINE CUKRY OF THE EAST INDIES. Cut the ducks up in small joints. Wipe with a wet towel. If lean, put a teaspoon of butter in a saucepan and brown them in it. But if fat,- as is generally the case, no surplus fat will be required. Cut up a medium sized onion and brown with them. Stir in a tablespoon of flour, and as soon as that is well mixed in and brown, cover with hot water, and season with salt and pepper. A cup of grated cocoa- nut and a sour apple peeled and sliced must be added. Cook till the ducks are tender. It will require from 54 MKS, OWEXS' COOK BOOK half an hour to two hours, according to the age. When tender, add a tablespoon of curry powder. Serve with boiled rice. The rice may be placed around the edge of the platter, and the curry in the center, or it may be taken up on a separate dish. CHICKEN PATE. Mrs. E. B. B. Two chickens boiled tender. Eemove bones and skin and chop fine. Season with salt, butter and pep- per. Add broth to make it moist, and press into a mold. "When cold, slice thin. PKESSED YEAL OR CHICKEN. Stew slowly four pounds veal, or two chickens cut up small until the meat drops from the bone; then take out and chop fine. Let the liquor boil down to a cup full. Put in a lump of butter size of an egg, a tablespoon pepjDer, little allspice, and a beaten egg; stir through the meat; slice a hard boiled egg, lay in your mould and press in the meat. When served, garnish with celery tops, or sprigs of parsley. CHICKEN SALAD. Mrs. M. A. S. Boil two chickens that weigh about five pounds. When tender, pick in small pieces. Take a coflee cup AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 55 of chopped celery, and make the following dressing: Take eight hard boiled eggs and chop fine, two table- spoons olive oil, or melted butter, two teaspoons mixed mustard, two teaspoons salt, one of pepper, one tumbler of vinegar; mix, and pour over. CHICKEN SALAD. Joint two chickens, weighing between three and four pounds each, cover them with boiling water, set on the fire where they will merely simmer until ten- der, remove from the fire, and let them remain in the broth until cold; , this renders the meat juicy. It is best to cook the chickens the day before the salad is required. Take both the dark and white meat for your salad, cut into pieces nearly an inch square, and one-quarter of an inch thick. To prepare the dress- ing for the salad, take a tablespoon of fresh butter, rub it to a cream with the yolks of two hard boiled eggs ; gradually add two tablespoons of salad oil, one of French mustard, a desertspoon of powdered sugar ; a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of black pepper, as much cayenne as will lie on a penknife jDoint, the yolks of two fresh eggs, uncooked, and six tablespoons of vinegar. Next fill your salad bowl with two heads of celery, cut fine — one head or bunch of celery in- cludes three roots — two large pickled cucumbers, cut in very small slices, the whites of the boiled eggs 56 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK also cut very fine. Some like two tablespoons of capers, and half a dozen olives. Now add the chicken and the dressing ; mix thoroughly with a wooden fork or spoon, and as vinegar is of different strength, more may have to be added. MEATS. If beef is good it will be fine grained, smooth, bright red and fat. Good veal flesh is dry, firm and white, with kid- neys covered with fat. The flesh of good mutton is dark red, with firm white fat. Fresh killed lamb is pale red, with bluish veins in the neck. Pork should be rejected if there are kernels in the fat. The skin should be smooth and thin. The choicest cuts for roasting, are the sixth, seventh and eighth ribs. If a roast is rolled by the butcher have him send home the bones for soup. AND trSEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 57 If it is necessary to freshen hani or salt pork it is recommended very strongly to put them in milk and water for several hours. Sour milk will answer as well as sweet. Rinse after taking out. This also applies to salt mackerel. K meat is eaten when first killed it will be tender. If a little time elapses the muscles stiffen, and it will be tough. If more time elapses, the muscles relax, and it will be tender again. Toung meat of all kinds, should be cooked very thoroughly, to be healthy. It offers less resistance to mastication, hence will be less liable to be digested properly. Older and tougher meat offering more resistance, will, of necessity, be better masticated and better incorporated with the saliva; hence, will be better digested. In cold weather, great care should be taken to heat plates, to serve at table. More especially, when mut- ton is used. Many a good dinner has been spoiled by a showing of cold mutton tallow on a still colder plate. If there is no warming oven to the stove, let them set in hot water for a few minutes. [All of the following dishes credited to Miss Juliet Corson, that pioneer in culinary art in this country, are very choice, and may well be adopted by families in general. The writer feels deeply indebted to Miss 58 MRS. o wens' cook book Corson for many valuable liints that are of service in everyday cooking:] Fresh meat should be put to cook in boiling water, and if more water is needed in the pot, let it be boil- ing when added. Salt meat must be put over in cold water, that the salt may be extracted in cooking. Remove the scum as soon as it rises. To be tender, meat should cook very gently; hard boilino^ tono:hens it. The tono-hest meat can be made tender by boiling it a long time, or baking it in a covered dish in the oven. Before cooking mutton, take a sharp knife and loosen the thin outside skin and remove entirely. The oil of the wool penetrates tlirough the pores of the skin, and from this comes .that strong, woolly taste, rendering mutton so objectionable. Use plenty of its own fat to cook it in. OLD FASHIONED BOILED DmiSTEE. Put in a large kettle of cold water the corned beef soon after breakfast (if for noon dinner). About 10 o'clock, put in the salt pork, in a solid piece, one or two pounds, according to size of family. At the same time, wash beets very carefully and put in. If they are very large, put them in an hour earlier. At AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 59 11 o'clock, put in peeled turnips, cut in three or four pieces. Divide a head of cabbage in four parts, lengthwise, and put in at the same time, with good sized peeled potatoes, allowing a good half hour for them to boil. Beets will not injure the looks of the other vegetables if the skin is not broken. When done, put them in cold water, to remove the skin, cut lengthwise in three or four pieces, and dish ujd. Take up the cabbage in a vegetable dish, after draining well. A platter is scarcely large enough to hold such a variety of meat and vegetables, and it is unhandy to cut uj) the meat; hence, it is better to dish up in separate dishes. A piece of red pepper cooked with a boiled dinner improves it. Grated horse-radish, or any bottled sauce, should be served with boiled din- ner. The best dessert with a boiled dinner is a boiled Indian pudding. POT KOAST OF BEEF, Get a solid piece from the round, about five pounds. Put in a medium sized kettle, that can set in the oven. Put it over the fire in hot water, to cover it. Boil slowly for three hours or more; season well; then remove the meat, and thicken the gravy with flour and water. Put the meat back in; set in the oven; put a cover over and let cook slowly till needed; two hours will not hurt. This mode of cooking will 60 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK make tlie toughest beef tender. Serve in a large platter with part of the gravy; but dish up the greater part in a gravy dish. PAESNIP STEW. One pound of salt pork sliced; boil an hour or more; scrape and cut in lengthwise quarters five or six parsnips, add to the pork, and after boiling a half hour, add a few potatoes, and let all cook until the potatoes are done. The water should cook down to about a pint, when ready to dish up. (Excellent.) BLAKQUETTE OF LAMB, OE WHITE STEW. Have the lamb cut in pieces and put over in water to parboil. If any scum rises, skim off. "When it has boiled, take out and wipe with a wet towel if any scum appears. Strain the broth. Use it for a white sauce, beginning by putting a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of flour in a saucepan over the fire; stir together until well mixed, and gradually add the broth in which the meat was parboiled. Season the same with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the meat and cook until the lamb is tender ; stir in it the yolks of two eggs and a tablespoon of chopped parsley AlID USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 61 BOILED MUTTON. A leg of mutton boiled is a savory, juicy meat. I^t the water cook down to sufficient for gravy. Boil some rice, and eat as a vegetable, with boiled mutton ; or, coarse boiled hominy is equally as good. With lamb or mutton, the Southerners eat currant jelly with a sprinkling of mustard, and consider it exceed- ingly palatable. MACAEONI MUTTON. Some slices of mutton, one-quarter pound of maca- roni, sauce of any kind, pej)per, salt, a tablespoon of vinegar, and a little water. Put all together in a stewpan, keep the lid on, and stew gently for an hour or an hour and a half. LAMB STEWED WITH GKEEN PEAS. Cut the scrag or breast of lamb in pieces and put into a stewpan with just enough water to cover it. Cover it closely and let it stew for twenty minutes. Take off the scum; add a tablespoon of salt and a quart of shelled peas; cover and let them stew for half an hour; mix a tablespoon of flour and butter and stir in and let it simmer ten minutes; then serve. If you mix the flour with cream it makes it better. Yeal is nice cooked in this way, with half a dozen small new potatoes added with the peas. 62 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK PEESSED BEEF. Buy a sliank of beef. Boil till it falls from the bone. Remove every piece of bone, boil down a lit- tle longer. Season well witb pe^iper and salt, and a bit of sage, if liked. Pour into a form. Excellent cold. STUFFED PEESSED MEAT. Mrs. A. S. J. Take a large steak, sjiread it witb well seasoned dressing; roll up, sew it in a stout bag and boil tbree hours in salted water. Take it out, put a weight on it and press until cold; then slice. TO STUFF A HAM. Boil it very slowly. If it boils hard, it will be in strings. Let simmer all day, if necessary; then skin and remove extra fat. Make stuffing of bread crumbs moistened in water and seasoned with pepper, butter, parsley, celery, or any other, if preferred. Cut the bone out with a sharp knife. Take yolks of two or three hard boiled eggs, mix with the ham-water enough to moisten ; spread over the ham, grate bread crumbs over all, and brown. Ornament with slices of hard boiled egg, fimciful cuts of pickled beets, cloves or green parsley. Slice cold. Delicious for a cold collation. AlTD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 68 COLD BOILED HAM. In boiling ham or corned beef to eat cold, it is far better if let remain in the water until cold. Slice on a platter, and place slices of hard boiled egg around ham, or slices of lemon. For corned beef, garnishes of pickle are nice. KOAST BEEF. Put in a dripping pan without water, into a very hot oven for the first half hour, that the outside may sear over and keep the juices inside. When half done, the oven heat may be lessened, and the meat salted and peppered. Pour in water and thicken for gravy when the meat is done. Fifteen minutes to the pound, if wished rare in the center, or twenty minutes will make it well done. Cranberry sauce or jelly, turnips, celery, or any kind of canned vegetables may be served with roast beef. YOEKSHIKE PUDDING. When roasting a piece of beef set up on a cricket or muffin rings, so that the juice will drop into the pan below. Three-quarters of an hour before it is done, mix up the following and pour into the pan under the meat : One pint of milk, four eggs, beaten very light, one teaspoon salt, two cups of flour. Cut in pieces and serve with the roast. 64 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK BEEF A LA MODE. Juliet Corson. To mate a large piece off the round tender, make holes with a steel or sharp instrument, and insert in each one a little strip of salt fat pork; run the strip with the grain. Let each end project; then put the meat in a bowl, and with it, a teaspoon of whole cloves, same of pepper corns, a bay leaf, half a teacup of carrots sliced, same of turnip and onion; not any salt; cover with vinegar and water. Let stand sev- eral hours; all the better if it stand two or three days. If the fibre is tender, take it out of the pickle, fry it brown in a pot in drippings ; then put in two tablespoons of flour, turn it over and over. "When brown, cover with hot water and cook slowly. Salt it when half done. A half hour to the pound usually suffices. POEK EOAST. Season well and roast slowly at first, allowing fally half an hour to a pound. Put some water in the pan and baste often. Cook very thoroughly. Fried cab- bage is very good with pork. Any tart sauce may be used, or any canned vegetable. Turnips go nicely; celery always admissible. Fried apples are also very nice; make gravy after pouring off the sm-plus from the top of the drippings. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HESTTS. 65 YEAL KOAST. Same as pork; be sure and cook well through. Squash is a palatable vegetable to serve. Stewed tomatoes are also good; currant jelly is always nice. MUTTON EOAST. Same as pork, but is not objectionable if a little rare. Mint sauce made by mixing half a cup of chopped spear mint, with half a cup of vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar is used by those who like it with mutton. Serve turnip with mutton. LEG OF LAMB TO ROAST. All lamb should be very well cooked, and not put too near the fire at first; from eighteen to twenty minutes to the pound before a clear but not fierce heat. It may be served with spinach, peas, or aspar- agus. ENGLISH POEK PIE. Make a pie-crust, not very rich, and put around the sides of a deep pie dish. In the bottom, and above, put layers of thin sliced bacon, thin sliced potatoes, onions chopped or sliced very fine; lean fresh pork cut into small pieces. Season with pep- per, salt and sage. Fill the dish with any good gravy left from roasts, or with water thickened for the occa- 66 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK sion, with some butter added. Cover with cniet, and bake about an hour and a half. Cover the pie with thick paper if it gets too brown. BEEF HEAET. Clean the heart well and stuff with bread crumbs, well seasoned, and mixed with water enough to moisten. Baste often with the liquor from it. BEEF HEAET EQUAL TO TONGUE. A. G. S. In the forenoon, put your beef heart into a weak brine. In the evening, change to another brine. In the morning, put to cook in boiling water and cook fully three hours. "When tender, have ready a dress- ing of bread crumbs and stuff it. Put it in an oven twenty minutes, to cook the dressing. Let get cold, and slice very thin; season with a little salt and pep- per, if necessary. BEEF STEW. Order two pounds of beef or veal cut up small for a stew. Cheap cuts answer every purpose. Cook two or three hours. Put in some potatoes peeled and cut in halves, and some onions, if they are liked. Season well; skim out into a platter; thicken the gravy and pour over. This will give a good dinner to six or eight persons. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 67 MOCK DUCK. Spread dressing, as for turkey, on a thick round of beef steak; roll up, tie and roast. Serve with gravy. BEEFSTEAK SMOTHEEED WITH ONIONS. Cut up six onions very fine; put them into a sauce- pan with one cup of hot water, about two ounces of good butter, some pepper and salt; dredge in a little flour. Let it stew until the onions are quite soft. Broil the steak according to directions; put it into the saucepan with the onions and let it simmer about ten minutes. The rules adopted by the celebrated Beefsteak Club started in England in 1734, for cooking steak: Pound well your meat till the fibres break, Be sure that next you have, to broil the steak, Good coal in plenty ; nor a moment leave, But turn it over this way, and then that ; The lean should be quite rare — not so the fat The platter now and then the juice receive, Put on your butter, place it on your meat, Salt, pepper, turn it over, serve, and eat. FEIED STEAK. A favorite way of cooking beefsteak in the South is to take a piece off the round, fry it in a frying pan, in its own fat if suMcient, in drippings il noi, and 68 MRS. OWENs' COOK BOOK when done, pour in water and thicken with flour, and make gravj to pour over the whole in a platter. BROILED STEAK. Heat and grease the bars of the gridiron; have a bright fire, with live coals, at the top. Trim the steak nicely, a porter-house or sirloin, for broiling; cut off the little tough end of the porter-house. It will do better service in the soup kettle. Lay the steak on the gridiron, cover, and as soon as seared, turn over and sear the other side. Turn again during the cooking; take up on a hot platter. Season with butter, pepper and salt. A sprig of parsely, and a few slices of lemon laid at the edges garnish it nicely. A bit of onion rubbed over the platter before taking up the steak, gives a delicate flavor that is delicious, without any of the offensiveness that the onion taste imparts, if used more 'largely. EOUND STEAK. Anna G. S. First pound it very thoroughly. Cut it into con- venient pieces for serving. Season some flour with plenty of salt and pepper, and roll the steak in it, as you would fish; have your skillet hot, with some fryings in, lay in the steaks, brown slightly on both sides; pour in a little water and keep enough in the frying pan to prevent the meat from jburning. Cook half an hour, and you will have a juicy steak. Ain5 USEFUL -HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 69 SPAEERIBS. Spareribs, as thej are sold in the city, are so very spare, that it is an improvement to roast them with a dressing of bread crumbs. Lay some ribs in the di-ipping pan; salt and pepper; spread over them a dressing of crumbs, seasoned with pepper, salt and sage; then lay on some more spareribs; put a pint of water in the pan; season; roast till well done; pour off the top for fryings; add more water and thicken for gravy. Fried apples are a nice accompaniment to spareribs. EOAST PIG. Scald and clean the pig carefully. Make a dress- ing of bread crumbs, sage, salt and pepper; stuff; sew up; fasten the legs back so that the under part will crisp nicely. Dredge with flour and put into a hot oven. Baste frequently with melted butter. When done, pour off the fat from the top of the drippings; add water to the remainder, and thicken for gravy. Serve in a gravy dish, and stand pig up on a platter and garnish with green parsley or celery tops. BEEF TOI^GUE. If it is corned it should be soaked a few hours be- fore boiling. Cook till done, then peel. If it is to be served hot, make a sauce of a can of tomatoes, an 70 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK omon, a carrot, salt and pepper, a spoon of flour -well cooked and strained, and poured over. If too be eaten cold, put a weight on it, when ready to serve, cut in very thin slices. MUTTON CHOPS. Place in a dripping pan; season well, and set in a hot oven. This is the nicest way we have ever cooked mutton chops. The gravy may be thickened or not, just as you prefer. It is not necessary to turn them. YEAL CUTLETS. Fry until pretty well done; then take out and dip into beaten egg, and then in rolled cracker, with salt stirred in, and fry again, turning so as to get a nice brovtm on each side. Make a gravy of water and a spoonful of flour in the frying pan and pour over. Season, if not salted enough; tomatoes are nice, served with cutlets. POEK TENDEKLOIN'S. Fomie. Have the spider hot, grease it with a bit of lard, and fry both sides brown, but do not cook them through; cover with boiling water, and stew twenty minutes or a half hour; thicken the gravy, and season with pepper and salt. The meat wiU taste like chicken, and i& every bit as good. AND TJSEFtTL HOIJSEnOLD HINTS. 71 DEYILLED KIDNEYS. (Devilled, means very hot.) Juliet Corson. Three tablespoons of oil, one of vinegar, saltspoon of salt, pinch of pepper, and a teaspoon of mustard. Dip the sliced kidneys in the above mixture and broil them. After they are broiled, sprinkle a little . cayenne pepper on. Serve when plenty of water can be afforded. STEWED KIDNEYS. Parboil a few minutes; drain off the water and boil again for five or ten minutes ; then cut up small, put in fresh water and cook until tender. Season well, and thicken the gravy. LIYER KOLLS. Have the liver sliced; pour on boiling water, and let stand five minutes, or so. Remove the skin; season the slices with salt and pepper. Put a little piece of fat salt pork on each slice and roll up, fast- ening with a string. Then brown them in a table- spoon of di'ippings or butter; then throw in a tablespoon of flour among them; stir them about, cover with water; season more if necessary, and cook half an hour. It may be served as a regular meat dish at dinner. 72 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK POKK AND LIVEE. Fry some nice slices of pickled pork or bacon, a nice brown, on each side; take up, pour boiling water on tlie slices of liver; remove the tliick skin at tlie edges ; roll in salted flour, and fry in the pork gravy. Cook slowly and thoroughly on both sides. Serve each person with a slice of each. It has been recom- mended to steam the liver fifteen minutes, before frying, in place of scalding. It is worth a trial. STEWED CALF'S LIYEE. Partly cook; then cut up small and finish stewing. Season with pepper, salt and butter. Thicken with flour. Serve hot; is nice for breakfast. ANOTHER NICE METHOD OF COOXING LIVER. Scald and peel off the edge ; jiut to fry, and when both sides are brown, cover with water in the frying pan; put cover over, and let stew fifteen or twenty minutes. If the liver is rolled in flour there will be a nice gravy made in the stewing. CALVES' LIVER LARDED. Juliet Corson. Use fat salt pork, as it is easier to lard with than pickled. For larding small birds, the strips should AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 73 be an inch and a half long and one-sixteenth of an inch thick; for chickens, a quarter of an inch thick; beef a la mode half an inch thick. These strips, called lardoons, are to be inserted in the surface of the liver with a larding needle. "Wash the liver in cold water, and trim the loose pieces off, but not the skin proper. Lay it on a folded towel held in the hand, curve the point of the needle a little, take a stitch in the meat, work the needle back and forth two or three times, insert the strip of pork in the forked end of the needle and pull through, leaving half an inch or so each side of the stitch. Dot the whole surface with this culinary embroidery. Put the liver on a bed of a few scraps of pork, a little carrot, turnip, and onion in a baking- pan. In baking, put a buttered paper over it until nearly done; then remove the paper, and let the lar- doons brown. The vegetables should be rubbed thi'ough a sieve, and the di'ippings found in the bot- tom of the pan used as a basis for sauce or gravy. CKEOLE SAUSAGES. Jnliet Corson. Prick the sausages all over, and put in the bottom of a saucepan; add a very small bit of garlic. After the sausages are browned, add a quart of tomatoes peeled and sliced; season with salt and pepper, and stew for half an hour slowly. Serve all together on 74 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK a platter It answers as a regular meat course at dinner. A combination of garlic and tomatoes always gives the name Creole to a dish. A nice addition to the above, is dumplings, made as follows: A cup of flour, half teaspoon baking powder, same of salt, enough water to make a soft dough, like biscuit dough, drop into the sausage and tomatoes, being sure that there is about a pint of liquid, adding water, if necessary; cook covered, about fifteen minutes. POTTED TKIPE. Juliet Corson. Boil, clean and cut up fresh tripe. Three pounds of tripe; one very large carrot, turnip, onion, all peeled, a teaspoon of whole cloves, same of whole pepper, two bay leaves, a sprig of parsley. Put in a jar. Half cover with broth or water. If broth is used, fill up with water, having a half gill of vinegar in it. Paste the cover on with flour and water, and bake six hours. CUERIED TEIPE. Juliet Corson. Take the tripe, as it ordinarily comes from the market; (it is generally cooked;) parboil it for a few AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 75 minutes, putting it on in cold salt and water. Pour off tliat water and put on another, boil for fifteen minutes ; take it out, and put in tliat water some rice to boil — the proportion is half a pound to a pound of tripe. Boil the rice until just tender. At the time of putting in the rice, slice and fry brown in a saucepan a couple of onions in butter or drippings ; then add the tripe and enough hot water to cover. Season with salt and pepper, and let it cook until the rice is done; add a tablespoon of curry powder to the tripe. Stir it up, and dish the tripe with the rice around it. If the tripe is not pickled, add a table- spoon of vinegar before taking up. SWEET BREADS. Soak in cold water and salt for an hour; then put on in a quart of cold water and a tablespoon of salt, and let come slowly to a boil ; then put in cool water to cool sufficiently to . handle ; then lard them with little strips of dry salted fat pork, about one-sixteenth of an inch thick. After they are larded put in the oven for fifteen minutes ; brown them a little, and in the meantime, make a garnish of whatever you wish. French green peas, mushrooms, stringbeans, or a plain white sauce. 76 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK STUFFED YEAL. Have tlie butcher make an incision for dressing. Use bread crumbs, a taste of onion, a raw egg beaten up, and any herbs that are desired. Stuff and cook in a moderate oven till well done, about twenty-five minutes to the pound. VEAL LOAF. Mrs. M. A. 8. Three pounds uncooked veal; three-quarters of a pound of salt pork; chop both fine; one cup of rolled cracker; two eggs, well beaten; one teaspoon of sugar; four of salt; two of pepper. Bake two hours. YEAL CAKE. Mrs. L. S. H. One pound of salt pork; two pounds of lean veal, both chopped fine; three Boston crackers rolled fine; salt and pepper; two small nutmegs; three eggs; mix well; put into a deep tin and bake two hours. MAKBLED YEAL. Mrs. D. A. Bradford. Take some cold, roasted veal; season with spice; beat in a mortar. Skin a cold boiled tongue; cut up and pound it to a paste, adding to it, nearly its weight of butter; put some of the veal into a pot; then AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 77 strew in lumps of tlie pounded tongue ; put in another layer of tlie veal, and again, more tongue; press it down and pour clarified butter on top. This cuts very prettily, like veined marble. The white meat of fowls may be used instead of veal. DRIED BEEF. Chip half a pound of dried beef fine ; put it in a stewpan, well covered with cold water. When it comes to a boil, pour oflf, and put over it a pint and a half of milk. Thicken this with a good tablespoon of flour wet with cold milk or water. Put in a bit of butter and pepper, and serve with baked potatoes. A nice breakfast or lunch for home people. SWEET BREADS. Parboil them as soon as you get them. Remove the tough pai'ts carefully. Let them lie in cold water a short time before using, then roll in cracker crumbs. Season with salt and pepper, and fry. FRIED TRIPE. Scrape the tripe. Cut it into squares of three inches; boil in salted water; when very tender, take out; cut up smaller; season, roll in flour and fry brown in hot lard. When done, pour a cup of water in the frying pan, and thicken with flour mixed smooth, with vinegar; pour over the tripe, hot. Good for breakfast. 78 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK KIIODE ISLAND DUMPLINGS. One quart of corn meal, lialf teaspoon of salt, wet up witli cold water stiff. Pat witli the hands, into little balls. Put them on the bottom and around the sides of a kettle, and pour boiling water over them and boil briskly an hour. To be eaten with meat gravies. You can cook potatoes with them. TO KEEP FKESH POKK. Roast as many pieces as you wish to keep, all ready for the table; then put them away in lard. All that is necessary is to heat through when wanted, and the lard is just as good as any for frying doughnuts or mush. HEAD CHEESE. Clean the head well, and soak in brine twenty-four hours; then boil it till very tender. Pemove all bones, and add to it a boiled heart, tongue, and part of a liver; chop very fine; add salt, pepper, sage and onion, if wished. Mix well; put in a colander and set over hot water at night. In the morning, put it to press. SAUSAGES. Use the proportion of one pound of fat pork to two of lean fresh pork; three good teaspoons of sage; two teaspoons of salt; same of pepper; good half AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 79 teaspoon of cloves, and a pincli of nntmeg. Cliop very fine, and mix well. To keep it any length of time, pack it in a jar and pour over it hot lard. TO PEESS COKNED BEEF. Put over in cold water and boil till tke bones fall out. Let it cool in the water; then remove, wrap it tightly in a towel, put in a cool place with a weight on it. Slice very thin. SOUSE. Put the pigs' feet and ears when well cleaned, over the fire in cold water. Boil till tender; pour over them in a jar a pickle made of cider vinegar, whole peppers, cloves and mace, boiling hot. They will be ready to eat in three days, or less. HOW TO COOK PIGS' FEET. After they are well cleaned, wrap each foot in a cotton bandage wound around it two or three times, and secured with cord; then boil them four hours; keep them in the cloths till needed to fry, broil oi' pickle. If cooked in this way, the skin will hold it together while cooking, and they will be found very delicate and tender. 80 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK BEEF PICEXE. Mrs. E. B. B. One hundred pounds of beef ; four pounds of coarse salt, made line ; four pounds of sugar ; four ounces of saltpetre; mix the salt, sugar and saltpetre well together, and rub the meat all over with it, and pack the pieces closely in a barrel. It will make its own pickle. Put no water in, as it will sj)oil the meat. In warm weather, if a scum rises, skim it off and add a little fine salt. This will preserve it, with no further trouble. The beef should be kept till juicy, before attempting to pack it at all. This is very necessary to have it tender and keep well. At first, turn it, and rub the mixture in quite often. (Excel- lent.) CUPJNG HAMS. Mrs. E. B. B. Nine pounds of rock salt, or coarse salt; two pounds of allspice ; three and a half pounds of brown sugar; two ounces of saltpetre; one and a half ounces of soda; six gallons of water; one hundred and fifteen pounds of ham. CUEE FOR DPJED BEEF AND HAM. Half pound of rock salt; half a pound common salt; one pint of molasses; one ounce of black pep- per; one ounce of saltpetre. This is enough for AND USEFUL IIOUSEUOLD UINTS. 81 eighteen pounds of meat. It should be rubbed into the meat everj day, in the tub, and the meat turned over and over. HASH. If a medium sized family has meat twice a day there can easily be gotten drippings enough for fiy- ing all the potatoes, French toast, mush, wonders and scrapple they may serve from time to time. In clearing a table, every scrap of meat or bone with a particle of fat on it should be saved in a tin can or basin. The meat remnants on the plates may be mixed with other food, but they should be rinsed and saved, nevertheless. It is more nice than wise to throw them into the garbage. Keep these accumu- lations for a couple of days, then put them in the oven, and in an hour or two all the grease wiU be tried out. It can then be strained, and is purer and more wholesome than the lard sold by the average butcher. A raw potato peeled and sliced and cooked in a quart of drippings will clarify it very success- fully. The fat that rises on the water tliat corned beef has been boiled in, makes very nice cookies. It can be melted and strained with other drippings to make it clearer. 6 82 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK COKNED BEEF HASH. Take the clear pieces of cold corn beef, removing all gristle and bone. Chop fine, add twice the quan- tity of cold chopped potatoes. Moisten with some of the water the beef was cooked in, grease the spider with the fat that rises when cold. "Warm well through. It may be moistened with milk, if preferred. WOl^DEES. Mrs. J. E. M. Take any bits of cold meat and chop fine. Take half as much potatoes as meat, and the same quantity of bread broken fine and moistened with hot water. Good tablespoon of flour made into smooth paste for thickening, two or three beaten eggs, any cold gravies that may be left over. Season well. Drop from a spoon into a hot, well greased spider. Drippings will answer. PHILADELPHIA SCRAPPLE. Mrs. C. S. J. Take bits of cold fowl or any kind of cold meat, or two or three kinds together. Cut up small, put in a frying pan with water to cover. Season well. When it boils, thicken with corn meal stirred in carefully like mush, and about as thick. Cook a short time, pour into a dish to mould, slice off and fry for breakfast. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 83 VEAL CEOQUETTES. Mrs. 8. Gebhart. Mince cooked veal very fine, add one chopped onion, mix half a cnp of milk with a teaspoon of flour. Butter size of a walnut. Cook until thickened and stir into the meat. Make into balls. Dip into beaten egg, roll in bread crumbs and fry in plenty of hot lard. UNION HASH. Chop up cold meat and season with pepper, salt, butter, and a cup of gravy if you have it; if not, add a cup of water to a pint of minced meat. Put in a baking dish and cover with mashed potatoes. Bake half hour in a well-heated oven. DELICIOUS MINCED VEAL. Chop cold roast veal; season with pepper, salt, nutmeg and lemon peel; moisten with a beaten egg and gravy or water. Put into a buttered dish, press down, cover, and set in a vessel of boiling water for an hour or more. Spread a beaten yolk of egg on the top and strew sifted bread crumbs over. Brown in the oven. Pour a little melted butter over and garnish with slices of lemon. BEEF PATTIES. Mince cold cooked beef, fat and lean, very fine; season with chopped onion, pepper, salt and gravy. 84 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Half fill patty pans with this and then fill them with mashed potatoes; put a bit of butter on each and brown in a hot oven. CHICKEN CEOQUETTES. Juliet Corson. Put a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over the fire. Fry in it a teaspoon of chopped onion and a heaping tablespoon of flour. Add a pint of milk or water slowly, to tbe consistency of a sauce that will clino- to the spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Put in it three-fourths of a pound of cooked chicken and one-fourth pound of mushrooms cut in small pieces but not chopped. Let cook a minute, then remove and stir in the yolks of two or three eggs and a half glass of cooking wine, if desired. Pour into a well buttered deep plate, well rubbed with oil. Pour a few drops of oil on top to keep the chicken from hardening. Let cool several hours before bread- ing and frying the" same as fish croquettes MEAT PIES. Cbop up cold roast beef or other meat. Heat it with a cup of water in a spider. Season with pepper, salt, and a bit of sage, and thicken with a spoonfol AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 85 of flour mixed in a little cold water. Pour tMs into a deep pan and make a crust a trifle riclier than bis- cuit dough, which spread over the top, make an opening in and bake. Cold potatoes maj be addea to the meat. MEAT DUMPLINGS. E. H. Take cold meat prepared as for meat pie described above. Make a biscuit dough, cut into as many pieces as you wa,nt dumplings, roll each about a quar- ter of an inch thick, and as large as a pint bowl. Put a small tablespoon of the meat in the center, gather up and pinch the edges together, set close together on a buttered plate and steam in a closely covered steamer twenty minutes. Serve any gravy there may be in a hot gravy dish. MINCED MUTTON. Take cold mutton, chop fine, heat it in gravy, and add a spoon of catsup and a bit of butter. Thicken with a little flour made smooth in water, and serve on a platter surrounded with mashed potatoes. FRICASSEE OF BEEF. Cut thin slices of cold cooked beef and heat quick- ly in some butter, already hot, in a frying-pan. Sea- son with salt, pepper, parsley, and lemon juice. Serve hot, with Saratoga potatoes. 86 MKS. OWENs' COOK BOOK MEAT OMELET. Mince up any cold pieces of meat, add a few crumbs of bread or crackers, and enough beaten egg to bind them together. Season well and pour into a well buttered hot frying pan. If it is difficult to turn it whole, a hot shovel may be held over the top until it is browned. EAGOUT. ^ Take pieces of any cold meats, cut small, put into a stewpan with water to cover. Put in a minced onion or two if liked, and some cold boiled potatoes sliced. Heat up, and when at a boiling point, thicken with flour. Season with pepper and salt. A dash of cayenne pepper improves it. Unless the onion is minced very fine, it must be cooked alone before put- ting into the stew. Meats to be hashed up should only be heated through, not boiled. Sauces, Catsups and Salads. CAKAMEL. Miss Juliet Corson. Caramel for coloring soups, gravies and sances, is made by putting a tablespoon of any kind of sugar AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 87 in a dry sancepan. Place over the fire and burn sliglitlj. When very dark brown, ponr in a very little water. Keep stirring, and gradually add a cup full. If the sugar is not entirely dissolved, add a little more water. This imparts a rich color, and is better than browned flour. A small wooden stick or paddle is much better to use in making gravies and mush than a spoon. It can scrape the bottom of a kettle without scratching or marring. White pepper is considered better for table use than black. In salads and any delicate cookery, it is to be preferred. In all salads where butter is called for salad oil may be used instead, bearing in mind to use about half the quantity. CITRKY POWDER, FOE GEAVIES WITH DIFFERENT KINDS OF MEATS, AND FOB DUCKS. Mrs. D. W. 8. One ounce each of ginger, mustard and black pepper, three ounces each coriander seed and tumeric, one-quarter ounce cayenne pepper, one-half ounce each cardamon, cummin seed and cinnamon. Pound very fine, sift, and keep tightly corked in a bottle. 88 MRS. o wens' cook book MUSTARD FOE TABLE USE. Take one-half of a quarter pound of mustard, to this add a teaspoon of sugar and one-lialf teaspoon of salt. Use the best cider vinegar to wet it, and stir to a smooth paste. When this is done, make it quite thin with vinegar and cook it, stirring all the time; it will thicken like flour paste. When cool it is fit for use. DEAWN BUTTEE SAUCE. Half cup butter, dessertspoon of flour rubbed well together. Put into a saucepan with one cup water or stock. Cover and set in a larger vessel of boiling water. Keep moving the saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. When thoroughly mixed, take off. Do not let boil. DUTCH SAUCE FOE MEAT OE FISH. Put six spoonfuls of water and four of vinegar into a saucepan warm, and thicken it with the yolks of two eggs. Make it quite hot, but do not boil it; squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and strain it through a sieve. CELEEY SAUCE FOE BOILED FOWLS. Cook in a pint of water two heads of celery 'cut up smalL One teaspoon salt. Eub together a table- AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 89 spoon of flour witli the same quantity of butter, and put this into a pint of cream or ricli milk. Pour over the celery and let come to a boil. Remove. MUSHEOOM SAUCE. Cut oflT the stalks. Put into boiling water with butter, pepper and salt. When tender, thicken with butter and flour, a tablespoon each, and add a little lemon juice. ASPARAGUS SAUCE. A dozen heads of asparagus, two teacups drawn butter, two eggs, the juice of half a lemon, salt and white pepper. Boil the tender heads in a very little salted water. . Drain and chop them. Have ready a pint of drawn butter, with two raw eggs beaten into it, add the cooked asparagus, and season, squeezing in the lemon juice last. The butter must be hot, but do not cook after putting in the asparagus heads. This accompanies boiled fowls, stewed fillet of veal or boiled mutton. SAUCE ROBART, FOR RUMPS OR STEAKS. Put a piece of butter size of an egg into a sauce- pan, set it over the fire, and when bro^vning, thi-ow in a handful of sliced onions cut small; fry brown, but do not let them burn, add one-half spoonful of flour, 90 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK shake the onions in it, and give it another fry; then put four spoonfuls of gravy, and some pepper and salt, and boil gently ten minutes. Skim off the fat, add a teaspoon of made mustard, and a spoonful of vinegar, and the juice of half a lemon. Boil it all, and pour it round the steaks. QUEEN OF OUDE SAUCE. Mrs. A. W. S., Logan, Iowa. One peck green tomatoes, four onions, eight green peppers, ten horse-radish roots, one cup salt. Chop fine and let stand in salt over night. Drain carefully. Add one cup sugar, one tablespoon each of cinnamon, allspice and cloves, cover with vinegar and cook four or five hours. (This is a very fine sauce.) CHILI SAUCE. Mrs. Hollett, Independence, Iowa. Twenty-four good sized tomatoes, eight large onions, eight green or ripe peppers, eight tablespoons salt, four cups vinegar, ten cents worth mustard seed, one- quarter teacup spice pounded, one-quarter teacup cloves pounded. Boil one hour. If too thick, add vinegar to taste, same with salt. Double this quan- tity will make six quarts sauce. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 91 WALNUT CATSUP. Mrs. K The only catsup to serve with fish. Take young, tender walnuts, prick tliem and place in a jar with sufficient water to cover them, add a handful of salt to every twenty-five walnuts, stir them twice a day for fourteen days, drain off the liquor into a kettle. Cover the walnuts with boiling vinegar, crush them to a pulp and strain through a colander into the juice. For every quart take two ounces each of white pepper and ginger, and one each of cloves and grated nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a small onion minced fine, and a teaspoon of celery seed tied in muslin. Boil all together for one hour. When cold, bottle. CAPEE BUTTER One tablespoon chopped capers, one table spoon butter, one saltspoon salt, a pinch of pepper. Serve with boiled fish. TOMATO CATSUP. Mrs. L. 8. H. One bushel ripe tomatoes, boil until sofl, and strain through a sieve. Add two quarts vinegar, and a half pint- salt, one ounce cayenne pepper, five heads garlic skinned and parted, two ounces whole cloves, four ounces whole allspice, s>iad three teaspoons 92 MKS. OWENs' COOK BOOK whole black pepper. Mix and boil three bonrB. Bottle without straining. The tomatoes will keep their own color if the spices are put in whole. TOMATO CATSUP. Mrs. Hollet. Two quarts skinned tomatoes, two tablespoons salt, one tablespoon allspice, four pods red pepper, two tablespoons ground mustard. Mix and rub thor- oughly, and stew in a pint of vinegar for three hours, then strain through a sieve and simmer it down to one quart. Pour in bottles and cork tight. CUCUMBER CATSUP. Grate full grown cucumbers, sprinkle with salt and let stand over night. Drain well, season with celery seed, add vinegar till about the consistency of the cucumber when first grated, and bottle for use. CUEEANT CATSUP. Five pounds currants crushed, three pounds light brown sugar, one pint good vinegar, two tablespoons ground cinnamon, one tablespoon ground cloves, one tablespoon ground allspice, one-half teaspoon salt, one teaspoon black pepper. Boil fast one hour, cool, and bottle tight. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS, 93 GOOSEBEKEY CATSUP. Pass througli a colander four quarts stewed berries. To the pulp add one and a half pints vinegar, one tablespoon each of cloves, cinnamon and allspice, and three pounds sugar. Stir ten or fifteen minutes. Common red plums are nice this waj. SPICED CUEKANTS. Mrs. F. W. Van B. Five pounds currants, three pounds B sugar, one pint vinegar, one tablespoon each of salt, cloves, all- spice and cinnamon. Boil the sugar, vinegar and spices ten minutes. Then add the currants crushed, and boil hard twenty minutes. SPICED PEACHES. A. H. H, One peck peaches, two quarts vinegar, four pounds sugar, three nutmegs, one tablespoon cloves and cin- namon. After paring the peaches place in a jar, strewing spices through them. Boil vinegar and sugar together, and pour over them three days in suc- cession, the fourth day boiling altogether twenty minutes. 94 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK geeejS^ tomato sot Mrs. E. B. B, Two gallons green tomatoes sliced, twelve large onions sliced, two quarts vinegar, one quart sugar, two tablespoons salt, two tablesj^oons ground mustard, two tablespoons black pepper ground, one tablespoon allspice, one tablespoon cloves. Stew till tender, seal in glass jars. DKESSING FOR CABBAGE. No. 1. One quart vinegar, four tablespoons butter rolled in flour, one teaspoon salt, one saltspoon cayenne pepper. Put on the fire, and as soon as it boils stir in the beaten yolks of four eggs. Pour over cut cabbage while warm. Eat cold. Good for salads. FRENCH SALAD DRESSING. FOK ANY VEGETABLE SALAD. One tablespoon vinegar, tbree tablespoons salad oil, one saltspoon salt, one-quarter saltspoon pepper. Stir together. Less oil is preferred by many. MAYONAISE SALAD DRESSING. Juliet Corson. For one pint, use the yolk of one egg, a saltspoon or more of salt, half of pepper, a dust of cayenne pepper, a level teaspoon of dry mustard, a teaspoon AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 95 of lemon juice or vinegar. Mix to a smootli paste, then add salad oil and vinegar (or lemon juice), a very few drops at a time, first of one then of the other, stirring constantly until three gills of oil and four tablespoons of the lemon or vinegar have been added. Make in a cool place. If it curdles, stir in half a teaspoon of the vinegar or lemon alone. Mix well, and if that does not bring it right, set it in the ice box for a while. If it still curdles, take another yolk and begin over again, and gradually stir in the curdled sauce, and it will come out all right. If a white mayonaise is desired, use the white of the egg. It will keep a long time. Set on ice a short time before using. DEESSING FOE COLD SLAW. No. 2. Mrs. Nellie Eoe, Sac City, Iowa. One teaspoon black pepper, one teaspoon mustard, two tablespoons white sugar, one-half cup sour cream, one-half cup vinegar, one-half teaspoon salt. More sugar if your taste requires. Pour over cold. CABBAGE DEESSING. No. 3. Mrs. L. S. H. One teacup vinegar, one tablespoon butter, same of flour, two small tablespoons sugar, pepper and salt. 96 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Cook, pour over chopped or sliced cabbage while hot. Cover closely, and eat cold. AlSrOTHER. No. 4— Mrs. M. A. S. Half pint vinegar, butter size of egg, one egg, two teaspoons sugar, one each mustard and salt; pepper. Boil vinegar, take from stove and stir all ingredients together quickly and pour over the cabbage. LETTUCE DRESSING. Yolks of two hard boiled eggs, two tablespoons sweet cream, teaspoon pepper, sugar, and mustard, half teaspoon salt. Rub together, let stand five minutes, add vinegar, and pour over lettuce cold. MAITRE D' HOTEL SAUCE. Cup melted butter, teaspoon chopped parsley, juice one lemon, pinch cayenne and salt; simmer. TARTAR SAUCE. First make a Mayonaise; mix with it one table- spoon each of chopped parsley, capers and gherkins and one teaspoon chopped onion. PLAIN WHITE SAUCE. Tablespoon each butter and flour made smooth in a saucepan and a pint of milk or water added slowly. If it seems too thin, cook longer. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 97 OEANGE SALAD. For eight or ten persons, peel and slice in round slices half a dozen oranges. Grate the rind of one, squeeze the juice from one lemon, mix together the juice of lemon, the rind of orange, and three table- spoons salad oil, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Pour over the sliced oranges. A very nice accompaniment to roast duck or game. Its place is with game, SALMAGUNDI. Juliet Corson. Dress this salad on a standing salad dish or a fruit dish. Use chopped veal or chicken, hard boiled eggs, white and yolk cho2)ped separately, sardines or ancho- vies, tongue, pickled beets or red cabbage, chopped pickles or capers, and parsley or water cresses. Pre- pare all of these separately, and arrange them in little rows, placing the colors so they will harmonize. Dress with plain French salad dressing, using three times as much oil as vinegar or lemon juice. If sardines are used, get the boneless sardines at a trifling excess of cost. Grated orange or lemon rinds are nice addi- tions. Salmagundi is specially adapted for night suppers. EUSSLAN SALAD. Take at least three colors of vegetables, beet, carrot and turnip. Cut the carrot and turnip in slices over 7 98 MRS. OWENS COOK BOOK an inch tliict, then take an apple corer or a smaller cylinder and cut through the slices as many pieces as can be gotten. When enough are cut, boil each kind separately in a little vessel, putting over in boil- ing salted water. When just tender, drain and lay in cold water. Beets are not to be soaked in cold water, but boiled whole and cut up when ready to serve in the salad. Lay the colors around on a small salad platter rather than a high salad dish, in little groups, and pour over a plain French salad dressing. POTATO SALAD. Cold boiled potatoes sliced in thin slices in alter- nate layers with onion sliced very thin. Pour over cabbage dressing No. 4, and garnish with parsley and hard boiled egg. POTATO SALAD. Cold boiled potatoes cut in slices. If liked, mix with bits of cold boiled fish. Put on a platter, make a salad dressing of three tablespoons melted butter or olive oil, three of cream, large teaspoon salt, half tea- spoon white pepper and half a teaspoon mustard. Mix this into half a cup of vinegar. When thor- oughly cooked together add a couple of well beaten eggs. Take off directly and stir two or three min- utes. Pour over cold. Chop parsley very fine and AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 99 strew across tlie top in the form of vines. Lay sliced cucnmbers or green pickled tomatoes around the edge. This is for about six good sized potatoes. VEGETABLES. Green vegetables when boiling, should be kept at the boiling point, else by stopping, the lowered tem perature will soften them, and detract from their color. After washing vegetables, lay them in cold water till time to put over to cook. Put them into boiling water unless otherwise directed. A pinch of salt, pepper or spice, means about a quarter of a saltspoon. BOILED POTATOES. If they are to be served whole, wash well, (it is easier to wash with a cloth,) cut an end off, or a nar- row strip entirely around. This makes them mealy. When done, pour off the water and set on the back of the stove with a towel laid over them. 100 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK POTATOES COOKED WITHOUT WATEK. WTieii potatoes are first washed, they may be cooked without any water, by putting them into a closely covered stewpan. The cover must fit per- fectly, and the vessel must set flat on the stove. I have cooked them that way many times. Set the stewpan on top of the stove, shake occasionally, but do not lift the cover under half an hour. Try it. MASHED POTATOES. Peel, cut in two, and cook tender; drain; masTi fine with a large fork, or, what is still better, the Victor vegetable masher. The latter renders them extremely mealy. Season with butter and salt. Pour in a cup of sweet cream or milk for a family of half a dozen persons. Beat in thoroughly with a wooden spoon; keep beating till your potatoes are a foamy white. Take up in a tureen. Dash a little pepper on in spots, if liked. Serve hot, with any kind oi meats used at dinner. QHIKLED POTATOES. Peel, boil, season and mash potatoes, then put them through a colander into the dish you wish to serve them. Brown in the oven. AlO) USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 101 POTATO PUDDING. Scrape or pare six good sized potatoes, place in a chopping-bowl, scatter over them flour enougli to fill a teacup, add salt, pepper, and butter to taste, chop fine and mix well. Grease a deep pie-tin, spread the mixture in it, and cover with cream ; bake slowly half or three-quarters of an hour. SAKATOGA POTATOES. Peel and slice thin into cold water. Drain well, and dry in a towel. Fry a few at a time in boiling lard. Salt as you take them out, and lay them on coarse brown paper for a short time. They are very nice cold for lunch, or to take to picnics. BAKED POTATOES. If the potatoes are wiped dry, they will bake much sooner than if put into the oven wet from washing them. POTATOES A LA CKEME. Put into a saucepan three tablespoons of butter, a small handful of parsley chopped small, salt and pep- per to taste. Stir up well until hot, add a small tea- cup of cream or rich milk, thicken with two teaspoons of flour, and stir until it boils. Chop some cold boiled potatoes, put into the mixture, and boil up once before serving. 102 MBS. OWENS' COOK BOOK POTATO CROQUETTES. Season cold mash potato with pepper, salt and nut- meg. Beat to a cream, with a tablesj)oon of melted hutter to every cup of potato. Bind with two or three beaten eggs, and add some minced parsley. Roll into oval balls, dip in beaten egg, then in bread- crumbs, and fry in hot lard or drippings. Pile in a pyramid upon a flat dish, and serve. POTATO PUFFS. Two cups mashed potatoes, with two spoons melted butter, beaten until creamy. Then add two well- beaten eggs and a cup of cream or milk, a little salt, beat well. Pour into a baking dish, spread butter over the top and bake quickly a delicate brown. POTATO BALLS. Take the remains of mashed potatoes; make into flat balls, dip in beaten egg and fry a nice brown in drippings. LYONNAISE POTATOES. Boil, peel and slice about one-fourth of an inch thick. For six potatoes, use one onion. Put the shced onion into a hot buttered frying pan. When a little brown, put in the potatoes. Season, and when AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 1()5 a golden brown, sprinkle over them a tablespoon of chopped parsley. A combination of onion and parsley always means Lyonnaise. PAEISIAN POTATOES. Pare and cut raw potatoes in balls, like walnuts. Boil them in salted water till tender. Drain them ; lay them on a towel to dry, for a moment, and then brown in hot lard, the same as doughnuts. It will take but a very short time. Take out, sprinkle with a little salt, and serve on a platter with broiled beef- steak. SCALLOPED POTATOES. Pare the potatoes, cover the bottom of a baking dish with bread crumbs; then add a layer of sliced potatoes, bits of butter, salt and pepper; fill the dish with alternate layers; wet the whole with milk and bake for an hour .and a half. In cooking sweet potatoes, they will be made mealy if boiled and then put into the oven to dry thoroughly. STEWED TOMATOES. Scald and skin the desired number, and place in a stewpan without water; let them simmer for half an 104 MRS. OWEXS' COOK BOOK hour. Add j^epper, salt, and a good sized piece of "butter. Grate a few bits of stale bi-ead over all; boil up once, and serve very hot. BAKED TOMATOES. Select large ripe ones. Make a hole in the center and stuff with bread-crumbs, seasoned with butter, salt and pepper. Place them in a deep pan and bake. Put a cup of water in the pan. FKIED GREEN TOMATOES. J. E. 0. Slice rather thick, and roll in com meal. Salt and pepper, and place in hot frying-pan, well buttered. Cover closely and fry until perfectly tender and nicely browned. If you don't really like them the first time, try again, as they seem to require a cultivated taste. SCALLOPED TOMATOES. Peel and slice nice smooth ripe tomatoes. Place in a baking dish a layer with salt and pepper; then a layer of bread or cracker crumbs, with small lumps of butter. Kepeat till the dish is full; bake about an hour; onion may be added, if Hked. AKD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 105 TOMATOES AND EICE. In cooking tomatoes for half a dozen persons, pnt in two tablespoons raw rice, when first pnt over to stew. It will be found a very palatable dish, cooked until the rice is well done, and seasoned with butter, pepper and salt. METHOD OF COOKING RICE. Juliet Corson. Put a teacup of rice into a quart of boiling water, with a tablespoon of salt. Boil twelve minutes; drain off the water and cover and set back for ten minutes. Verv nice, HOW TO COOK EICE. An American in Japan writes that they do know Vow to cook rice there. Thej put just enough cold «7ater on to keep from burning, cover closely and cook over a moderate fire. "When nearly done, take off the cover and allow the surplus moisture to escape. The rice turns out in whole kernels, snow-white, and very superior to the American way of cooking it. A NICE WAY TO COOK SWEET CORN. Mrs. A. 8. J. Take six plump ears of sweet corn and grate from the cob. Beat one egg, stir into it one tablespoon 106 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK each of flour and milk, pinch of salt and pepper; mix all together, and fry in melted butter in a hot frying- pan; a spoonful in a place; turn as it gets brown. GEEEN COKN PATTIES. Mrs. E. B. B. One dozen ears of corn grated, or cut oflT fine ; one quart of flour; three eggs; salt; two teaspoons of baking powder. Make very thin with water, and bake on a griddle with butter and lard. BAKED COEN. Take twelve ears of sweet corn, cut the grain partly off and scrape the rest. Add one tablespoon of but- ter, one of sugar and one teaspoon of salt. Eub these well together and add a pint of new milk, then put in the oven and bake. GEEEN COEN PUDDING. Twelve ears of green corn cut off cob; one and a half pints of milk, four beaten eggs, one and a half cups of sugar. Bake three hours. TO CAN GEEEN COEN. Aunt Addie. To every six quarts of corn take one ounce of tartaric acid dissolved in boiling water. Cut the corn AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 107 from the cob and put in sufficient water to cook. When the corn is cooking put in the acid- water and seal in air-tight cans. Wlien you wish to use it pour off the water from it, put in fresh water and a small quantitj of soda; let stand a few moments before cooking. When nearly -cooked, say about ten minutes, add cream or rich milk, butter, pepper and salt. [A lady tells me that in thirty -five cans put up this way, not one proved a failure. Ed.] SUCCOTASH. Cook the shelled beans two hours. In the mean- time, cut the corn from the cobs and put the cobs in with the beans for a half hour, to extract the sweet- ness. Use double the quantity of corn that you do beans. At the end of the two hours, put the com in with the beans and cook a good half hour. Season with salt, pepper and butter and a cup of cream or milk thickened with a little flour. LIMA BEANS. Boil, and when tender, drain. Season with butter and pepper and cream, if you have it. 'to cook string beans. String the beans, cut them in pieces of less than half an inch, wash them and put them over to cook 108 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK in boiling water, adding a level teaspoon of soda to a good sized mess of beans, let them boil fifteen or twenty minutes, drain off the water, j)iit them over to cook in boiling water, and as soon as tliey begin to be tender, salt them, then boil until they are very tender, — it takes a long time to cook them properly — after which add butter and pepper to taste, and stir in some sweet cream. Or rich milk may be substi- tuted, dredging in wheat flour to give it the thick- ness of cream. Some prefer them without either, using more butter instead. BAKED PORK AND BEAKS. Put on one quart of dry beans to boil in cold water. In about half an hour after they begin to boil, put in half a teaspoon of saleratus. Let boil up, and pour off the water. Put on fresh water, hot or cold, let boil till the beans are tender, but not mashed. Take a pound of salt pork, clean it well, score the rind, and put it in the center of the beans, in a large dripping pan. Bake in a slow oven till all are nicely browned on top. BOSTON BAKED BEAl^S. Take one quart of beans; put to soak over night. In the morning put one pound of salt pork in the bottom of the bean pot, put the beans in, with plenty ANB USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 109 of water to cover, two good tablespoons of inolaBses, a teaspoon of salt, and place in tlie oven. Bake slowly all day, being careful to keep tlie beans cov- ered with hot water from the tea-kettle. If the oven is wanted, the bean pot can be set on the back of the stove for any length of time, without harm. This quantity will make over two quarts when done. CAULIFLOWEK, Is better wrapped in a cloth for boiling. Cook in salted water. Then serve with drawn butter. ANOTHEK METHOD. Boil in salted water, just enough to cook it; then put in a cup of milk or cream and a very little thick- ening, and season with butter, pepper and salt. TO COOK GKEENS. Look them over carefully, wash them and put them in a kettle of boiling water to which has been added a handful of salt. Let them boil without cover until tender, then put them in a colander, press out all the water you can, and put them into the dish in which you serve them — a tureen or some deep dish is pref- erable; cut them down each way, season with pepper and plenty of butter, adding salt if necessary. Greens are very nice boiled with ham. 110 MKS. OWICNS' COOK BOOK SAUEKKEAUT. Squeeze the sauerkraut out of the brine; wash it in one or two cold waters; drain; place it in a porcelain-lined or earthen vessel; cover with cold water; boil two hours; pour into a colander; press out the water; replace in vessel; prepare a dressing of one tablespoon of lard and one of flour; stir thoroughly in a frying-pan over the fire until it assumes a light brown color; mix this well with kraut, and serve. Some like the addition of a few caraway-seed. The above is the proportion for one quart of sauerkraut. TRIED CABBAGE. Slice thin or chop fine. Put into a frying-pan, with some salt pork gravy, and a very little water. Season with salt and pepper. Cover closely. Cook slowly on top of stove. When done, add half a cup of vinegar, if liked. SPICED CABBAGE. Juliet Corson. Half a cup of vinegar, tablespoon of sugar, tea- spoon of whole cloves, same of whole pepper, some salt, put in the cut cabbage, cover, and cook slowly until tender. It is very nice served with a flank of beef cooked as follows: Take some stale bread, soak Am) USEFUL IIOUSBUOLD HINTS. Ill in cold water, season highly; spread on the flank and roll up; put some dripj)ings in the pot; brown the flank in it; then add water, cover and cook until tender. CABBAGE A LA CAULIFLOWER. Take a small solid head of cabbage. Boil it whole, very gently; season it with salt and pepper and a cup of milk or cream. Serve hot. It is much nicer cooked whole, than cut. DELICIOUS WAT OF COOKING CABBAGE, so IT MAT BE EATEN BY A DTSPBPTIO. Slice or chop fine, a small head, and season with salt and pepper; cook in a kettle in just enough water to keep it from burning. Take half cup sour cream, half cup of vinegar, t^vo eggs, butter, size of an egg, beat together, and pour it over the cooked cabbage in the kettle. Let it boil up once, and serve. Very nice. CREAM CABBAGE. Slice nicely, cook in a saucepan with just water enough to cook it. Season with salt. When tender, drain, if any water is left. Pour over it a cup of cream or milk, a tablespoon of butter, and a table- 112 MKS. OWENS' OOOK BOOK spoon of flour made smooth witli milk. Let boil up. and serve. SPRING CARROTS. Leave stalks on. Scrape and boil in salted water till tender. Dress them with a plain white sauce, adding a teaspoon of chopped parsley and half as much lemon juice. This is known as maitre d'hotel carrots. RICE CROQUETTES. Take cold boiled rice; allow a small spoon of butter and a beaten egg to each cup of boiled rice. Roll into oval balls, with floured hands. Dip in beaten egg, then in sifted bread or cracker crumbs, and fry in hot lard like doughnuts. Good with maple syrup. JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES. Clean well and put to cook in plenty of boiling salted water. It will take one and a half or two hours. Drain, and serve in melted butter. TO COOK BEETS. Boil and slice, and put in a saucepan on the stove. Take a small cup of vinegar, tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of sugar, little salt and pepper, heaping teaspoon of corn-starch dissolved in little water; stir all together, till it boils, then pour over the beets, stirring carefully. Serve very hot in a covered dish. AND USEFUL HOUSEUOLD HINTS. 113 BOILED BEETS. Wash without breaking the skin. Put to cook in boiling water. Boil till done. Slice and season with butter, salt and pepper in Ihe vegetable dish. Do not put on vinegar, as many prefer them without. Eat hot. Keep out enough whole ones to cut up for pickles. TUEKIPS. Mrs. A. S. J. Peel, cut in slices, and steam. When done, mash ; add salt, teaspoon of sugar, two or three tablespoons of milk or cream, and a little butter. This will make old turnips taste like new. Turnips are also very nice cut in slices and cooked in boiling salted water, and served in slices seasoned with butter and pepper. MACAEONL A delicious breakfast dish. Take a pint of Italian macaroni broken up into inch pieces. Put it into more than a gallon of boiling water, and let it boil twenty minutes; drain in a colander; put in a basin or pudding dish, with three pints of milk, season with butter, pepper and salt, and bake thirty minutes. MACAEONI AND CHEESE. Break half a pound of macaroni into inch pieces and put into a saucepan of boiling water and boil 8 114 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK twenty minutes ; add a little salt while boiling; drain, and put in a well buttered dish a layer at a time, with plenty of grated clieese sprinkled over each layer, with pepper to suit taste, and bits of butter. When the dish is full, pour over half a cup of good milk, or better still, cream. Bake half an hour, and serve in the dish it is baked in. ASPARAGUS. Get the stalks of equal length if you can. Tie up. Boil in salted water not quite half an hour. Lay on buttered toast, and pour drawn butter over it. Asparagus is very nice cut up into half inch pieces and cooked same as green peas. PARSNIPS. Scrape them clean, cut in slices lengthwise and boil in a stewpan or skillet till tender. Drain, and dip into a batter made of half a cup of milk, one egg, half a teaspoon of baking powder in flour enough to thicken like griddle cakes. Pry in hot drippings or butter. GREEN PEAS. If the pods are boiled well and the water strained, it will be found to contain a great deal of sweetness AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HIKTS. 115 and nutriment. The peas may be cooked in this water. Season with butter, pepper and salt and cream if you have it. If the peas are old, a little sugar improves them. VEGETABLE OYSTER. Cut into inch pieces and throw into cold water for a short time. Boil the same as green peas. Drain the water off and pour over milk or cream, thickened a little with flour. Season with butter, pepper and salt. FEIED EGG PLANT. Pare and cut in slices half an inch thick. Sprinkle a little salt on each slice and press down for an hour; then rinse in clear water and dry well with a towel. Dip in egg and rolled cracker and fry a nice brown. Season more, if required. STUFFED EGG PLANT. Take a full grown egg plant; cut in two length- wise; take out the inside, leaving a half inch of the peeling. Chop fine, and mix with an equal quantity of bread crumbs. Salt and pepper, to taste. A very little sugar. Cook this mixture in butter in a hot frying pan, stirring it to keep from burning. Let cook about ten minutes ; fill the shells with this, and bake in the oven half an hour. Serve in the shells. 116 MRS. o wens' cook book [To peel an onion so it will not break, tAva off the root carefully, but not closely. Take off the outer dry layer and leave the others intact. Do not cut the stalk. In this way, it will not boil to pieces. Juliet Corson.] BOILED ONIONS. When peeling onions keep thera under water, and all weeping of the eyes will be avoided. Put to cook in boiling water. Boil a few minutes, then drain off the water; put on more water and boil again; and, still a third, where they may remain till tender. This renders them mild in flavor. When the last water is poured off, add a cup of milk and seasoning of butter, pepper and salt. Boil up and serve. The milk helps to relieve them of their offensiveness. Onions are very healthful, and it would be better for the generality of people, if they ate them oftener, SUMMEK SQUASH. Grandma Owens. Take them when the skin is tender and can be easily punctured with the finger nail. Cut up small and cook in as little water as possible. Cook without covering, so there will be more rapid evaporation. Stir often. When they are sufficiently cooked, they AND rSEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 117 will generally be maslied enongli for the table. Season well witb salt, pepper and butter. Some like a little cream or milk added last. HUBBAKD SQUASH. Cut in large pieces, scrape clean, and bake. Wben done, tbey may be served in the shell, or maslied, just as preferred. They cleave from the peel very easily. Season with butter and salt. If mashed, smooth them nicely on top with a knife, and put lit- tle lumps of butter and dashes of pepper here and there. Squash may be steamed if preferred. BREAD. Good bread is the staff of life. It can not be made from poor flour. The new process or patent flour is the most uniformly satisfactory for bread. Ordinary spring wheat makes good sweet bread, but is sticky and disagreeable to work up. It takes more of this flour than of winter wheat. Small loaves are better than large, and make less waste. Never set a bread bowl of sponge when it is so hot you can not rest your hand for a moment. Let loaves rise to twice the original size before baking. When bread is taken 118 MRS. o wens' cook book from the oven, turn it out on a bread cloth. Take the pan off, lay an end of the cloth over the bottom of the loaf. Replace the pan for ten minutes. It helps to make the crust tender. If baked quite hard, it is best to brush them over with butter. Cut warm bread or cake with a hot knife, to prevent clamminess. If at any time it is desired to have bread rise more quickly than usual, use double the quantity of yeast and it will come up accordingly. A half cup of sugar in a batch 'of bread will keep it moist, and make it much nicer. The following recipes for yeast are excellent, and may be implicitly relied upon: THE VERY BEST HOME-MADE YEAST 1 EVER SAW. Mrs. W. P. Carr, New Lisbon, "Wis. Take three large potatoes, peel and grate them as rapidly as possible, so they will not turn dark. Pour on one quart boiling water and cook half an hour. Add one-half cup sugar, one-half cup salt, shortly before it is done. When sufficiently cool, put in any. good yeast to raise it; the next day it will be as light as a foam. A teacup of this yeast will be enough to raise four or five loaves of bread. It should be kept in a cool place, and in summer renewed every fort- night. AND USEFUL irOUSEHOLD HINTS. 119 HOP YEAST. Mrs. P. Nine large or twelve small potatoes, one teacup hops, one teacup sugar, one teacup salt, one teacup old yeast. Pare and slice the potatoes, tie up hops in a cloth, and boil together in bright tin or porcelain. Put thi'ough a colander, add enough cold water, washing the hop bag in it, to make a gallon. When cool, add sugar, salt and old yeast. INDIAN MEAL YEAST CAKES. Six potatoes and a handful of hops, boil together and strain on some corn meal, thoroughly scalding it. When cool, put in tablespoon ginger, and yeast. Let rise, then make into cakes and dry. YEKMONT YEAST CAKES. Mrs. A. S. J. Stir into a pint of good lively yeast a tablespoon salt, and wheat flour to make a thick batter. When risen light stir in some corn meal till thick enough to roll out. When again risen, roll very thin, cut into cakes and dry in the shade in clear, windy weather. When perfectly dry, tie in a bag and hang in a cool, dry place. 120 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK POTATO YEAST. Mrs. Nellie Roe. Six or eight large potatoes boiled and put through a colander, one cup sugar, one-half cup salt. Pour on boiling water till about as thick as griddle cakes. Let cool, and when lukewarm, put in one pint good yeast. "When risen, stir down several times, keeping in a warm place all the time. Then put into jugs, cork, and keep in a cool place. EASY BEEAD MAKING. One quart boiling water, one quart cold water, flour enough to make a batter. When sufficiently cool, put in half a cup yeast, teaspoon salt, and flour enough to knead. Knead smooth and place in a well greased* pan. In winter cover with a dish, in summer with a cloth; do this at night. In the morning make into loaves without using any more flour than barely neces- sary to handle, place in the baking tins, greasing the top and sides of each loaf with butter or sweet lard. Let it rise until little holes may be seen when it is pressed gently back from the tin, and put in the oven. The oven should be so hot as hardly to bear your hand half a minute, and the heat uniform, for from thirty to forty-five minutes. This bread is just as good as if kneaded for half an hour #* • Tore. AliTD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 121 EASY BKEAD MAKmG. No. 3. In tlie first place, take three tablespoons flour, two tablespoons salt, two tablespoons sugar, and scald by pouring on one pint boiling water. Let it stand till cool, then add two yeast cakes or soft yeast of equal quantity and let rise. Take one dozen good sized potatoes, boil and mash, add three quarts hot water, when cool enough put in the above yeast, and let stand over night. I^ow all that is necessary is to take a quart or more, according to the number of loaves you want, stir it into the flour, knead it into loaves and put it into your tins, let it rise, and bake. No sponging nor fussing. The mixture will keep two weeks. If your family is large and yon require more loaves of bread, make up more of the yeast at a time. If you want raised biscuit for tea, just stir a pint or more of the yeast with a little shortening into your flour, make into biscuit, let rise, and bake. The con- tributor of this says it is the nearest to perfect bread that she ever tried. MILK YEAST BEEAD. Take a pint of wheat middlings, stir into it one tablespoon white sugar, one tablespoon ginger, one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon soda. Put this in some- thing that will exclude the air. The day before you 122 MES, OWENS' COOK BOOK want to make bread take two tablespoons of this dry mixture, put it in a cup, pour boiling water on it to scald, make it about the consistency of yeast, and set it where it will keep warm. Do this at noon, and by night it will be light, though it will not rise high. The next morning take a cup of new milk and one of boiling water, a little salt; stir in flour till as thick as fritters, add the yeast set tlie day before. If it looks dark it will not discolor your bread. Set it in a kettle of water as hot as you can bear your hand in, and in two or three hours it will be up and foaming, then mix your bread, put in the pans to rise, which will take about an hour, and then bake. GRAHAM BREAD. Make a rather thick sponge of white flour, yeast, water and salt. "When light, stir in Graham flour till it is as thick as can be stirred with a spoon. To about three loaves put in one cup sugar or molasses. Put immediately into the pans to rise for baking. It requires a slow oven and takes over an hour to bake. Sometimes if the sponge is not quite as thick as intended, it is necessary to use more white flour when stirring to put into the pans. Graham bread should never be kneaded. iSoTE.— Wat r may he s^ulistilntod for milk in the followiug recipes, am; baking powder for soda and cream of tartar. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 123 mDIAN BEEAD. Two cups Indian meal, two cups rye and two cups Graham, one cup molasses, one-lialf cup yeast, one teaspoon soda, salt, mix not very stiff with tepid water, let rise, and bake slowly three hours. (Excel- lent.) NEW ENGLAND KYE AND INDIAN BREAD. Mrs. O. Jones. Scald one quart Indian meal. When cool, add same quantity of rye, one-half teacup molasses, tea- spoon salt, a teacup good lively yeast, and small tea- spoon soda. Mix well, add more water if needed. When risen, bake two hours or steam three hours. Graham will answer in place of rye. PRISON MISSION BROWN BREAD.* Mrs. J. B. Wheeler, Peoria, 111. 1 pint sour milk, 1 cup each corn meal, Graham flour and white flour, -J cup molasses, 1 teaspoon salt, same of soda. Steam 2 hours and bake 1 hour, in a two-quart basin. * This recipe was given me by the wife of our United States Prison Missionary, Rev. W. D. A, Matthews, Onarga, 111., who is doing so much for the welfare of prisoners. 124 MKS. OWEXS COOK BOOK PAULINE'S BEOWN BREAD. Mrs. Dr. Cory. Four cups meal, two and one-lialf cups flour, two cups sour milk, one and one-half cups sweet milk, two and one-half teaspoons soda, one teaspoon shortening, salt. Steam two or three hours. ELECTION BREAD. Two quarts flour, one pint corn meal, two table- spoons lard, one-third cake of yeast, a teaspoon of salt; mix with water to a stiff batter; pour into a deep bread pan. Let rise over night and bake in the morning. YERMONT BROWN BREAD. Mrs. A. C. Hastings, IRIiddletown, Vt Two teacups sour milk, two teacups sweet milk, one scant teacup molasses, three teacups Indian meal, two teacups rye or wheat flour, two teaspoons soda, one teaspoon salt. Put in a two quart basin, place in a steamer and steam three hours, then bake one-half hour, or till a light crust is formed. (Excellent.) RUSK. Mrs. L. D. R. One cup butter, two cups sugar, two cups new milk, one cup good yeast, three eggs. Stir as stiff as pos- AIJD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 125 sible with a spoon. Set in warm place to rise over niglit. Ought to rise twice the size of the first. Cut ojff little bits, make into balls with the hands, using no more flour than necessary. When very light bake twenty minutes. RAISED BISCUIT. On baking day save out enough of the bread dough for a large pan of biscuits. Mix in two eggs, two tablespoons shortening, same of sugar. Use flour enough to knead all well together. Let it rise in a bowl and chop down with a chopping knife or carver. It will soon come up again. Keep chopping it down. It rises sooner after each chopping. Make into small ,'ound balls for supper. Put a little butter between them, let rise and bake. Then take them from the oven, brush them over with milk and sugar. ROLLS. Mrs. A. S. Johnston. One pint of sweet milk warmed; add half a tea- cup melted butter, two tablespoons of sugar, small pinch of salt, penny's worth of good yeast. Stir in flour and knead it on the board five minutes. Set in a warm place. When risen, knead it for ten minutes and put on the board and chop it fine with carving or chopping knife. Let rise again; then roU it out, cut, 126 MKS, OWENS' COOK BOOK as for biscuit, spread lightly with melted butter; lap one side o\ I ever ate. one side over the other ; let rise, and bake. The best SAEATOGA EOLLS. Mrs. E. B. Baldwin. Two quarts of flour; one quart of milk; half a cup of butter, two large tablespoons of jeast, salt. Sponge over night, and make into rolls in the morn- ing; let rise, and bake. COEN MEAL EOLLS. Mrs. A. S. J. If yon wish the rolls for breakfast, make a quart of mush at noon, the day before. Salt it well; add while warm, one teacup of lard or butter, one-half cup of sugar. Mix thoroughly; when cool enough, add a small cup of lively yeast, and set to rise in a warm place. When risen well, stir in flour and knead it a few minutes; then set to rise again. Before bed-time, knead again. In the morning, roll and cut out like biscuit. Butter and lap one side over the other; let rise, and bake. In hot weather, add a small teaspoon of soda, well dissolved. If wanted for very early breakfast, roll out the night before, and tliey will be ready to bake when the oven is ready. (Yery fine.) Ain) USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 127 FLANNEL EOLLS. Mrs. M. A. Smith. One quart of sweet milk, five eggs, salt, small spoon of butter; beat eggs well, add butter, salt, milk and flour enough to thicken suflaciently to pour. Bake in gem irons. (Excellent.) COEN MEAL GEIDDLE CAKES. Mrs. E. B. B. One cup of white corn meal; two cups of flour, two cups of milk, one quart of boiling water, two tablespoons of yeast, one tablespoon of brown sugar, one-quarter teaspoon of soda; one teaspoon salt. Scald the meal at night, with the boiling water. Beat well; while yet warm, stir in flour, sugar, milk and yeast. Let rise all night; then add soda and salt. Leave a cup full for the next rising. BEEAD PANCAKES. Take all the little crusts, crumbs and pieces of bread that are left in the bread box, or gathered from the table. Soak in water till soft, press through a colander; add milk, as many eggs as you can afibrd, salt, flour and baking powder, and your griddle cakes will be praised. 128 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK ECONOMICAL COEN CAKES. Take one pint of corn-meal and scald with not quite a quart of boiling water; when cool add another pint of meal and a large handful of flour, salt, and a tablespoon of liquid yeast. Before baking add one- fourth of a teaspoon of soda dissolved in hot water; bake as other corn cakes. Let them raise over night if for breakfast. MILK TOAST. Put one quart of milk over boiling water to heat. When nearly boiling hot, stir in a spoon of flour mixed smooth in a little cold milk. Let cook a minute; season witli salt and butter, and pour over slices of toast in a deep dish. If the toast is made from very dry bread, moisten it in hot water before pouring gravy over. FKEKCH TOAST. Mrs. A. S. J. Make a batter of two eggs, one-half cup of milk, pinch of salt, and teaspoon of corn-starch. Dip thin slices of bread in and fry brown in a well buttered frying-pan. If the bread is very dry, dip in water first. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 129 MOBILE BISCUIT. One and a half tablespoon each of hntter and lard, three eggs, one yeast cake, one and a half quarts of flour, one teaspoon of sugar, two teaspoons of salt, and work up with warm milk. Stir lard, butter and sugar together, and then beat into the flour. Beat the eggs into this batter. Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water and add. Sift the salt through with the flour. Lastly, mix with warm milk into a soft dough. Set over night; make into rolls in the morning, and raise a half hour before baking. BAKING POWDER BISCUIT. Two quarts flour, with 5 or 6 teaspoons baking powder sifted through it; rub in 2 tablespoons lard and I teaspoon salt; stir in with a spoon li pints cold water; if too soft to roll out, flour the board well; roll soft, cut out, and bake in a quick oven. SODA BISCUIT. Mrs. A. S. J. To one quart of flour add two good teaspoons of cream of tartar, and one of soda, and a pinch of salt. Sift all together. Mix soft, with sweet skim milk. Bake quick in a hot oven. 9 IBO MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK GRAHAM BISCUIT. One cup of sour milk, one egg, lialf a cup of sugar, one tablespoon of lard, one teaspoon of soda, salt, Graham flour; stir to a thick batter. Do not roll out, but drop with the spoon into a greased dripping-pan. KENTUCKY BISCUIT. One quart of flour, half a cup of butter, a pinch of salt; make a stiff dough with milk; knead it a little, then beat hard with a rolling-pin, fifteen or twenty minutes. Koll out and cut into small round biscuits. Prick with a fork and bake in a hot oven. SOUR MILK BISCUIT. A half teaspoon soda powdered fine and rubbed into a quart of flour; mix in a large spoon of short- ening and a saltspoon of salt; then stir in a cup of sour milk, roll soft, and bake in well-heated oven. EICE "WAFFLES. One cup of boiled rice, one pint of milk, two eggs, butter the Bize of a walnut, one-half teaspoon of soda, one teaspoon cream of tartar, flour for a thin batter. AUD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 131 RAISED WAFFLES. Mrs. E. B. B. One quart of milk, one heaping quart of flour, two eggs, five large spoons of yeast, one large spoon of melted butter, one teaspoon of salt; mix the milk, flour, yeast and salt over night. In the morning, add the eggs and butter, and bake in waffle irons. WAFFLES. Four eggs, tablespoon melted butter, one pint of milk, p'inch of salt, two teaspoons of baking powder, in flour enough to make thick batter. Heat irons well, before filling. JOHNNY CAKE. When baking johnny cake, after it begins to brown, baste it often, with a rag tied to a stick, in melted butter. A great improvement. COKN-CAKE FOE BEEAKFAST. One pint of sifted corn-meal, one pint of Bweet milk, two tablespoons of flour, one tablespoon of sugar, two tablespoons of melted butter, one-half teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of baking powder, 132 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK one egg. Mix into a nice smooth batter, and bake in a hot oven twenty minutes, and serve immediately. It is excellent when steamed three-quarters of an hour, and served at dinner with the meat course. JOHNNY CAKE. Mrs. M. A. 8. One pint of sour milk, three eggs, one tablespoon of sugar, one teaspoon of soda; corn-meal, to make it as thick as griddle cakes. HOE CAKE. Make a very stiff batter of water and corn-meal. Salt it; grease a griddle, and put on a large cake, pat it down, and cook slowly; turn it. When done, send it to table on a large plate, and let each one break off as much as he wishes. GRAHAM GEMS. One cup of Graham flour, two tablespoons of white flour, one teaspoon of sugar, one teaspoon of baking powder; water to make a batter a trifle thicker than griddle cakes. Heat gem irons quite hot, grease them well; fill two-thirds full, and bake in hot oven. (Good.) AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 133 GEAHAM GEMS. One egg, half cup of sugar, beat together; one cup of sour milk, one teaspoon of soda, one heaping cup of Graham flour, one tablespoon melted butter, little salt. Bake in gem pans. COKN GEMa Two cups of com meal, two cups of flour, two cups of sweet milk, half a cup of shortening, half a cup of sugar, two eggs, three teaspoons of baking powder. Bake in gem pans. LAPLANDEKS. One egg, one cup of milk, one cup of flour, pinch of salt; beat well. Pour into hot gem irons well buttered, and bake quickly. No baking powder re- quired. Fill irons a little more than half full HOMINY MUFFINS. "Wash a pint of fine hominy through several waters. Pour boiling water on it, cover and let it soak half a day. Then boil it in a saucepan in half a pint of water, till soft enough to mash. Drain it, and mix it with a pint of corn-meal or wheat flour, a little salt, and one and a half pints of milk, and two table- 134 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK spoons of melted butter. "WTieii tlie batter is cool enough, add four tablespoons yeast; cover, and keep warm until very light, with the surface covered with bubbles. Grease some muffin rings, set them on a hot griddle, fill them two-thirds full, and bake them brown on both sides. Send to the table hot, to be buttered quickly. OATMEAL MUSH. One pint oatmeal, 4 pints water, 1 teaspoon salt; cook in oatmeal cooker, or, if you have none, use a tin pail set in boiling water; stir from the bottom; will cook in Ih hours, but is better if cooked longer. RAISED MUFFINS. Mrs. Dr. Baker. Three cups of milk, three large spoons of melted butter, three large spoons of good yeast; sugar and salt to taste. Mix very stiff at night. In the morn- ing, dip the batter into iron muffin moulds, let rise, and bake. MUFFINS. Mrs. J. B. DeLoB. One egg, one large tablespoon of sugar, three cups of flour, half a cup of milk, two teaspoons of cream of tartar, one of soda. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 135 RAISED MUFFINS. Mrs. M. A. S. One and a half pints of sweet milk, one qnart of flour, two eggs, two tablespoons of butter, half a cup of yeast. Set over night. CORN MUFFmS. Mrs. E. B. B. Two cups of flour, one cup of corn-meal, two cups of sweet milk; half a cup of sugar, one-third cup of butter, salt, two teaspoons of baking powder. Bake in muffin rings or gem pans. MUSH MUFFINa Make mush as you ordinarily do, and when cold, take 2 cups mush, 2 cups flour, 2 cups milk, 2 tea- spoons baking powder, 1 of salt, I tablspoon melted butter, 3 eggs; bake in gem pans. EICE FRITTERS. One or more cups of cold boiled rice, half a pint of milk, two or three eggs, flour to make stiff batter, with good spoonful of baking powder. Fry in hot drippings. Hominy may be similarly prepared. Eat with butter, syrup, or jam. 136 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK MUSH. When the water is boiling, stir the meal in by the handful, having salted the water well. Make it a thick smooth batter, and at the last stir in a good handful of flour; it helps bind it, and is better for frying. FKIED MUSH. When hasty pudding is made, it should be put into a baking tin to mould for frying. Cook slowly in drippings, or lard and butter. Fry to a crisp brown on both sides. Eat with syrup. Many prefer frying the mush when it is first made fresh, by dropping it in pats in hot drippings. BUCKWHEAT CAKES. Put in a jar tepid water, with salt and yeast; half a cup of home yeast, or half of a two cent cake of compressed, will be sufficient for two or three quarts of water. Make a smooth batter with buckwheat flour of medium thickness. In the morning, beat well, but do not add any soda for the first or second bakings. Save a pint of batter for the next rising. It is better to take out the batter that you wish to keep before the soda is added, that it may not become too strongly impregnated with the soda. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 137 GKIDDLE CAKES Of buckwheat, wlieat or Graham, may be made witli sour milk and eggs, and are very palatable. To the above, two or three quarts, use three eggs and a teaspoon of soda. POP-OVEES. Euchre. One pint of sweet milk, three eggs, nine table spoons of sifted flour, teaspoon of salt. Pour the milk upon the flour scalding hot, and stir until free from lumps. When cool, add the eggs, beaten to a foam. Bake half an hour in cups, and take from the oven immediately. Serve with cream and sugar, or sauce. CRUMPETS. One quart warm milk, half cake yeast, little salt, flour to make a stiff batter. Let rise, add half cup melted butter and bake in muffin rings. FKENCH PUFFS. One pint of sweet milk, six ounces of flour, four eggs, half a salts230on of salt; scald the milk and pour over the flour, beat until smooth, whisk the eggs to a froth, and add to the flour and milk when sufli- 138 MB8. OWENS' COOK BOOK ciently cool. Have ready a kettle of boiling lard, and drop one teaspoon of the batter at a time into the lard, and fry a light brown; sift white sugar over them, or eat with syrup. PIES. Good flour and sifted, good butter and sweet lard are essentials to good pie crust. Use very cold water for wetting and roll the crust from you. A quick oven is necessary for almost all kinds of pies. If a little beaten egg is rubbed over the bottom crust of a pie it wiU prevent juice from soaking through it. The yolk of eggs binds the crust much better than the whites. Apply it to the edges with a brush. In all juicy pies, or when there is a tendency for the juice to run out, take some stiff white writing paper, make a roll about as large round as a penny and stand upright in a hole cut in the upper crust. Let it rest on the lower crust. Push the fruit aside to make room for it. Bake with this funnel in and AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 139 the refractory juice will collect in it instead of on tlie oven bottom. It is not necessary to paste the paper together. It will keep its place without any trouble, and may be removed when the pie is done. GOOD PIE CKUST. One cup flour, one pinch of salt, scant teaspoon baking powder, sift together, and rub well into a piece of butter size of an egg, with cold milk. AlSrOTHER. One cup lard, half cup cold water, half teaspoon salt; mix the lard well in the flour, and add the water a little at a time, stirring with a knife. PIE CEUST— PLAIK. Three cups of sifted flour, one cup of lard, a little salt, a half cup of very cold water; handle as little as possible. Do not grease your pie-plates, they are more likely to stick if you do; you will find this just right. PEE CEUST— YERY LIGHT. Mix the flour and water together (same proportion as above), roll the paste out and lay bits of butter 140 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK upon it, beat up the white of an egg and brush it all over the paste, fold it, roll it out again, and repeat the process till the whole of the white of egg is used; it will make the paste rise and become very flaky. YEKY KIOH PIE CEUST FOE FRUIT PIES. Take one pound of dried flour and one pound of butter. Break the butter with your fingers among the flour as flne as possible, and then with a little cold water mix into a tolerably stiff paste. Gently roll it passing the roller in one direction only — from you: After this lightly fold it over, and set it aside for a quarter of an hour in a cool place; then repeat the rolling in the same manner, and let it stand another quarter of an hour. This is to be repeated once more. Be sure to handle it as little as possible, and to keep it cool. Bake in a quick oven. Many of the best cooks of the present day make their pies without sugar. Wlien done they remove the upper crust and sweeten. It is a well known fact that it takes less sugar than if it is cooked in the pie. MINCE PIES. Mrs. L. Cnrrey. 4 pounds lean meat, chopped fine after being cooked tender. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 14:1 3 pounds chopped suet. 8 pounds chopped apples, 2 pounds currants. 2 pounds raisins. 1 pound citron. 6 pounds brown sugar. 1 lemon chopped up entirely, except the seeda ■| ounce mace. 1 tablespoon cinnamon. 1 tablespoon allspice 1 tablespoon cloves. 2 tablespoons salt. Wet with boiled cider and cook together. MINCE PIES. 2 pounds lean fresh beef, after it is chopped. 1 pound beef suet. 5 pounds apples chopped fine. 2 poimds raisins — part of them chopped. 1 pound sultana raisins. 2 pounds currants. ^ pound citron or candied lemon peel sliced thin. 2^ pounds brown sugar. 2 tablespoons cinnamon. 1 tablespoon cloves. 1 tablespoon allspice. 1 tablespoon fine salt. 14:2 MRS, OWENS' COOK BOOK 1 nutmeg. 1 quart cider. 1 pint molasses. Mix and cook till the apple is done. Apples may be used for mince pies without peel- mg. Chopped fine, the omission will be unnoticed. A lady of well-known culinary ability says chopped potatoes may be used instead of apples. Soak ovei night in vinegar; no one will know the difference SUMMER MINCE PIES. Mrs. £. B. B. 4 Boston crackers soaked soft in cold water. 1 cup molasses. ■| cup vinegar. 2 teaspoons cinnamon. 1 teaspoon cloves. 1 teaspoon allspice, ilaisins, currants, butter or suet. Sweeten to taste. This makes three pies. TOMATO PIE. Mra. A. B. J. Take half-ripe tomatoes, pare and slice them, season with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon and plenty of sugar. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 143 KIPE TOMATO PIE. Aunt Lou. Prepare your pastry as for an apple pie ; slice in as many ripe tomatoes as will fill the plate; sprinkle a single handful of flour over it, also two teaspoons lemon extract and one teacup white sugar; wet the edge of the bottom crust before covering with the top crust. The fruit will be cooked when the crust is baked sufficiently. KHUBAKB PIE. Grandma Graves. Peel the stalks. Cut into half inch pieces. Pour boiling water over and let remain until cold. This takes the bitter sour from the rhubarb, thus saving much sugar. When cool, strew lavishly with sugar, a little butter and a sprinkling of flour. Half an orange improves the flavor. [Canned pie plant is one of the most useful adjuncts to a winter supply of fruits. Nothing tastes better than a pie made of it in mid winter.] DKIED APPLE PIES. Soak the apples until quite soft. Then stew till soft enough to go through a colander. Season with 1-14 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK lemon, add sugar to taste and one beaten egg for every two pies, and a teaspoon of butter to each pie. A tablespoon of cream may be added. Mix and bake with two crusts. This makes just the nicest pie of dried apples I ever saw or tasted. GKANDMA GEAYES' APPLE PIE FOR WINTER. Four or five tart apples peeled and quartered. Slice small and lay evenly around on the pie paste. Take one cup sugar, small pieces of butter, some cinnamon and a sprinkling of flour over the whole, and two spoons water. Cover with rich paste and bake slowly. Green apples should be stewed before making into pies. ENGLISH CURRANT PIE. Take the large English currants, cleanse carefully, and fitew in plenty of water. Sweeten, and thicken with flour till of the consistency of rich cream. Bake with two crusts. A very good pie in the spring when pie material is scarce. PUMPKIN PIE. Remove the seeds of the pumpkin, cut into small pieces, steam till tender, then remove peel aM mash fine with Victor vegetable masher. Or, cut up, peel, and boil in a very little water till well done and dry. After mashing, *-oeach quart add one AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 145 quart of milk, two teacups of sugar, one teaspoon of cinnamon and ginger, one teaspoon salt, four table- spoons of com starch or three eggs; bake in a custard pan with an under crust. SQUASH PIES. Boil and sift a good dry squash, thin it with boiling milk until it is about the consistency of tJiick milk porridge. To every quart of this add three eggs, two great spoons of melted butter, nutmeg, or ginger if you prefer, and sweeten quite sweet with sugar. Bake in a deep plate with an undercrust. SWEET POTATO PIE. Boil till tender; rub throug^h a colander or mash fine, and proceed as for squash pies. CEEAM PIE. Mrs. L. S. Hodge. One-half pint milk, one egg, one tablespoon com starch. Sweeten to taste and flavor. Cook over water. Bake the crust alone in the pie plate. Put the mixture in and no more cooking is required. COCOANUT PIE. One cup sugar, one and one-half cups sweet milk, 10 146 MBS. OWENS' COOK BOOK one-lialf cup sweet cream or a tablespoon melted but- ter, one egg, one cocoanut grated. Bake "without upper crust. Desiccated cocoanut is nearly as nice as the fresh. KAISIN PIE. Mrs. E. B. B. 1 cup raisins — seeded. Stew until soft. Thicken with flour, like gravy. Sweeten to the taste and bake with two crusts. BEKEY PIE. Mrs. E. B. B. 1 tablespoon flour. ■| cup cream. 1^ cups sugar. Make a crust as for custard pie and fill with fresh fruit and pour mixture over. Bake immediately. OEANGE PIE. Mrs. M. A. S. One large or two small oranges, grated rind and juice, yolks of three eggs beaten with one cup sugar. Mix this with orange and add one cup milk or cream. Bake till the pie paste is done. Beat the whites with little sugar and put on top and brown. AND U8EFTJL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 147 LEMON PIE. Juice and grated rind of one lemon, one cnp sugar, one cup water, one tablespoon corn starch or two of flour, yolks of two eggs well beaten. Mix all together and cook in a basin over water. Line a pie plate with paste, put in the mixture and bake till the crust is done. Then whip the whites of eggs to a stiff froth add a tablespoon of sugar, spread over and brown in the oven. LEMON PIE. Miletus Swinney, Monmouth, 111. Two lemons, four eggs, two spoons melted butter, eight spoons sugar, squeeze the juice of both lemons and grate the rind of one. Stir together the yolks, sugar, butter, juice, and rind. Cover the pan with crust, pour the mixture in and bake till the crust is done. Beat the whites to a stiff froth, stir in four spoons sugar, put it on the pie and set it in the oven for a delicate browning. This is for two pies. LEMON-POTATO PIE. One raw potato grated; one lemon grated, with juice; one cup sugar; one cup water; bake with two crusts. 148 MB8. OWENS' COOK BOOK ANOTHER LEMO]^ PIE. •WITH TWO 0EUST8. For three pies take three lemons, grated rind and jnice, three tablespoons sugar, same of flour, three eggs, one pint of syrup, mix well. ( Excellent.) EMANCIPATION PIE. Mrs. A. S. J. For two pies take two lemons, squeeze out juice ; remove seeds. Chop rind and pulp very fine with one cup of seeded raisins. Add juice and one-half cup sugar and one cup water. Spread a layer of this mixture on the hottom crust, then roll out a very thin crust and lay on. Then another layer of the mixture, then the top crust. The best pie I ever ate. [We think a little thickening improves it. — Ed.J Wild grapes may be put up for winter use in sorg- ham or molasses. Fill a jar with grapes and pour the molasses over until covered with it. Tie a cloth over and in winter it will be found to be of a very rich color and flavor, and is delicious for pies. APPLE CUSTARD PIE. One cup milk, yolks of two eggs, three or four grated apples, small spoon of melted butter, half cup AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 149 sugar, nntmeg to flavor, small pinch of salt. Bake in one crust. Make a frosting with the whites of eggs and two spoons sugar. Brown delicately. CUSTAED PIE. Three eggs, not quite a pint of milk, pinch of salt, three tablespoons sugar, flavor with nutmeg. Bake in a large pie plate with one crust. The whites maj be left out for frosting if preferred. CUSTAED PIE, THAT MAKES ITS OWN ORUST. Three eggs, three tablespoons sugar, one-half cup Grah-am flour, salt and flavor. The flour settles to the bottom and forms a good crust. Fill the pie pan with milk, mixing a part of it with the other ingredients first. PEACH PIE Cut the pared peaches and spread the same as apples. Sprinkle with sugar and a little flour. If the peaches are very juicy no water wiU be required. Bake with two crusts, CEANBEEEY TAET PIE. Stew cranberries — allowing a pint of sugar and a pint of water to a quart of berries. Line a pie plate 150 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK with paste. Fill with the stewed berries. Pnt nar- row strips of pie crust across the top. A quart should make two good pies. CUKKANT PIE. This fruit makes the best pie when green. The' main thing is to put in sugar enough. Dredge with a small handful of flour and put in about two table- spoons water. Bake with two crusts, fifteen or twen- ty minutes. HUCKLEBERKY PIE. This pie is improved by mixing currants with the berries. It is made in the same manner as the above. If no currants are at hand put in a little vinegar. CHERRY PIE. Of course it is nicer when eating to have the cher- ries pitted, but either way is admissible. Put in the pie-plate plenty of fruit, sweeten well and sprinkle with flour. No water is needed. The cherries will cook by the time the crust is done. CHERRY PEE. WITH ONE CRUST. Take half cherries (pitted), and half chopped apples; cook together; sweeten, stir in a little flour, AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 151 cinnamon, and a bit of ginger. Bake without upper crust. It is unnecessary to detail each kind of fruit in pie making. Having made one or two that are similar there is judgment enough acquired to make others. Pie plant may he used very largely for pies as the principal filling, by using enough of other fruit to flavor. The pie plant readily takes to itself any flavor. Thus with a scarcity of currants, gooseberries, apples, etc., the bulk of the pie may be made of the rhubarb with but little of the other fruit. FEIED PIES. Make a good biscuit dough, roll thin about the size of a pie plate, put a spoon of nice dried apple sauce or any other kind in, turn the crust over, cut out with the edge of a saucer to shape it nicely, and fry in hot lard like doughnuts. STKAWBEEKY SHOET CAKE. Make a very rich biscuit dough; roll out half an inch thick, and put on a round pie tin. Spread over it butter or lard and alight sprinkling of flour. Lay another crust over this, bake. When done remove the upper crust and spread on a thick layer of straw- berries and sugar after buttering the crust well. Lay 152 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK on the upper. Butter tliat and spread over more ber- ries. If any juice is left pour it on. This will be found easier than splitting a thick short cake. And it is better to make two or more small cakes than one large one, for the reason that they can be prepared fresh for late comers, and for a large table full may be dished out by more than one person. If strawberries are sandy they must be put in a colander and rinsed thoroughly. Then put in a bowl and sprinkled with sugar, for an hour or two before using. Mash them if large. ORANGE SHORT CAE:E. Sprinkle sugar over the sliced oranges for two or three hours before using. One quart flour, two table- spoons butter, two teaspoons baking powder. Cold water. Bake, split open and put the orange between. Eat with sweetened cream. Any fruit either fresh, stewed, or canned, may be used for short cake. PEACH SHORT CAKE. Mrs. F. B. Smith. One tablespoon butter, two loaf sugar, one egg, three cups flour, two teaspoons cream tartar, one tea- spoon soda. Bake in round tins. When done divide it, butter and cover with peaches sliced and sugared. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 153 HAED WINTEE SHOET CAKE. In the absence of fruit of all kinds, make a rich short cake and pour over it sweetened cream. In many new farming districts there is no fruit whatever and it requires a great deal of ingenuity to get up desserts. BEOTHEE JONATBLO". Mrs. A. S. J. To one pint buttermilk add one teaspoon soda, little salt and flour to make a thin batter. Have ready some tart apples sliced thin. Mix in the batter. Grease pudding dish and pour the mixture in. Bake slowly or steam. Sweet milk may be used with cream of tartar and soda. Eat warm with sweetened cream or any rich sauce. APPLE POT PIE. Fill a basin one-third full of tart apples pared, quartered, and cored. Pour on boiling water and place on stove to cook. When they begin to boil put over them a crust made as for biscuit, cover closely and cook about twenty minutes. Eat with sugar and cream or hard pudding sauce. BOILED APPLE DUMPLINGS. Take one quart flour, one tablespoon lard, the same of butter, one teaspoon soda dissolved in a little hot 154 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK water, two teaspoons cream tartar sifted through the flour; a little salt, enough milk to make the floijr into a soft dough ; roll out the paste less than half an inch thick, cut it in squares and place in the center of each an apple, pared and cored; bring the corners together; place each dumpling in a small, square, floured cloth; tie the top, leaving room enough to swell; boil fifty minutes. BAKED APPLE DUMPLING. Pare, quarter and core the apples. Make a rich, stiff biscuit dough. Roll and cut in strips, and take four pieces of apple for each dumpling and wrap two or three strips of dough around them, pinching the ends together. Put a quart of water in a pudding or baking disli, and one cup of sugar, and a small piece of butter. Let it get to boiling on top of the stove. Then place the dumplings in and bake till crust and apples are done, APPLE PUFFS. 1 pint of milk, or part milk and part water. 2 beaten eggs. Make a batter rather thicker than griddle cakes. Two teaspoons baking powder, salt. If water is used put in a spoon of melted butter. Pare, core and chop apples fine. Half fill buttered cups with the chopped AND irSEFUL HOTJSEHOLD HINTS. 155 apple, pour in the batter till two-thirds full. Set in steamer and steam about an hour. Serve hot with cream and sugar flavored, or liquid sauce. DEW DEOP APPLES. Pare and core, without splitting, some small sized tart apples, and boil them very gently, with one lemon for every six apples, till a straw will pass through them. Make a syi-up of half a pound of white sugar for each pound of apples; put the apples unbroken and the lemons sliced into the syrup, and boil gently till the apples look clear; then take them up carefully, so as not to break them, and add an ounce, or more, of clarified isinglass to the syrup, and let it boil up; then lay a slice of lemon on each apple, and strain the syrup over them. PEACH PANDOWDY. Mrs. E. J. Wilber. One quart of canned peaches. Pour into a two quart basin. Make a batter of one cup milk, one egg, butter size of an egg, melted, two teaspoons baking powder, flour to make thick enough to roll out. Cover over the peaches. Put paper over. Bake till the crust is done. Eat with sauce made of one cup sugar, one-half cup butter, three cups water, small spoon com starch, boiled a long time. (Yery nice.) 156 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK CAKE. The "cup" used in the recipes in this book holds half a pint. (See " Weights and Measures," p. 356.) "Cooking butter" is generally a rancid, nnSt com- modity for cooking in any shape. Those who nse creamery for the table, can procure dairy butter sev- eral cents a pound cheaper that is good and sweet, and will do nicely for cooking. Eggs, if whites and yolks are beaten separately, give best results. Water may be substituted for milk, and baking powder for soda and cream of tar- tar in the following recipes. Flour should be sifted, and baking powder or cream tartar sifted with it. If the oven is thought to be too hot do not leave the door open, but lift one of the stove lids off a lit- tle way, for a short time. If coffee sugar is used, roll it fine. Any sugar makes better cake by sifting it. If a broom splinter does not adhere to the cake, it is done. If a cake has to be turned or moved, do it very gently. Since the alarming adulterations of almost every- thing used in cooking, a chemist advises the use of AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS- 157 tartaric acid in place of cream of tartar. It costs about twice as much., but half the quantity suffices, and there is no difficulty in procuring this pure. BAKING POWDEK. 6 ounces of starch. 6 ounces of bi-carbonate of soda. 4 ounces of tartaric acid. Powder and sift several times, and you will bave a cheaper article than you can buy, and will have it pure. Keep it from the air. The main thing in preparing one's own baking powder is to sift it times enough. The above is a reliable formula, and may be safely used. Almonds are blanched by pouring on boiling water. The skins will then rub off easily. If one applica- tion is not sufficient, another will be. The skin is tough and bard to digest. In using fruit, dredge it with flour. The whites of eggs will beat up much better if the eggs are kept in cold water for an hour. Do not begin to grate a nutmeg at the stalk end- It will prove hollow throughout. 158 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Cochineal for cake or candy coloring sliould be dissolved in a little water, and strained through muB- lin. Coloring may be bought abeady prepared at fancy groceries. When frosting cake, dip the knife frequently in cold water. It will sometimes be found that a trifle more or less flour is needed than the recipe calls for. This can only be accounted for by the known peculiarities of difierent brands of flour. Unless otherwise directed, work butter and sugar to a cream; add the beaten yolks of eggs, then the wetting and flour, a little at a time alternately, then the whites, and lastly the fruit, if used. When jelly tins are to be used, butter them, and then dust some flour over them; then turn upside down and shake it off. This prevents sticking. To beat the whites of eggs quickly, put in a pincti of salt. Salt cools and also freshens them. Cookies and small cakes require a quick oven. Place a rim of stiff paper about a cake to retain the frosting in place until it sets. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 159 FROSTING WITHOUT EGGS. Hattie. Take one teaspoon of gelatine and dissolve it in three tablespoons of warm water; then add one cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Flavor with whatever you like. GLAZING FOR CAKE Take the beaten white of one egg, stir it well in a basin with a little water, let boil, and while boiling, put in a few drops of cold water; then stir in a cup of powdered sugar. Boil to a foam, and then use. FROSTING FOR CAKE. M. A. W. White of one egg beaten stiff, five tablespoons of white sugar, boiled twenty minutes in enough water to dissolve it. Stir in the egg froth warm; add one teaspoon of corn starch dissolved in a little water and lemon extract. BOILED FROSTING. Two cups of sugar boiled with little water till it will click in cold water; whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth; then add to the syrup. 160 MKG. O wens' cook BOOK QUICK FKOSTING. Take the white of one egg and stir into it all the pulverized sugar it will take; spread on the cake, and smooth with a knife dipped in water now and then. BOILED ICING. Whites of 4 eggs beaten stiff. 1 pint of sugar melted in water and boiled. Add to it the eggs, and beat until cold. CHOCOLATE ICING. •| cake of chocolate, grated fine. •| cup of sugar, -^ cup of milk or cream. Boiled, and stirred to a paste. COFFEE CAKE. Mrs. A. 8. J. 1 cup of coffee. 1 cup of molasses. 1 cup of sugar. 1 cup of butter or drippings. 1 cup of chopped raisins. 1 teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of cloves. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. 1 teaspoon of nutmeg. 1 cup five times fuU of flotir. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 161 ANGELS' FOOD. IN OTHER WORDS, WHITE SPONGE CAKE. 1-| cups of pulverized sugar. 1 cup of flour. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Whites of 10 eggs. Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Sift the sugar two or three times, and add it very lightly, to the eggs. Sift the cream of tartar through the flour, after sifting the flour alone, four times. Add it very carefully, mixing it as gently as possible. Then add rose-water to flavor with. Some prefer lemon. Put it into a bright cakepan, not buttered, and bake in a moderate oven about three-quarters of an hour. Try it with a straw. Let it cool off gradually by leaving the oven door open. Turn the pan upside down on the tube, if it has one; if not, set it up on some- thing. "When entirely cold, take out. (Very deli- cious.) EVERYDAY CAKE. Mrs. P. W. Van Bergen. •§ cup of butter. § cup of milk. 1^ cups of sugar. 2^ cups of flour. 2 eggs. 1 teaspoon of vanilla. 2 teaspoons of baking powder. 11 162 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK CHOCOLATE CAKE. No. 1. NOT IN LAYERS. Mrs. Dr. Evans. 1 cup of sugar. ■^ cup of butter, scant. ■| cup of hot water. 1-| cup of flour. 2 eggs. 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Bake in a square tin. Spread frosting all over the top. Cut in squares. FROSTINa FOR THE ABOVE. £ cup of sweet German chocolate. I cup of sugar. 1 tablespoon of sweet cream. 1 egg, well beaten; all simmered together in a dish. Set in boiling water, till it is a thick paste. CHOCOLATE CAKE. No. 2. Mrs. Hewlett, Niles, Mich. 1 pint of pulverized sugar. 1 half cake of chocolate. Cooked to a smooth paste in a very little milk; 4 eggs beaten separately. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HI«T8. 163 1 teaBpoon of vanilla. 1 cup of flour. Beat yolks and sugar. The whole should then be stirred slowly together, adding the flour by degrees. Bake in square shallow pan and frost. This cut in two inch squares, with white sponge caJta, makes a very pretty appearance. CHOCOLATE CAKE. No. 8. Mrs. Hewlett, Niles, Mich. 1 fall cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 3^ cups of sifted flour. 1 scant cup of milk. 5 eggs, leaving out the whites of two. 3 teaspoons of baking powder. Rub the butter and sugar to a cream; add the milk; then the eggs, well beaten, and the floui lastly, with the baking powder sifted in. Bake in a dripping pan. The cake should be about an inch thick when done. While hot, turn on to a perfectly flat surface, and spread with a frosting made with the whites of the two eggs, and one and a half cups of pulveiized sugar, six tablespoons of chocolate, and one of esp^^ce of vanilla. 164 MRS. OWENs' COOK BOOK CORA BELLS' WHITE CAKE. Cora Bell H., Niles, Mich. ^ cup of butter, scant. 2 cups of sugar. 1 cup of milk. 2| cups of flour. Whites of 3 eggs. 3 teaspoons of baking powder. WHITE FRUIT CAKE. Mrs. O. Blackman, Chicago. 1 cup Dutter. 2 cups sugar. I cup sweet milk. 3 cups sifted flour. I cup stoned raisins, chopped. 3 teaspoons baking powder. Whites of 4 eggs. Flavor with lemon. Note. — In the recipes given in this book, when the word "cup" is used it has reference to the tea- cup in common use, which holds half a pint. I have, as far as possible, given the recipes by meas- ure, instead of by weight; but when the recipes are used which specify the amounts by weight, the table of "Relation of Weights to Measures," page 356, will be of service where scales are not convenient. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 165 LOYE CAKE. Mrs. L. S. H. 1^ pounds of flour. 1 pound of sugar. ^ pound of butter. 3 eggs. ■| pint of milk. 1 pound of raisins. 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. 1 teaspoon of soda. Spice to taste. BLACK CAKE. Mrs. L. Currej. 1 pound of flour. 1^ pounds of brown sugar. 1^ pounds of butter. 3 pounds of raisins. 3 pounds of currants. •| pound of citron. 1 cup of molasses. 1 wine-glass of rose-water. 10 eggs. Season with, cloves, cinnamon, and mace, to taste. Better have too little, than too much. 1.66 MllS. OW'KNS' COOK BnoK ENGLISH FRUIT CAKE. •J a cake of compressed yeast. 1 pint of flour; make a sponge. ■^ teaspoon of salt. £ pounds of currants. 1 cup of chopped raisins. 1 cup of sugar. "I cup of shortening. 1 ounce of citron. 1 teaspoon of lemon extract. Let the sponge rise ; then knead like bread. When light again, work in ail the other ingredients ; place in the pan for baking. When light, bake. FEUIT CAKE. Mrs. E. B. Baldwin. 2 pounds of flour. 2 pounds of sugar. 2 pounds of butter. 6 pounds of currants. 4 pounds of citron. 10 pounds of raisins. 1 pound of almonds. 20 eggs. 2 wine-glasses of rose-water. 1 ounce of mace. 1 ounce of cinnamon. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 167 ^ ounce of cloves. 2 nutmegs. The yellow of three fresh lemons grated. Beat the bvitter to a cream; add the sugar; beat with the hand until very light; add the rose-water, then add the eggs (they must be well beaten), and the flour- next, the spices, lemon and blanched almonds, chop- ped fine. Lastly add the fruit, dredged with a little flour. The raisins should *be chopped not very fine, and the citron shredded fine. Bake from four to six hours. [If fruit cake is allowed to stay in the oven till the fire dies out, it is a great improvement. Plan so as to make it after dinner, and get it about done before the fire decreases much; then leave it till bed-time. If fruit cake cracks on the top, it is because the oven is too hot when first put in. In place of wine or other liquors, you can use an extra egg and a trifle more spices.] FKUIT CAKE. Mrs. M. A. Smith. 1 pound of butter. 1 pound of sugar. 1 pound of flour. 8^ pounds of currants. 168 MKS. OWE^S' COOK BOOK 2^ pounds of raisins. ■| pound of citron. 10 eggs. -| teaspoon of soda. ^ cup of molasses. Cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and wine-glass rose-water. RAISIN CAKE. Mrs. F. W. Van B. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 1 cup of molasses. 1 cup of sweet milk. 1-| cups of raisins. 6 cups of flour. 3 ego's. "I teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Spice to suit taste. POYEETY FEUIT CAKE. Mrs. E. B. B. 1 teacup of dried apples. ^ teacup of sugar. •| teacup of butter. 1^ teacups of flour. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 169 ■| teacup of sour milk. legg. 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. 1 teaspoon of cloves. 1 teaspoon of saleratus. Soak the apples over night and chop fine, and stew two '.r three hours in sugar, until they are candied a littlsi VILLAGE FRUIT CAKE. Tribune Home. 1 pound of butter. 1 pound of dark brown sugar. 2 nutmegs. 2 teaspoons of cloves. 3 teaspoons of cinnamon. 10 eggs. 2 pounds of figs (chopped fine). 2 pounds of chopped raisins. 2 pounds of currants. 2 pounds of almonds shelled, blanched, and chopped. 1 pint of black molasses. 1 teaspoon of soda. ■ ■J pound of citron. 2 cup rose-water. 1 pound flour. 170 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK MY WEDDING CAKE. Mrs. F. W. Van B. 1 pound of sugar. 1 pound of butter. 1 pound of flour. 1 pound of citron. 3 pounds of raisins. 3 pounds of currants. 3^ pounds of eggs, minus shells. 2 wine-glasses of rose-water. 1 cup of molasses. 4 nutmegs. 3 teaspoons each of cloves, cinnamon and allspice. PORK CAEIE. 1 pound of fat salt pork, chopped fine, dissolved in one pint of boiling water. 3 cups of brown sugar, 1 cup of molasses. 1 pound or more of raisins and currants. 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. 1 teaspoon of cloves. 1 teaspoon of soda. 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. 2 nutmegs. 7 cups of flour. AlTD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 171 SPICE CAKE. Mrs. C. ButterfieldL 1 cup of sugar. 2^ cups flour. 1 cup of molasses. £ cup of butter. 1 cup of milk. 1 cup of stoned raisins. 1 tablespoon eacli of allspice and cinnamon. 1 teaspoon of soda. SPICE CAKE. Mrs. M. A. S 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 1 cup of sweet milk. 4rJ cups of flour. 4 eggs. 1 teaspoon each of soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and mace. 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. OLOYE CUP CAEIE. Mrs. A. 8. J. 1 cup of sugar. 1 cup of butter. 3 scant cups flour. 1 cup of raisins chopped. 1 cup of milk or water. 2 well beaten eggs. 172 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Dissolve 1 teaspoon of soda in the milk and sift 2 teaspoons cream of tartar in tlie flour. 2 teaspoons each of cinnamon and cloves. LADY CAKE. Mrs. O. Jones. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of white sugar, 1 cup of milk. 6 eggs, well beaten. 1 quart of flour. ■| pound of raisins chopped. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. ^ teaspoon of soda. Nutmeg, or any other flavoring. CREAM CAKE. Mrs. S. E. Duncan. Break one egg into a teacup. Fill the cup with cream; a scant cup of sugar; one and a half cups of flour, a pinch of salt; scant half teaspoon of soda. This recipe is very nice for patty pans, and excellent for layer cakes. If used for the latter, break two eggs into the cup instead of one. Flavor with lemon. AND USEFUL HOtJSEHOLD HINTS. 173 SPONGE CAKE. Mrs. S. E. Duncan. 2 cups of sugar. 2 cups of flour. 4 eggs. 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Flavoring. •| cup of boiling water. Flavor to taste. Add the water last. The cake may seem too thin, but will come all right from the oven. GOLD CAKE. Mrs. E. B. B. ^ cup of butter. 1^ cups of sugar. 2^ cups of flour. ■| cup of milk. ■| teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Yolks of 6 eggs. Yanilla. SILYER CAKE. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 3 cups of flour. ■| cup of sweet milk. ■| teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Whites of 6 eggs. Lemon. 174 MKS. OWENs' COOK BOOK This is an excellent recipe for many kinds of layer cakes; also, for a liglit fruit cake. COEN STAKCH CAKE. Whites of 3 eggs. ^ cup of butter. ■| cup of corn starch. 1 teaspoon of baking powder. 1 cup of sugar. ^ cup of sweet milk. 1 cup of flour. COEN STAECH CAKE. G. W. Ashard, Vermilion, Dak. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 1 cup of sweet milk. 1 cup of corn starch. 2 cups of flour. Whites of 7 eggs, and yolk of 1 egg. 1 teaspoon of soda, 2 of cream of tartar, or 3 of baking powder. Mix flour, starch and cream of tartar together. Flavor with almond. MAEBLE CAKE. Light part — 2 cups of white sugar. 1 cup of butter AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 175 1 cup of sweet milk. 3 cups of flour. Whites of 7 eggs. 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. 1 teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of lemon. Dark part — 2 cups of brown sugar. 1 cup of molasses. 1 cup of butter. ■| cup of sour cream. 5 cups of flour. Yolks of 7 eggs. Pinch of pepper. 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. 1 tablespoon each of nutmeg, cloves and allspice. 1 teaspoon each of vanilla and soda. Butter the cake tin and put in alternate spoonsful of the light and dark batter. FEATHEE CAKE. Mrs. J. H. Wilson. 1 cup of sugar. 1 cup of milk. 2^ cups of flour. Butter, size of an egg. Lemon flavor. ^ teaspoon of soda. Teaspoon of cream of tartar. Bake slowly. 176 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK POKCUPINE CAKE. 1 egg. •| Clip of butter. 1 cup of milk. 1 large cup of sugar. 2^ cups of flour. 1^ teaspoons of baking powder. When the cake is cold, stick a teacup of soft almonds over the top, and pour over the cream, made as follows: 2 eggs, 1 quart of milk, 1 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of corn stareh, -^ teaspoon vanilla; cooked over hot water. SUKPEISE CAKE. Mrs. H. F. Marvin legg. 1 cup of sugar. 1 large tablespoon of butter. 1 cup of water. 2 cups flour. 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Flavoring. WATEKMELOJS" CAKE. White part — 2 cups of pulverized sugar. ■| cup of butter. § cup of sweet milk. 3 cups of flour. Whites of 5 eggs. 1 tablespoon of baking powder. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 177 Red part — 1 cup of red sugar sand. ^ cup of butter. ^ cup of milk. 2 cups of flour. 5 yolks of eggs. ■| pound of raisins. 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Put the red all in tbe center of the pan, and the white around the outside. SNOW-BALL CAKE. Mrs. C. B. 1 cup of sugar. 1^ cups flour. ■| cup of butter, worked to a cream. Whites of 3 eggs well beaten. ■^ cup of milk. 2 large teaspoons of baking powder. QUAKEE POUND CAKE. Mrs. L. S. Hodge. 2 eggs. 2 cups flour. 1 cup of sugar. •| cup of butter. ^ cup of sweet milk. ^ cup of chopped raisins. 1 whole nutmeg. Scant half teaspoon of soda. 12 178 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK SODA POUND CAKE. Mrs. C. S. Johnston, Harford, Pa. 1 cup of butter. 1 cap of sugar. 2 cups of flour. 4 eggs. Small teaspoon of soda. Flavoring. Kicli and moist; will keep a long time. AMEKICAN HOME CAKE. Stir one pound sugar and three-quarters pound butter to a cream; have some one beat tbe whites of sixteen eggs to a froth; add to the cream, and, before mixing, add one pound flour in which you have added one and one-half teaspoons of cream of tartar ; do not beat, but stir one way gently; then add peach flavor, and half a teaspoon of soda dissolved in a tablespoon of vinegar. I set it in the oven, and at the same time a pan containing three pints of water; when it has evaporated the cake is done. WHITE P0U:N^D CAKE. 1 cup fine white sugar. ^ cup butter. Beat to a cream and add whites of two eggs.. Then beat ten minutes. 1 teaspoon cream tartar. AND us5;ful household hints. 179 •| teaspoon soda. "I cup sweet mi'k. 1^ cups flour. 1 teaspoon lemon. Beat all togeth'^.r fifteen minutes. Bake one hour in moderate oven, in a round dish. PRESIDEJ!^TIAL POUND CAKE. Mr«i. M. A. Allen 1 pound sugar. 1 pound butter. 1 pound flour. 10 eggs. ■J teaspoon baking powder put in the flour. 2 tablespoons sweet milk. Beat the whites of the Pggs separately, and add them the last. PKIZE POUND CAKE, Mra L. B H. 1 cup sugar. ■| cup butter. ■^ cup milk. 1 cup chopped raisins 2 cups flour. 1 nutmeg. 1 teaspoon soda. 180 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK LEMON CAKE. Mrs. M. A. Smih. 1-| cups butter. 3 cups sugar. 4 cups flour. ■| cup milk. 5 eggs. 1 teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Rub butter and sugar to a cream,, then add the yolks, milk, juice and grated rind of one lemon. The flour and whipped whites to be added alternately. Will make two loaves. BIRTH-DAY CAKE. Annie and Marrion. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 3 cups of flour. 4 eggs. 1 cup of milk. 1 teaspoon of soda. 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream; add the beaten yolks of eggs; the milk with soda dissolved in it; the flour with the cream of tartar sifted in it; and, lastly, the whites beaten to a froth. Bake in a large dripping-pan, and frost heavily. When the AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 181 frosting is partly dry, mark it off in small squares and put half an English walnut meat on each one. (This is a very delicious cake.) DELICATE CAKE. Whites of 15 eggs. 1 pound of sugar. 1 pound of flour. ^ pound of citron. ■^ pound of butter. Flavor to suit the taste, SPLENDID DELICATE CAKE. Mrs. F. W. Van B. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 3 cups of flour. ■| cup of milk. Whites of 6 eggs. 2 teaspoons of baking powder. HOLLIS CAKE. Mrs. Nellie Roe. ■| cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 1 cup of milk. * 3^ cups of flour. 8 eggs. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. 182 MRS. OWENs' COOK BOOK ^ teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of lemon. Put soda in half the milk, the yolks of eggs in the other half. Beat whites stiJBP, and put in last. This cake requires a great deal of beating. Make one very large loaf, or two small ones. 1, 2, 3, 4, CAKE. Mrs. Nellie Roe. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 3 cups of flour. 4 eggs. 1 teaspoon of soda. 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. Be sure to put in all the flour. Ko better is made, in my opinion, if properly beaten and .baked. Is nice frosted. WALNUT CAKE. Mrs. Duncan, Sing Sing, N. Y. ^ cup milk. 1 cup butter. 2 cups sugar. 3 cups flour. 4 eggs. 1 tablespoon baking powder. 2 cups walnut or hickory nut meats. in) USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 183 PLYMOUTH CAKE. Mrs. L. 8. H. 1 cup of butter. 3 cups of sugar. 1 cup of milk. 3 eggs. 3^ cups of flour. Small teaspoon of saleratuB. JENNY LIND CAKE. Mrs. L. 8. H. 1^ cups of butter. 3 cups of sugar. 1 cup of milk. 4 cups of flour. 5 eggs. ■^ teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. BUCKEYE CAKE. Mrs. C. 8. Johnston. 3 eggs. 1^ cups of sugar. -| cup of butter. . ■^ cup of milk. 2 cups of flour ■^ teaspoon of soda. 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar, milk. 184 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK SISTER JULIA'S CUP CAKE. 1 egg. 1 cup of sweet milk. 3 cups of flour. 1 cup of sugar. ■| cup of butter. •| teaspoon of soda, 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. ROLL JELLY CAKE. 1 cup each of sifted flour and coffee sugar. 3 eggs; 1 large teaspoon baking powder. Stir quickly, pour in USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 287 out the seeds. Soak another day, then wash in clean water and wipe diy with a cloth. Then fill the cav- ity with finely-chopped cabbage, horse-radish, onion, green tomatoes, cucumbers, radish pods, nasturtion seeds, celery seed, young, tender string beans, cauli- flower buds, peppers, mustard and whole cloves, with some stick cinnamon. Before putting in, wet this mixture with vinegar. Keplace the cut piece, tie up well, pack in crocks, fill with cold vinegar, and in about a month they will be ready for use. CHOW CHOW. BETTER THAN THE IMPOKTED. Mrs. Nellie Roe. 1 large cauliflower, 1 quart green cucumbers sliced lengthwise, or watermelon rind will do. 3 dozen small cucumbers, 2 dozen small onions. Soak cu- cumbers in brine fu. two or three days, scald the rest in strong salt and water. Add pepper and whole cloves, allspice and stick cinnamon as you choose. Scald the following, stirring constantly, and when well mixed pour over your pickles : 2^ quarts vine- gar, 2^ cups brown sugar, ^ cup flour, 6 tablespoons ground mustard. Bottle in wide-mouthed bottles or glass cans. Seal. (A most delicious pickle.) 288 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK MIXED PICKLES. Mrs. M. A. 8. 300 small cucumbers, 4 large green peppers sliced fine, 2 large heads cauliflower, 3 heads white cabbage shredded fine, 9 large onions, sliced, or 2 quarts small ones, 1 quart or more small string beans cut in inch pieces, 1 quart small, green tomatoes, sliced. Put this all in a pretty strong brine 24 hours. Drain 3 hours, then sprinkle in ^ pound black and ^ pound white mustard seed, 1 tablespoon black ground pepper. Let the whole come to a boil in just enough vinegar to cover, with a little alum put in. Drain, and when cold mix a pint of ground mustard as for table use and put in. Cover the whole with good cider vinegar. SWEET TOMATO PICKLE. Mrs. R. R. Austin, Vermilion, Dakota. 15 pounds sliced green tomatoes; let stand over- night, with a little salt sprinkled over; drain. 5 pounds sugar, 1 quart best vinegar, 1 ounce cloves, 2 ounces cinnamon. Boil 15 or 20 minutes, skim out and boil the syrup till thicker, if preferred, but it is not necessary. [The best I ever tasted. Ed.] SWEET CUCUMBER PICKLES. Mrs. L. S. H. Take ripe cucumbers, cut them lengthwise, take AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 289 out seeds, soak in salt and water 24 hours. Then soak in vinegar and water 24 hours. Drain. Then make a syrup of 1 quart of vinegar, 1 pound sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Boil till tender. SWEET CUCUMBER PICKLES. Mrs. M. A. S. Take ripe cucumbers. Peel and cut as above. Steam till tender. 1 gallon vinegar, 2 pounds sugar, 1 red pepper, 1 ounce cassia buds. Scald all together and pour hot over the pickles in a jar. RIPE CUCUMBER PICKLES. Pare and cut in strips. Remove the seeds. Put in weak brine for 12 hours; pour off and scald in alum water till clear. Wash in cold water and drain well. 3^ pounds sugar, 1 gallon vinegar, some stick cinnamon, nutmeg and mace. Boil the cucumbers in this tin a straw will pierce them. Put in glass jars. WATERMELON RINDS. Mrs. T. A. P. Pare and cut in fancy shapes. Take weak alum water and pour it over hot. Let it stand 24 hours. Then soak till well cleansed, and boil in clear water 19 290 MRS. OWENs' COOK BOOK till tender. Make a syriip of equal measures of vine- gar and sugar, some stick cinnamon and race ginger. Boil the rinds in tliis till clear. Put in a jar, cover, seal and put away. PICKLED PLUMS, GRAPES OR PEACHES. 7 pounds fruit, 4 pounds sugar, 1 pint vinegar, mace, cinnamon, cloves. Boil the fruit in this S}Tup till it is tender. Skim out and boil syrup thick. Pour over. It is better to seal up. Then it is sure to keep. SWEET CRAB APPLES. Put half a bushel of crab apples in a kettle with vinegar enough to cover them, and cook until tender; then take out and put in jars. Measure the vinegar and add a pint more than will cover the fruit, and to each pint add 1^ pints brown sugar, 2 sticks of cin- namon, 3 tablespoons cloves, 2 tablespoons mace. Tie spices in a bag and boil half an hour in the syrup. Then pour over the fruit. WHOLE PEARS PICKLED. Take 3 pounds pears; peel and cut out the ends, leaving stems in; put into a preserving kettle with X quart of water, and boil until they are easily pierced AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 291 by a fork. Then lay out on a dish. Add to the juice 1-J pounds sugar, 1 pint vinegar, some stick cinna- mon, whole cloves and race ginger. Boil all five minutes and skim. Put pears in and boil until the syrup thickens. Take out, put in jars, boil syrup five minutes longer, pour over. VINEGAR. HONEY YmEGAE. To 1 quart of clear honey, put 8 quarts of warm water; mix it well together; when it has passed through the ascetous fermentation, a white vinegar will be formed, in many respects better than the ordinary vinegar. CLOVER BLOOM VINEGAR. This vinegar does not die on pickles: To ^ bushel of the bloom (pick the bloom clean of leaves) in a tub, put 6 pounds of brown sugar, pour on that 4 / 292 MRS. OWENS COOK BOOK water over all. "WTien cool, add 3 pints of hop yeast; laj a folded sheet over the tub to make tight, and let it stand 14 days. Strain and rack off in a keg. You will have a better vinegar than you can buy. Keep in a shady place while making. APPLE VINEGAR. Save all parings and cores of apples when used for cooking purposes; put them in a jar; cover with cold water; add about a pint molasses to 3 or 4 gal- lons; tie mosquito netting over jar; add more apple parings as you have them, and all the cold tea left in teapot. Makes the very best vinegar. POTATO VINEGAR. 2 gallons of water that a quantity of potatoes have been boiled in, 1 pound of brown sugar, a cup of hop yeast. In 3 or 4 weeks you will have most excellent vinegar. Cucumbers cut fresh from the vines without salt, will keep in this vinegar. CL'RRANT VINEGAR. 1 quart of currant juice strained as for jelly, 3 quarts of rain water, 1 pound of sugar. Keep warm. AlTD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 298 CONFECTIONERY. MOLASSES CAISTDY Mra. M. A. 8. 1 pint of molasses, 1 cup of sugar. Boil and stir every minute. "WTien partly cooked, put in butter the size of a walnut. "When it will break like glass, in cold water, it is done. Put in -^ a teaspoon of cream of tartar with the butter, and just before you turn it out, put in a spoon even full of soda. MOLASSES CAISTDY. Heat a kettle hot and butter it, then pour in a quart of molasses and a cup of sugar. Boil steadily for 20 minutes, stirring to prevent burning and boil- ing over. Try it by dropping a little in cold water; if it hardens immediately it is done, otherwise it must be boiled longer. Stir in a teaspoon of pul- verized soda before turning out. Walnut, hickory- nut, or hazel-nut meats may be added to this candy, and a little of it saved to make pop-corn balls. Use 294 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK just as little candj as possible in these balls, and let none of it get on the outside, where thej should look perfectly white. MAPLE CARAMELS. Mrs. A. S. J. 1 pound of maple sugar. Melt in a teacup of sweet milk and a tablespoon of butter. Cook till almost brittle in cold water. Turn on to a buttered plate. Mark in squares, when cool enough. CHOCOLATE CARAMELS. 7 tablespoons of chocolate, 3 tablespoons of milk, 6 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of butter, 6 tablespoons of molasses. Boil till it hardens by dropping on a plate. CHOCOLATE CARAMELS. All that is needed is 1 cup of sweet milk, 1 cup of molasses, ^ cup of sugar, -^ cup of grated chocolate, a piece of butter the size of a walnut; stir continually, and let it boil until it is thick, then turn it out into buttered plates ; when it begins to stiffen mark it in squares, so that it will break readily when cold. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 295 COCOANUT CAEAMELS Are made of 2 cups of grated cocoanut, 1 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, the whites of 3 eggs beaten stiff. Bake on a buttered paper in a quick oven. SNOW CANDY. Nice white candy is easily made. Take 1 quart of granulated sugar, 1 pint of water, 2 tablespoons of vinegar; boil jnst as you do molasses candy, but do not stir it; you can tell when it is done by trying it in cold water. Pull it as if it were molasses candy; have a dish near by with some vanilla in it, and work in enough to fltTor it as you pull; put it in a cold room, and the nt it day you will have delicious candy. CEEAM CANDY. Frankie~ Denver, Col. 2 cups of white su^ar, vinegar enough to dissolve it. Boil until it will pull. BUTTEK SCOTCH. 4 cups of brown sugar, 2 cups of butter, 2 table- spoons of water, vinegar to taste. A little soda. Boil ^ an hour. Drop a little in hot water. If crisp, it is done. 296 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK ANOTHER. S cnps of sugar, 1^ cups of butter. Flavoring. Boil as above. MOCK NONGAT. Mrs. A. L. B. To 1 quart of good molasses, add 1 pound of brown sugar and 1 ounce of butter. Put it on the fire and stir now and then to prevent scorching. After it has boiled 1 hour, stir in a teacup of walnut kernels, all particles of shell adhering having been carefully re- moved. Let it boil a short time longer, or until candied, which may be ascertained by dropping a little in cold water; if it does not discolor the water, and has a stringy appearance, it is done; continue to boil until this is the case. Grease a large dish, pour out the candy, and let it stand until cold, when it may be cut into squares or strips; or if preferred, the candy may be pulled as soon as cold enough to bear handling. (Yery nice.) FRUIT CANDY. A delicious fruit candy is made by adding chopped raisins and figs to a syrup made by stewing 2 pounds of sugar with the juice of two lemons, or, if lemons are not at hand, with a cup of vinegar flavored with AND USEFUL HOUSKIIOLD IIIKTS. 297 essence of lemon. Dried cherries and any firm pre- serves may be used instead of raisins and figs. CHOCOLATE CREAM CANDY. Puss. 1 cup each of sugar, molasses and milk; piece of butter size of an egg, boil this about 25 minutes, but do not stir it only to keep it from burning; just before taking it up add a pinch of soda and two grated squares of chocolate (notice that a cake of chocolate is divided into squares) ; try in water, and when brittle, it is done; then turn into a buttered pan and wlien the candy is cool mark it off into squares. LEMON TAFFY. N. A. D. 2 cups of white sugar, 1 cup of boiling water, ^ cup of butter, ^ cup of vinegar. Flavor with lemon. When cooked sufficiently, pour it on buttered plates to cool. DELICIOUS TOMATO FIGS. Mrs. A. S. Johnston, Leavenworth, Kan. 8 pounds of sugar to 8 pounds of tomatoes. Take round ripe ones; peel and boil whole in the sugar 298 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK until it penetrates them, but do not boil to pieces. Til en lay on flat dishes to drj. Boil syrup until quite thick and pour over them from time to time. When dry, pack in boxes in layers, with sugar sprinkled over each layer. ICED CUKKANTS. Dip vrhole stems of currants into beaten whites of eggs. Sift white sugar over them. PEACH PAPER. Take very ripe peaches. Peel, stone and mash fine. Spread on a smooth surface, a platter, marble slab or board, and keep in the sun. When dry, sprinkle with white sugar and roll up. Good in winter. CHOCOLATE CREAM DROPS. I pint granulated sugar. | cup milk. I cup water. i teaspoon vanilla. I scant teaspoon butter. 3 squares chocolate. Boil the sugar, milk, water, and butter for 20 min- utes. Add the vanilla last. Remove from the stove and stir pretty constantly until cool enough to han- dle. Grate the chocolate and put in a dish over a kettle of hot water to melt. Form the candy into little balls the size of a thimble. When cold, roll them in the melted chocolate. Put on a greased plate or paper to harden. AlH) USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 209 PIC-NICS. A few suggestions for pic-nic dishes, or lunches for a journey: Yeal loaf, boiled ham, pressed veal, pressed chicken, fried chicken, chicken salad, plain hard boiled eggs, sausages, sardines, stuffed eggs, Saratoga potatoes, radishes, pickled string-beans (the white wax-beans are nicest, and spice them a little). For the egg stuffing, boil the eggs hard, take out the yolk by cutting off a piece from one end. Chop some ham or veal very fine, season it high, mix with a little of the yolk made smooth, and fill the egg. Replace the cut white part and you have a very palatable lunch dish; or, boneless sardine, minced very fine, with the skin removed, is a good stuffing. Ham minced fine, and mixed with mustard and pep- per and chopped pickles, and spread on slices of bread makes a good sandwich. Potted meats that can be procured at the grocery stores are quite nice. Bot- tled pickles are rather in favor. Carry butter in a jelly glass or other covered dish. Take bread in a whole loaf instead of in slices. If slices are pre- ferred, wrap each two in tissue paper. Biscuit are always nice. Ginger cookies will be relished more than rich cake. If Saratoga jDotatoes are used, fry them only a few at a time, in boiling hot lard, and take them in fancy papers. Jelly and presei-ves in glasses. Cakes and pies to suit one's taste. Tea may be put into a bottle in cold water, and will make a good beverage. Portable lemonade is handy, but lemons should always be carried if they can be had. 300 MRS. OWEXS' COOK BOOK THE LAUNDRY. I give here two different recipes for wasliing preparations, both of which I know to be just what thej are represented to be. The second one I have used for several years past. It does no better service than the fluid, which I also used for some time, but I like a soap rather better than a fluid. A prejudice exists in many housekeepers against boiling clothes in the dirt. But if you will throw your prejudice to the winds, and try this way for one month, you will never go back to the old way. The question is asked: Does it rot the clothes? Emphatically, it does not. It rather saves them. More clothes are worn out on the washboard than on the back. As my family in- creased in size, I adopted this method with the Patent Magic Washing Soap. I put them to soak over night in two tubs — the fine ones together and the coarse together — and sometimes, if I have a large bed wash- ing, put the sheets and pillow-cases in a third tub. I use the soap according to directions: a teacup to a pail of water. Cover all closely. In the morning I rub lightly on a board out of the water they are soaking in, and put on to boil. Kinse and hang out. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 301 I do this, in order to have cleaner suds for my large washings of calico clothes. In doing this, you do not have to wait to heat water, and can easily get one boiler full done before breakfast. They look whiter, and wash so much easier than the old way, that it is a very great labor-saver. To make sure of having the water warm, you may turn a kettle of hot water over the clothes after they are well put to soak. Every one knows the whitening powers of lime and borax. I have done a washing in this way, and finished at noon, when it would have taken a washer- woman all day, the old way, if she had worked con- stantly and faithfully. A KECIPE WOKTH ONE THOUSAND DOLLAES. Take 1 pound of salsoda and ^ pound of unslaked lime, put them in a gallon of water, and boil twenty minutes; let it stand till cool, then drain off, and put it in a stone jar or jug. Soak your dirty clothes over night, or until they are well wet through, then wring them out and rub on plenty of soap, and to one boiler of clothes well covered with water, add ^ teacup of washing fluid. Boil half an hour briskly, then wash them thoroughly through one suds and rinse well with water, and your clothes will look better than the old way of washing twice before boil- 302 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK iiig. Tliis is an invaluable recipe, and I do want every poor tired woman to try it. The second method is called PATENT WASHING SOAP. To 5 gallons water (if hard, cleanse it,) add 5 pounds of common bar soap; cut up into small pieces and dissolve over a moderate fire, then add 12 ounces of borax and 16 ounces of salsoda; stir fre- quently while dissolving, and when thoroughly in- corporated pour into a convenient vessel to cool; stir frequently while cooling, and it is done. Should you wish to use good, soft soap, from 10 to 15 pounds will be required, according to the thickness of the soap, with from 2^ to 3^ gallons of water; the thicker the soap the less, but more water ; the thinner the soap the more of it, but less water, with 12 ounces each of borax and salsoda; in the case of soft soap, dissolve the borax and salsoda first in water and then add the soap. To use, heat as much soft water as will just cover the white clothing; a little more than blood warm. To each pailful of water add 1 teacup of the patent soap ; . dissolve well ; moisten the dirty streaks of your clothes, rub on a little soap, and spread them in your tub, push down under the water and spread a thick cloth over your tub to keep in the warmth as much as possible; in AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 303 about five minutes catch the clothes by one edge, raise them up and down once or twice, then turn them over entirely; repeat the same operation two or three times; soak from 20 to 30 minutes, as you please; in the meantime have your boiling suds ready, by adding half a teacup of soap to each pail of water needed ; now wring your clothes moderately from the soaking water, overhaul them, rub some soap on the dirty streaks or places, if any remain; roll them up and put them to boil or simmer, stirring and turning occasionally for 15 minutes (no longer, remember), rinse in two waters and hang up to dry; no bleach- ing or washboards are needed. The above method of washing positively will not injure the clothes. Now use your boiling suds for washing your colored clothes and save by it. Be sure your soap, borax and salsoda are thoroughly dissolved. LIQUID BLUEING FOE CLOTHES. Take best Prussian Blue, pulverized, 1 ounce ; oxalic ^cid, also pulverized, ^ ounce; soft water, 1 quart; mix. The acid dissoJ ^ea the blue and holds it evenly in the water so that specking will never take place. One or two tablespoons of it is sufficient for a tub of water, according to the size of the wash. This is far preferable to the blueing sold in stores, and is much cheaper. 304 MRS. OWEXS' COOK BOOK BEITISH ENAMEL FOR SHIRT BOSOMS. Melt together with a gCDtle heat, 1 ounce of white wax, and 2 ounces of spermaceti. Prepare in the usual way a sufficient quantity of starch for a dozen bosoms, — put into it a piece of British Enamel the size of a large pea, and in proportion for a larger ironing. It will give your clothes a beautiful polish. HOW TO WASH BLANKETS. Cousin Bess. The process for washing blankets which I recom- mend, and have thoroughly tested, is so simple and easy, that the formidable task, which is the dread of every housewife, is not nearly as laborious as to wash and iron a few muslins: For one pair of blankets dissolve one-half bar of soap; when thoroughly melted add 1 tablespoon of borax and 2 of ammonia. Add the mixture to a sufficient quantity of water (already softened with 1 tablespoon of borax) to cover two blankets. Let the blankets remain in the suds 1 hour, without rubbing. Rinse thoroughly and hang up, without wringing. The absence of rubbing and wringing prevents the hardness and shrinking of the old process. AND (JSEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 305 TO WASH TOWELS WITH COLORED BOEDERS. MoUie. To set the colors, let the towels soak in a pail of cold water containing 1 teaspoon of sugar of lead; let them remain ten minntes before washing;. To make the colors look clear and bright, use pulverized borax in the wash-water, very little soap, and no soda. OX-GALL SOAP. ♦ Mrs. H. W. Beecher, in Christian Union. Ox-gall soap is an excellent article to use in cleans- ing woolens, silks, or fine prints liable to fade. To make it, take 1 pint of gall, cut into it 2 pounds of common bar soap very fine, and add 1 quart boiling soft water. Boil slowly, stirring occasionally until well mixed, then pour into a flat vessel, and when cold cut into pieces to dry. When using, make a suds of it, but do not rub it on the article to be washed. TO WASH CALICO. Mrs. Simmons. If you have dark calico to wash that you fear will tade or the colors run, put it in a pail and pour boil- ing water on. Let stand till cool enough to wring 20 306 MRS. OWKNS' COOK BOOK out. Tlien wash like any other. It is better to wash such a garment before it gets very badly soiled, or the hot water might set the dirt. Use glue instead of starch for stiffening black dresses. It makes them shine like new and leaves no white spots as starch does. Or common flour starch colored with cold coffee answers very nicely. TO KEMOYE MILDEW OK TO BLEACH. Mrs. A. 8. J. Dissolve a heaping tablespoon of chloride of lime in a pail of water. Dip in the goods and spread out to dry in the hot sun, without wringing. When dry repeat the process. This will take out the worst case of mildew and many other stains. The lime must be well dissolved. TO RENEW BLACK WOOLEN GOODS OF ANY DESCRIPTION. Mrs. A. S. J. Have the articles well cleansed, then dip in a very strong blueing water. Hang up to dry without wringing. When nearly dry press on the side in- tended for the wrong side, and you will be astonished ut the renovation that has taken place. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 307 Lemon juice and salt mixed together and put on iron rust will take it out. Keep it in the sun. If one application does not do it trj another. A solution of oxalic acid in water will remove iron rust. TO CLEAN LACES. Mrs. N. W. Hammond, Clear Lake, Iowa. Spread on a clean cloth a mixture of dry magnesia and baking powder. Lay the lace flat on it. Cover with the mixture. Eoll up for a few days. Then take a dry, soft nail or tooth brush and brush well, especially the soiled spots. Shake out and the result will be more than you anticipate. White Shetland shawls may be "dry" rubbed in flour and cleaned beautifully. TO WASH LACE MITTS. May Owens. If you want to color white lace mitts cream, wash the mitts with toilet soap, put them into a cup of cold cofifee and let them stay about half a day. Do not iron them but put them on your hands and wear till they are dry. Rub clear ammonia on silk that is discolored from perspiration. It wiU also restore the color of 308 MKS, OWENS' COOK BOOK goods, particularly black, when tlie color has been destroyed by lemon-juice. Any shade of blue can be made fast color by dip- ping the dress or fabric into enough soft water to saturate the material, in which a heaping teaspoon of sugar of lead has been dissolved. Then wash the fabric as usual. TO WASH LINEN SUITS. Fill a pail with old, dry hay; put scalding water on it and let it stand until the water is colored ; then wash the linen in it, and it will look as nice as new. TO KEMOYE GKEASE SPOTS. Put half a teaspoon of hartshorn to half a teaspoon of alcohol; wet a bit of woolen cloth or soft sponge in it and rub and soak' the spot with it, and the grease, if freshly dropped, will disappear. If the spot is of long standing, it may require several appli- cations. In woolen or cotton, the spot may be rubbed when the liquid is applied, and also in black silk, though not hard. But with light or colored silk, wet the spot with the cloth or sponge with which the hartshorn is put on, patting it lightly. Rubbing silk, particularly colored silk, is apt to leave a whitish spot, almost as disagreeable as the grease spot. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 309 Cloth may be bleached beautifully by hanging on a line when the sun shines and snow is on the ground. Snow bleaches more rapidly than grass. To keep wash tubs a long time, do not put water inside the tub when the washing is done, but turn it bottom side up and cover the bottom with water. It will be found that it prevents the staves spreading apart at the top. As soon as the ironing is done for the day the flat- irons should be taken off the stove. To leave them on without using takes the temper out of them. HOW TO STAKCH SHIRTS. WITH COLD STAUCH. Allow a teaspoon of starch for each shirt. Use only enough water to wet the bosom, -wristbands and neckband well. Dip in, squeeze out, roll up and iron in fifteen minutes, or let it lie longer if desired. WITH HOT STAEOH. Dissolve two tablespoons of raw starch in a little cold water. Pour on boiling water till of the con- sistence of paste. Cook several minutes. Many laundresses make their starch early and leave it to cook slowly on the back of the stove for two hours 310 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK or more. Others just merely cook it through. Put in a piece of enamel according to directions, or a few shavings from a sperm candle. In the absence of these use a tablespoon of kerosene to two quarts of starch. If the clothes are drj make the starch quite thin. Bear in mind that the hotter it is, the better the garment will iron and the stiflPer it will be. Dip the bosom in and rub the starch through and through with the fingers. Pat it hard with the hand and be sure that every thread is wet with it. Treat the neck band and wristbands the same way. Let dry thoroughly. Then take a teaspoon of raw starch in a quart of cold water. When well dissolved dip the starched parts in quickly, squeeze out, lay smoothly and roll up hard. They may be ironed in an hour or two. Some shirt ironers dip in clear cold water, and some, again, in clear hot water, and all with equally good results. This can only be determined by experimenting. HOW TO IKON A SHIET. First iron the back, then the shoulder pieces, then the neck band. Be very sure to iron the band on both sides equally smooth, that it may not irritate the neck of the wearer. Next, iron the sleeves. Then lay the wristbands out flat, rub with a clean white cloth, slightly dampened, and iron smoothly AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 311 both sides, finishing with the right side. Next, iron the front. If you take a flat-iron that is just the right heat for the bosom, iron that before you do the plain front. Stretch the bosom on the shirt-board. Be very particular to pull it crosswise as well as lengthwise, to prevent wrinkles at the neck. Rub with a cloth to get off bits of starch that may stick to it. Iron carefully with a moderately heated iron. If little blisters appear, dip the finger in water and dampen clear through. It will then come out on being ironed over, provided the starch has been rubbed entirely through. If it has not, then the blister will remain and there is no remedy for it. If a smooch or spot from a rusty or greasy iron appears on a polished bosom, do not give up and throw the garment into the wash, but immerse the bosom quickly in hot water, squeeze dry, stretch on the board, rub over with a clean dry cloth and iron again. But first take the iron and rub well in salt on a brown paper — especially the point and edges — and then with a little beeswax, wiping with a dry cloth. A polishing iron should be wrapped in fine paper and put away carefully after each ironing. TO FOLD A SHIRT. First roll the wristbands around so they will shape themselves to the wrist. It is much nicer than to 312 HRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK leave them open ind flat. Then laj the shirt on the table, bosom side down. Fold a pleat the whole length of the back, where the opening is in the back, in order to make the back and front the same width. Then fold one sleeve over from the shoulder, lap that side of the shirt the whole length from the edge of the oosom over towards the back. Do the other sleeve and side the same way. Iron the folds to make it look more neatly. Then double the bot- tom of the shirt up to the neck, folding just below the bosom, and with the bosom outside. Iron the fold and it is done. A quick drying by the fire will make the bosom stiifer. TO RENOVATE BLACK SILK. Brush and wipe off thoroughly with a cloth; lay flat on a table and sponge with hot coffee strained through muslin. Sponge it on the side intended for the right side; then pin to a sheet stretched on the carpet until it dries. Do not touch with an iron. COMFOKTER SHAMS. Mrs. Orlena S. Matteson. Fold a breadth of prints or muslin as long as the width of the comforter over the end next the face, fastening the edges with safety pins or a running l)aste. When soiled it is easily taken oflf and washed. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 313 SICK-ROOM & NURSERY. SIMPLE KEMEDY FOR EXPELLING SUBSTANCES FROM THE NOSE. Children frequently get beans, grains of corn, but- tons or other substances up their noses. In such a case, have the child open its mouth, apply your mouth to it and blow rather hard. The obstacle will be expelled from the nostril. EXCELLENT REMEDY FOR A CUT OR BRUISE OF ANY KIND. Immerse the part in as hot water as can be borne until the pain and inflammation are relieved. Even in cases where amputation seems necessary from the terribly lacerated condition of a cut or bruised hand, it may be saved by keeping it in a basin of hot water for a few hours. Keep the water hot and do not give up until the inflammation has subsided. TO REMOVE MOLES. Tribune Home Department. Apply nitric acid with a pointed stick three times, 314 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK letting a day elapse after each application. Then let it heal, and if not entirely gone try once more and success is assured. EASIEST WAY TO CLEANSE A NUESING BOTTLE. Buy five cents' worth of shot and put into the bottle with a little water and shake it well. Every bit of sour milk or curd will come off readily. Pour out the shot, rinse the bottle and keep the shot in a dish on the stove shelf or near the stove to dry, and it is ready for use the next time. TO STOP EARACHE. Turn the little sufferer on the side and from a height of a foot or more pour into the affected ear a small stream of water just as hot as you dare use. It will cause a momentary screaming but the pain will cease. I have tried this with a child two years old who was suffering intensely from earache, and the entire face and head seemed inflamed. It was not fifteen minutes before he fell asleep, and that was the last of the earache. If the eyes are weak and it is troublesome to thread a needle, it may be helped by holding the needle owx something white and then threading it. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 315 SIMPLE TKEATMENT FOE CEOUP As soon as the wheezing is heard applj the coldest water you can get to the neck and chest. Pound up some ice in a napkin and feed the child a little at a time with a teaspoon. Keep the cold compress on the throat and chest, and if persisted in for a short time relief will be almost certain to follow. At any rate, even if a physician is sent for, use these pre- cautions, and nine times out of ten the disease will be checked at once. The chief difficulty in croup is in letting it get full headway. There is not an instant to lose. STEANGE CUEE FOE INFLAMMATOET EHEUMATISM. A gentleman writes to a Pittsburgh paper that he was completely cured by handling doves. He pro- cured a number and would stroke and play with them daily, and the result was a cure for him, but death to the doves. This distressing malady is so obstinate that one afflicted with it will resort to almost any- thing suggested. A CUEE FOE HYDEOPHOBIA. Jane Grey Swisshelm. Take three ounces of the root of elecampane, stew it in a pint of new milk and give it, milk and all, to 316 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK the patient in the morning while the stomach is empty; have him fast six hours after taking it; repeat the dose three times in three successive mornings, and the cure is complete. Several persons have written to saj that it had been tried, on mj recom- mendation, and with success. One man who had two children, and, I think, twenty hogs and cows bitten by a dog furiously rabid, had administered it to all, and six months after wrote to say that none of them had had any symj^toms of hydrophobia. Ele- campane is generally known as a powerful medicinal plant, and, as it has been successful, and doctors are powerless before this disease, I hope it will be promptly tried and if it fails I should like to know it. CUKE FOE NEUKALGIA. Mrs. Dr. Alma S. Bennett, Elk Point, Dakota. 1 drachm sal ammonia, 4 ounces camphor water. Take a teaspoon once in five minutes until relieved. This has proved a great boon to a large number of sufferers. CUKE FOK TOOTHACHE. Procure a little plantago from a Homoeopathic Pharmacy and take a dose every ten minutes if in- stantaneous relief does not follow. A.ND USEFUL H0U8EH0LB HINTS. 317 LATEST KEMEDY FOE BURNS. Dampen some bi-carbonate of soda or common saleratus with water, and apply to the whole burnt surface. Cover with a cloth and keep it moistened. This is effectual in every case. Twenty minutes in the smoke of wool or woolen cloth will take the pain out of the worst case of in- flammation arising from any wound. All danger from lock-jaw will be removed if this remedy is resorted to. HOW TO CUEE FEOZEN FEET. Get some lumps of fresh lime and make a foot-tub full of strong whitewash mixture, and immerse the feet in it as hot as may be borne. This remedy is to cure that disagreeable itching that troubles one after having frozen the feet. This itching will come on night after night and season after season. The relief will be instantaneous. Let them remain half an hour in the whitewash. They will be shriveled up, but free from pain. Eub them briskly and great rolls of dead cuticle will peel off. Anoint with mutton tallow, put on some cotton stockings and go to bed. Eejjeat the application if necessary, but it will not require but two or three to effect a cure. 318 ME8. OWENs' (X)OK BOOK SMALL-POX AND SCAELET-FEYEK CURE. Sulphate of zinc, 1 grain; foxglove, (digitalis) 1 grain, half a teaspoon of sugar. Mix with 2 table- spoons of water. When thoroughly mixed add 4 ounces of water. Take a teaspoon every hour. Either disease, it is claimed, will disappear in twelve hours. Give a child a smaller dose. This cure has been the rounds of the press from the Atlantic to the Pacific and thousands of cures ascribed to it. LIME WATER AND MILK. 1 wine-glass of lime water, 1 goblet of milk. Can be retained in the stomach when it rejects everything else. It may be taken as often as desired. EGG LEMONADE. A. B. S. The white of 1 fresh egg, juice of 1 lemon, a tea- spoon of sugrar beat into a glass of water. Is a pleasant and nourishing drink in low fevers, dysen- tery, inflammation of stomach, pneumonia, etc. bae:ed milk. Put half a gallon of milk in a jar and tie it down with writing paper. Let it stand in a moderate oven 8 or 10 hours. It will then be like cream and is ^ood for consumptives and invalids generally. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 319 If necessary to use hops on a sick person, make two bags and fill with them, and heat in a steamer over hot water. This saves many a burnt hand and bad stain. Keep one heating while the other is in use. A high London authority recommends for sleep- lessness a breakfast cup of hot beef tea, made from half a teaspoon of Leibig's extract. It allays brain excitement. (Worth trying.) For any female weakness or bearing down, the greatest relief may be afforded by an injection of water as hot as can be borne. This is a far better remedy than any manipulation can afford. The practice of inserting cotton in an affected ear is a very pernicious one. A well known army surgeon in a western city suffered much while in the army from earache, and kept putting in cotton to exclude the air. He finally became deaf and suffered from various nervous ailments for years. A friend, also a physician, finally examined his ear, and took out over half a finger length of thick wads of cotton. His deafness disappeared and his nervous system was restored to health. This case is perfectly authentic. A high medical authority said that nothing smaller than the elbow should be put into the ear. 320 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK It is claimed by good authority that milk, Qgga and tomatoes must be omitted in the diet of those suffering with piles. In which event no medicine will be necessary. Pork is considered unwholesome by nearly all med- ical authorities, and especially so for women. The less they eat of it the better for their physical and mental good. Poultry is the best substitute, with good fresh fish— pike, perch or bass, once or twice a week, COUGH SYEUP. Mrs. L. S. H. One pint of the best vinegar. Break into it an egg and leave in shell and all, over night. In the morning it will all be eaten except the white skin which must be taken out. Then add one pound of loaf sugar and take a tablespoon three times a day, for an adult. This is a most excellent remedy for a cough in any stage. WHOOPING COUGH CUKE. Geo. Butler, Waukegan, 111. Olive oil 2 ounces, Jamaica rum 2 ounces, brown su2:ar 2 ounces, laudanum | ounce. Melt the sugar in a little water and add the other ingredients. Give AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 321 a teaspoon after every paroxysm. This is recom- mended by many families who have used it. If poison of ahnost any kind has been swallowed it may be rendered harmless by swallowing imme- diately half a pint of sweet oil. To make a mustard poultice that will draw and not blister, mix the mustard with white of egg. TO STOP NOSE BLEED. Excite a vigorous motion of the jaws by chewing something — either gum or paper. This is said to be effectual. It is certainly worth trying. TO CURE WARTS. Get from a Homoeopathic Pharmacy a small vial of causticum. Give half a dozen pellets three times a day for three weeks and the warts will disappear. [This I could not credit had I not tried it in my own family. The child's hands were literally covered with these excrescences and more were coming all the time. But this remedy effected a cure in less than a month. Ed.] MILK FOR BABIES. When milk has been set aside for the baby, Tise the 21 322 MRS. OWENs' COOK BOOK upper third. The curd or cheesy part falls to the bottom. The upper is more easily digested. Let me persuade mothers to discard the tubes that come with nursing bottles. They are a fruitful source of infantile troubles. Many a baby has gone to its grave through their use. No matter how particu- larly they are cleansed, particles of sour milk will adhere to some parts of the rubber. Our best phy- sicians are now advising against them. This is so serious a matter that it can not be argued too strongly. A rubber nipple placed over the mouth of the bottle is very convenient and comparatively safe. It should be kept in cold water when not in use, and the bottle filled with water. I wish to urge upon every young mother the plan of putting babies to bed without rocking them. If there were but one child in the family and it were known to a certainty that it would be the last of that line, there might be sufficient excuse to devote one's time to rocking it to sleep. But when the first steps aside for the second, and the second is followed by the third and so on, the mother's time is too valuable to spend two or three hours a day in forming a habit which will be but an injury to the little one after- wards. If it has been put to sleep at the breast during the period of nursing, then let the plan be AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 323 formed when it is weaned. Feed it, and when it is time for its nap fondle and kiss it as much as you like, but lay it down, cover it up, turn and leave it. It will sob and cry, and perhaps sit bolt upright or slide out of bed, but put it back, if for twenty times. It will not take very many of these persistencies un- til the habit of going to sleep alone and quietly will be formed, and all parties to the proceeding will pro- nounce themselves the better for it. Pray do not think your child is an exception. Children are very much alike, after all. Of course, it takes longer to conquer some than it does others, and strong wills are very perceptible even in babies of a few months old. Our aim is not to break the will, only to bend it in a direction to benefit itself. And now a parting word to mothers — those of yon who do your own work. Women who keep servants may skip tliis chapter. Save yourself. Sa/ve yov/r- self. SAYE YOUESELF. In the first place, sit all you can. Sit down to prepare the vegetables for dinner. Sit down to wipe the dishes. Sit down to scour the knives and rub up the silver. Sit down to take up the ashes. Sit down to the ironing board and smooth the plain pieces. And here, before I forget it, let me say, get your 324 MRS. OWICNS' COOK BOOK steel Knives plated and save yourself about six hours time each month. Once plated, they will keep bright with ordinary washing and wiping three or four years. Nothing will spot them. Yinegar or acid of any kind has no effect. It is called Stannil Plating. The cost is one dollar per dozen knives. It is an invest- ment that pays a very large interest. Now, about ironing. If your husband's night- shirt is smoothed in front and folded artistically, who is to know whether the back has been ironed or not? I'll venture to say, that he will not, unless you tell him. The same with your own night-dresses; and the childrens' drawers ! Little romps, they soil them in less time than it takes to do them up. Let the gathers go. Iron the bottoms of the legs smoothly, and that is enough. You can iron six or eight pairs in this way, while otherwise, you would be working at two pairs. Learn to slight where it will do to slight. Aprons and dresses should be done the very best that one knows how. Sheets may be folded smoothly and have a weight put upon them; or, take one at a time, and lay it under the ironing sheet and iron over it for awhile. Then fold and put away and take another, until all are done. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 325 It is not absolutely necessary to iron skirts, except r ir twelve or fifteen inches above the bottom. Bear in mind, these are hints to those only, who need them. But there is enough in life that has to be done, without vexing our souls and wearing out our bodies over work that is not essential either to the happiness or well-being of our fellows. The latest cure for soft corns is this: Wash and dry the foot thoroughly, and put on a sprinkling of dry sulphur night and morning for several weeks, and a cure is assured. STIMULATING SPONGE BATH. Dr. J. E. Gilman. 1 cnp water, 1 cup alcohol, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 oz. aromatic spirits of ammonia. Yery agreeable and stimulating. DIET FOR THE SICK. CHICKElSr JELLY. Cut a large chicken into very small pieces, break the bones, put into a stone jar, water-tight; set the jar into a kettle of boiling water and boil three hours; strain off the liquid and put in a cold place. Season with loaf sugar, salt, pepper, mace and lemon- iuice. 826 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK AEKOW EOOT JELLY. Mix three tablespoons of arrow root with water or milk until perfectly smooth ; boil the peel of one lemon in a pint of water until reduced one-half; take out the peel and pour in the dissolved arrow root; sweeten it, and boil five minutes. KICE JELLY. One-quarter of a pound of rice, half a pound of loaf sugar, water sufficient to cover it, spice or lemon peel. Boil the rice until all dissolves; strain and season; set away until cold. SAGO JELLY. Teacup of sago, one quart of water or milk, rind of lemon, nutmeg. Wash the sago well, and soak for three hours ; boil it in the same water until trans- parent. TAPIOCA JELLY. "Wash a teacup of tapioca through several waters, soak all night, and boil until transparent; add sugar and lemon juice while boiling, and put it away to cool when done. mDIAN MEAL GKUEL. Mix half a cup of Indian meal with a very little water, stir until perfectly smooth; to a pint and a AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 327 half of boiling water salted, add the meal, stirring it in slowly; let it boil half an hour; it can be retained on the stomach when almost everything else is re- jected. BEEF TEA. One pound of lean beef, cut very small, put into a wide-mouthed bottle, corked closely; set the bottle into a pan of water, and keep it boiling for two hours; strain the liquid and season. Chicken can be used the same way. TAMAKIND WATEK. One tumbler of tam.arinds, one pint of cold water. Turn the water over the tamarinds, and let it stand an hour; strain it before using. Currant jelly or cranberry jelly can be used similarly. FLAXSEED LEMONADE. Three tablespoons of whole flaxseed to a quart of boiling water; let it stand until very thick; then strain it over the juice of one lemon and powdered gum arabic; sweeten to taste. BEATEN EGG. Beat a fresh egg very light, add a little sugar, and gtir into a tumbler of milk. 328 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK EENNET WHEY. One quart of milk, almost boiling, two tablespoons of prepared rennet, or a piece of rennet which has been soaked in water. Sugar to taste. Stir the rennet into the hot milk; let it stand until cool, and strain it. MES. GAKFIELD'S BEEF EXTKACT. 1 ft. lean beef cut fine, put into 1 pint cold water, add 6 drops muriatic acid. Mix thoroughly, let stand 1 hour, strain and press until all the liquid u extracted. USEFUL HINTS. Be sure to keep a vessel of water on the stove in sitting or sleeping rooms. It will not only ward off headaches, but will prevent furniture coming apart. A dry heat unglues and is ruinous to furniture. TO PRESERVE BOOT AND SHOE SOLES. Warm the soles and apply a heavy coat of warm coal tar. Dry it in, and apply two more coats before wearing them at all. Smear the edges as long as they will absorb the tar. They will wear like horn, and once giving it a trial will convince the most skeptical of its value. The tar costs but a few cents at gas works. Warm it on the stove in a tin dish. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 829 Those using copper vessels for cooking should have them re-tinned once a year. It is economy to use individual butter dishes at table. Do not put salt on meat, to keep it. It destroys all tenderness. Put on pepper instead. To keep ink from getting thick, put two or three cloves in a bottle. Sure. TO PURIFY WATER. A tablespoon of powdered alum will purify a whole hogshead of water. It precipitates all impurities. A teaspoon will only be required for several gallons. To cut butter in cold weather, heat the knife, and aU crumbling is avoided. The very best thing to clean Plaster of Paris stat- uary is common white calcimine. It gives them the look of the purest white marble. Pack horse-radish in a box of earth and grate it as it is wanted in winter. Grease may be removed from a white floor by making a common hasty pudding of corn-meal and laying it on the spot until cold. 330 MRS. o wens' cook book TO REMOTE GREASE FROM WALL PAPER. Pulverize a common claj pipe, mix it with water into a stiff paste, lay it on very carefully, letting it remain over niglit. Then lightly brush it off. INK STAINS Can be removed from a carpet by freely pouring milk on the place, and leaving it to soak in for a time, then rub it so as to remove all ink, and scoop up remaining milk with a spoon; repeat the process with more milk, if necessary; then wash it off com- pletely with clean cold water, and wipe it dry with cloths. If this is done when the ink is wet, the milk takes all stain out of woolen material instantly; but when it has dried, a little time is required. ANOTHER. As soon as the ink is spilled, put on salt, and cover well. Remove as fast as it becomes colored, and put on fresh. Continue this till the salt is white, sweep well, and no trace of ink will remain. Corn-meal used similarly on coal oil spots on cai*pets, will re- move every particle, even if a large quantity has been spilled. Aim USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 331 If a canary-bird loses its voice, hang a small piece of salt pork in the cage, first soaking it in warm water and sprinkling it with cayenne pepper. Clean paint brushes by soaking in turpentine, and then washing in hot soap suds. HAIR BRUSHES. A few drops of hartshorn in a little water will clean a hair brush better than anything else, and will do no harm. If very dirty, rub a little soap on. After cleaning, rinse in clear water, and hang up by the window to dry. Do not let the bristles rest on any hard substance while wet. Tie a string round the handle and hang up. TO CLEAN WILLOW. FURNITURE. Take a coarse brush dipped in salt and water ana wash the furniture well, and then dry; the salt keeps it from turning yellow. TO CLEAN WHITE FUR. Take a clean piece of flannel, and with some heated bran rub the fur well, when it will be quite renewed. The bran should be heated in a moderate oven, for a hot oven will scorch and brown the fur. Oatmeal with no husks is preferable to bran. Dried flour will also answer. 332 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK PASTE THAT WILL KEEP A YEAR Mrs. A. L. B. Dissolve a teaspoon of alum in a quart of warm water. When cold, stir in flour to the consistency of thick cream, beating up all the lumps. Stir in powdered rosin, and throw in a half dozen cloves to give it a pleasant odor. Have on the fire a teacup of boiling water; pour the flour mixture into it, stirring well all the time. In a few moments it will be of the consistency of mush. Pour it into an earthen or china vessel; let it cool, lay a cover on, and put it in a cool place. When needed for use, take out a portion and soften it with boiling water. Paste thus made will last twelve months. It is better than gum, as it does not gloss the paper, and can be written on. A CEMENT FOE KUBBER. Rubber boots may be repaired by a cement made as follows: Cut gutta-percha in small pieces, and dis- solve it in benzine to a thin mucilage. Clean the rubber free from grease with benzine and a sponge, and apply the patch covered with the gutta-percha cement. The cement should be warmed by putting the bottle in hot water before it is used. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 333 WATEK-PKOOF BLACKING FOE BOOTS AND SHOES. One-half pound gum-shellac; cover with alcohol, cork tightly, and let stand three days, shaking occa- sionally. Then add a piece of gum-camphor the size of an egg. Let stand as above, and add one ounce of lampblack. To remove a glass stopple from a bottle, hold a lighted match or candle to the neck of the bottle, and the heat will cause the neck to expand so the stopple will loosen. If you wish to cut rubber of any kind, wet the knife. It p>revents sticking. TO PEEVENT EUSTING OF TIN. When new, rnb over with fresh lard, and put in a hot oven and heat thoroughly. Thus treated, it may be used indefinitely in water or out, and remain bright. TO PEEYENT HONEY FEOM CANDYING. After being taken from the comb put it into a kettle and over the fire; boil it gently and as the scum rises skim it ofi^ until it becomes clear, when it can be turned into the vessel you wish to. keep it in, where it will keep clear and fresh without candying. 334 MRS. OWICNS' COOK BOOK To prevent incrustation of kettles, keep a clean marble or oyster shell inside, which will attract the particles of sand. FOR CLEANING SILVER One-half ounce of prepared chalk, two ounces of alcohol, two ounces of aqua ammonia. Apply with cotton flannel, and rub with chamois skin. Wash silver in very hot, clear water, and wipe dry with a soft towel, and you will have no need for silver soap, or any other preparation. INDELIBLE INK. C. S. Johnston, Harford, Pa. Dissolve a couple of drachms of nitrate of silver and half an ounce of gum-arabic in a gill of rain- water. Add aqua ammonia, a few drops at a time, till you get the color the right shade. After mark- ing, dry the goods near the flre, or in the sun. Don't mark new cloth before the dressing is washed out, but starch and iron the garment, then mark, and all creation will not be likely to wash it out. Keep it dark. Do not put milk in tin vessels that have the tin worn off. It will blacken the milk and cause a dis- AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 335 coloring of tea in wliicli it is used that is very un- pleasantly perceptible. MAEKING INK. Dissolve asplialtum in oil of naptha, and it will answer for marking parcels, drying quickly and not spreading. INVISIBLE INK. Make a solution of nitrate of chloride of cobalt. It is made visible by warming the paper written upon. Notice the right and wrong side of cotton cloth, when making up. It will keep clean longer, and be smoother for it. To get rid of red or black ants, sprinkle salt over your shelves. Salt is also a dead sure preventive of moths in carpets if put around under the edges when tacked down. YEKMIN EXTERMINATOR Hot alum water is a recent suggestion as an insec- ticide. It will destroy red and black ants, cock- roaches, chinch-bugfi, and all the crawling pests which infest our houses. Take two pounds of alum and dissolve it in three or four quarts of boiling water; 836 MRS. OWENs' COOK BOOK let it stand on the fire till tlie alum disappears; then apply it with a brush, while nearly boiling hot, to every joint and crevice in your closets, bedsteads, pantry shelves and the lilie. Brush crevices in the floor of the mop-boards, if you suspect they harbor vermin. It may be applied with a common small oil can by wrapping the hand in a cloth to prevent burn- ing. F"or vermin in children's heads, use Indian berries in bay-rum. They may be procured of druggists. Equal parts of borax and white sugar will drive away roaches or Croton bugs. TO GILD A PIOESE-SHOE. Cover first with a solution of gum-arabic, then sift on the bronze dust, which can be procured from a painter; or, mix bronze with mucilage and apply with a brush To stop a chimney burning, shut all the windows and doors, to prevent a current of air, and throw a handful or more of salt in the fire. TO STOP FROTHING OF CEEAM. Mrs. A. L. Beaumont. To stop the frothing of cream and make butter come quick, to two gallons of cream put in three AND USEFUL HODSEHOLD HINTS. 337 pints of boiling water out of the teakettle; it wiD come in ten minutes. TO KEEP UP SASH WI:N"D0WS. Bore three or four holes in the sides of the sash, into which insert common bottle-cork, projecting about the sixteenth part of an inch. These will press against the window frames along the usual groove and bj their elasticity support the sash at any height which may be required. Soak mackerel in a stone crock. Tin rusts badly. Using soap on babies' heads is a fruitful cause of the hair falling oil*. Abstain from it, and the hair is much more likely to remain. To make the hair stay in crimp, take two cents' worth of gum-arabic, and add to it just enough boil- ing water to dissolve it. When dissolved, add enough alcohol to make rather thin. Let this stand all night, and then bottle it to prevent the alcohol from evap- orating. This put on the hair at night after it is done up in paper or pins will make it stay in crimp the hottest day, and is perfectly harmless. One can have the hands in soap suds with soft soap without injury to the skin, if the hands are dipped 22 838 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK in vinegar or lemon-juice immediately after. Indian meal and vinegar or lemon-juice used on hands when roughened by cold or lalDor will heal and soften them. Rub the hands in this; then wash off thoroughly and rub in glycerine. Those who suffer from chapped hands in the winter will find this comforting. CAMPHOR ICE. Mrs. M. A. S. Six drachms of camphor gum, half an ounce of white wax, one and a half ounces of spermaceti, three tablespoons of olive oiL Melt together. TO BEAUTIFY TEETH. Dissolve two ounces of borax in three pints of boiling water. Before it is cold add one teaspoon of spirits of camphor. A tablespoon of this with an equal amount of tepid water will cleanse the teeth from all imj)urities. It is also a very excellent wash for the hair. SCENT POWDER. One ounce each of coriander, orris root, rose leaves and aromatic calamus, two ounces of lavender flowers, one-fourth drachm of rhodium wood, five grains of musk, mix and reduce to powder. This scent is as if all fragrant flowers were pressed together. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 339 WAXED FLOORS. Mr3. G. B. L. One pound of beeswax, one quart of benzine — tbe beeswax melted soft, to which add tbe benzine; put them over a stove, the fire closely covered, as benzine is highly inflammable; stir together until well mixed. These are the proportions ; the quantity must depend upon the space to be covered. Apply to the floor, first making it clean, and rub in thoroughly. It shows the grain of the wood and makes a permanent polish, growing better by use and rubbing in. It is free of dust and clean. POLISHED FLOORS Should not be scrubbed or scoured, but simply swept with a broom covered with flannel. Polish twice a year. PAINT FOR KITCHEN FLOOR. Three pints of oil, one pint of dryer, three pounds of white lead, five pounds of yellow ochre, add a little turpentine. A HOME-MADE CARPET. Exchange. Paste the floor of the room over with newspapers. Over this, paste wall paper of a pattern to look like S40 MKS. OWENS' COOK BOOK carpet or oil-clotli. Put down as smoothly as pos- sible, match it nicely where the widths come together. Use good flour paste. Then size and varnish it. Dark glue and common furniture varnish may be used. Place a rug here and there, and your room is carpeted. TO PKEVENT STAIE CARPETS FROM WEARING. Stair carpets should always have a slip of paper, or a padding made of cheap cotton batting tacked in a cheap muslin put under them, at and over the edge of every stair, which is the part where they wear first. The strips should be within an inch or two as long as the carpet is wide and about four or five inches in breadth. A piece of old carpet answers better than paper if you have it. This plan will keep a stair carpet in good condition for a much longer time than without it. To remove putty that has become hardened, heat an iron and apply to it. It softens, and may be re- moved very readily without injury to the window sash. Mutton tallow for sores is made better by adding a little spirits of camphor. To mend broken china, glass, marble, or common crockery, mix fresh slaked lime with white of egg AKD USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 341 until it becomes a sticky paste. Apply to the edges, and in three days it will be as firm as when new. To stop a lootli cavity from bleeding, fill the cavity with Plaster of Paris made into a soft putty with water. MAKE YOUE OWN COUKT PLASTER Tack a piece of silk on a small frame. Dissolve some isinglass in water. When well incorporated, apply with a brush to the silk, let it dry, repeat it, and when dry, cover it with a strong tincture of balsam of Peru. COLOGNE WATEK. One pint of alcohol. Add thirty drops of oil of lemon and thirty of burgamot. Shake well; then add half a gill of water. Bottle for use.. Lemons may be kept fresh for a long time by keep- ing in water in a covered vessel. Change the water every day or two. FIKE KINDLERa • Mrs. A. 8. J. To one pound of resin, put from two to three ounces of tallow; melt very carefully together, and when hot, stir in fine sawdust, and make very thick. 342 MRS. OWENS 'cook book Spread it immediately about one incli thick upon a board. Sprinkle fine sawdust over the board first, to prevent sticking When cold, break into lumps one inch square. If made for sale, take a thin board, grease the edge, and mark it ofi" into squares, press- ing it deep, while yet warm, so it will break in regu- lar shapes. This may be sold at a good profit. It takes but very little to kindle a fire. Flowers that are quite withered may be revived wonderfully by immersing the stems in hot water. Not boiling, but so hot that the hand cannot be borne in it. Here is a list of a few articles not always provided for a young housekeeper: Spice boxes, nest of gro- cery boxes, butter pat, larding needle, trussing nee- dle, jelly or blanc mange moulds, waffle iron, cake box, dredging boxes for flour, sugar, and salt; Victor potato masher. DYES. COCHINEAL KED. One and a half ounces of cochineal, two ounces of cream of tartar, two ounces of muriate of tin, one AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 3d3 pound of yarn or clotli. Put the cochineal into water sufficient for tlie goods, and set over the fire. Wlien warm, add the cream of tartar. "Wlien scald- ing hot, put in the tin. Boil the goods in the dye half an hour. Rinse in warm water. Color in brass. If the muriate of tin cannot be procured, use muri- atic acid and pour on pieces of tin and let it remain over night. The muriate of tin will be formed and can be used in the morning. PUEPLE. Ten cents worth of cudbear tied in a bag, one pail of water. Heat scalding hot. Dip the cloth into warm suds, and then into the dye for fifteen or twenty minutes. Dry, then wash in clean soap and water and rinse. YELLOW FOE COTTON. Six pounds of goods in water, to wet through. Nine ounces sugar-of-lead dissolved in the same quantity of water. Six ounces bichromate of potash in the same quantity of water. Keep separate. Dip the goods first into the sugar-of-lead water, then into the potash water, then into the sugar-of-lead water again. Dry. Einse in cold water and dry again. OEANGE FOE COTTON Prepare a strong lime water — the stronger the 3-1:4 IIKS. OWEXS' COOK BOOK deeper the color. Pour off the water and boil. While boiling, dip the goods previously colored yel- low into it. All these solutions are to be cold except the lime water. Will not fade. MADDER EED. One pound of yam or cloth, eight ounces of madder, three ounces of alum, one ounce of cream of tartar. Five gallons of soft water. Let it boil with the alum and cream of tartar. Put in the goods and boil two hours. Take out, air, rinse in cleai water. Pour the liquor away and prepare the same quantity of water as before. Put in the madder, broken fine. Heat the water. Enter the goods. Stir constantly one hour; then let it boil five minutes. Take out, rinse in cold water; then wash through three suds. GREEN. Five pounds of fustic, ten pounds of goods. Put the fustic into water and almost boil for twelve hours. Tlien remove the chips and put in the yarn or goods and boil half an hour. Take it out and add two pounds of alum. Dip again for half an hour. Take out the goods and stir into the dye one tablespoon of composition and let it boil, stirring it well together. Then dip till the color suits. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 345 COMPOSITIOIS. Three ounces of good indigo, ground and sifted, one poiind oil of vitriol, mixed gradually. Let stand one hour. For pale blue, take a little composition in boiling hot water. Very nice for little children's stockings. OKANGE. Two and a half pounds of camwood, one pound of fustic. Boil in a brass kettle half an hour. Boil five pounds of goods one hour; cool, and add one ounce of blue vitriol and two quarts of copperas water to the dye and boil five minutes; then let cool and put in your goods till the color suits. ANNATO. Mrs. E. B. B. Five ounces annato in a bag, three pails of strong soap suds or weak lye. Dip the cloth in suds previ- ously prepared. Then put into the dye and boil until it takes the strength of the dye. BLACK. For a dress with overskirt, three ounces extract of logwood, one and a half ounces of blue vitriol. Dis- solve the vitriol in water and the logwood in another 346 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK water. "Wet the goods thoroughly in warm water before putting into the vitriol water. Put a piece of copperas the size of a walnut into the logwood dye, and when the dye is hot, put in the goods, stirring and airing it for about half an hour, then dry it. Then wash immediately in hot soap suds in several, waters, so that it will not crock. In the last water put a little salt. Wring it dry, roll up and let remain several hours before pressing. [This recipe may be relied upon fully. Ed.] EED. Mrs. Hollett. Three ounces solution tin, four ounces powdered cochineal. Boil the latter in water enough to cover the goods for about six minutes, then add the tin. Put in goods and boil half an hour. Rinse in cold water, and dry in the shade. SEAL BEOWN FOR WOOLEN GOODS. For ten pounds goods take one pound catechu, four ounces blue vitriol, four ounces bichromate of potash; dissolve each in separate ^\^ater; heat the goods one hour in the catechu water; wring out; dip and wring out of the liot vitriol water; leave them fifteen min- utes in the potash water; dry and wash them. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 34:7 BILLS OF FARE. I offer here a few suggestions as helps to the prac- tical housewife in her everyday cooking, and some hints for a child's party. If large lunch, dinner, or tea parties are given in the city, a caterer may be employed. If given in the country, the season of the year and the articles obtainable must enter into the bill of fare served. SUGGESTIONS FOK A BILL OF FARE IN A PKIVATE FAMILY FOE ONE WEEK. SUNDAY. BREAKFAST. Oatmeal Mush. Codfish Balls. Saratoga Potatoes. Waffles. Maple Syrup. Coffee. DINNER. Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding. Potatoes, Celery, Canned Vegetables and Pickles. Blanc Mange. Apple Pie. Coffee. SUPPER. Thin bread and Butter. Cold Baked Beans. Sauco, Cake. Tea. 348 MRS. OWKNS' COOK BOOK MONDAY. BREAKFAST. Cracked Wheat and Milk. Ragout of cold Roast Beef. Baked Eggs. Baked Potatoes. Coffee or Chocolate. DINNER. Boiled Dinner. Suet Pudding. SUPPER. Mush and Milk. Buttered Toast. Cheese. Bauoe. Cake. Tea. TUESDAY. BREAKFAST. Fried Mush. Maple Syrup. Corned Beef Haan. Hot Rolls. Coffee. DINNER. Roast Pork. Fried Apples. Boiled Potatoes. Tomatoes. Lemon Pie. SUPPER. Potato Salad. Cold Roast Pork. Milk Toast Jelly Cake. Jam. Tea. WEDNESDAY. BREAKFAST. Oatmeal Mush. Codfish Stew. Baked Potatoes. Muffins. Coffee or Chocolate. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 345:> DINNEB. Boiled Mutton. Boiled Rice. Mashed Potatoes. Turnips. Baked Indian Pudding. (Leave enough Potates for Breakfast) SUPPER. Cold Mutton, sliced with Lemon. Russian Salad. Hot Biscuit. Lemon Butter. Soft Gingerbread. Tea. THURSDAY BREAKFAST. Rice Croquettes. Broiled Beefsteak. Lyonnaise Potatoes. Laplanders. Coffee or Chocolate. DINNER. •calves' Liver Larded. Potatoes. Cold Slaw. Com. Mince Pie. Cheese. SUPPER. Chipped Beef. Sweet Pickles. Buttered Toast Preserves and Cake. Tea, FRIDAY. BBEAKFAST. Hominy. Egg Omelet. Saratoga Potatoes. Graham Q«ms. Doughnuts. Coffee or Chocolate. DINNEB. Fished Baked, Boiled or Fried. Potatoes. Cauliflo-vrer. Tomatoes. Rice Pudding. 350 MES. OWENS' COOK BOOK SUPPER. Sardines with slices of Lemon. Banana or other Fritters. Bread and Butter. Floating Island. Sponge Cake. Tea. SATURDAY BREAKFAST. Macaroni. Mutton Chops. Potatoes a la creme. Griddle Cakes. Coflfee or Chocolate. DINNER. Oysters or Fowls. Seasonable Vegetables. Berry Pie. SUPPER. Boston Baked Beans and Brown Bread. Lettuce. Welsh rarebit. Cranberry Sauce. Cake. Tea. SUGGESTIONS FOE BEEAKFASTS FOE ANOTHER WEEK. 1st — Veal Cutlets. Johnny cake. 2d. — Liver and Bacon. Wheat Cakes. 3d. — Scrambled Eggs. Graham Muflfins. 4th. — Tenderloins. Corn-meal Rolls. 5th. — Salt Mackerel. Bread Pancakes. 6th. — Ham and Eggs. Popovers. 7th. — Fried Chicken. Corn Cakes. SUGGESTIONS FOE DINNEES FOE ANOTHEB WEEK. 1st. — Roast Tm-key. Pumpkin Pie. 3d.— Boiled Ham. Roll Pudding. 3d. — Veal Pot Pie. Cranberry Pie. 4th. — ^Beef a la mode. Queen of Puddings. 5th. — Parsnip Stew. Pie plant Pie. 6th. — Fish. Boiled Indian Pudding. 7th. — Beef Soup with Vegetables. Snow BaUs. ^ND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 35] Sandwiches, Panned Oysters, Small Pickles, Jelly Tarts, Vanities, Kisses, Comfits, Birthday Cake, Patty-pans, frosted, Whistles, Jelly Roll, Variety Cake, Pyramid Paste, Raisins, Nuts, Popcorn Balls, Seasonable Fruits, Lemonade, Ice Cream, Chocolate. AIpo, make a pyramid cake of four loaves, baked in a two-quart, throe- pint and a pint basin and a muffin ring, all put together and heavily frosted. Give each little guest a tiny lace bag of confectionery tied with a ribbon. Either make the bag square, or in the shape of a stocking. If you have no lace, use mosquito netting, and tie it with bright worsted. Festoons of popcorn are pleasing, and a tiny bouquet for each one is just the thing. The bouquet should be placed by the plate at table. PYRAMID PASTE. Make a rich pie paste and cut three or four sizes, fitting one upon another. Cut a bit from each ex- cept the bottom. Bake on a buttered paper laid on tins. Then place one above another with a differ- ent kind of preserve or jam in each. On top place green gages, currants, grapes, or other fruit. WHISTLES. I cup butter. 1 cup sugar. 6 eggs. Beat butter and sugar to a cream; add the beaten eggs, and flour to make a stiff batter, drop little pats on a buttered paper, 3 inches apart; spread thin; bake in a pan 5 minutes, or until a light brown; lay on a sugared moulding board while warm, and roll on a stick; when cold, fill with jelly. 862 US&. OWENS' OOOK BOOK AN OLD CITIZEN TO A YOUNG WIFE, You have noticed the monotony of existence, of course. With your husband the round of life is by days. With you it is three times as short, or by meals. Having to prepare food three times a day, indefinitely, you find that there are only narrow lines of eatables which can be relied on implicitly. However fancifully you may cook certain things, there are certain other articles which can be simply gotten up, and which will give better sat- isfaction. You will find that, for a steady jog over the course of life, yourself and husband will rely largely on good bread, butter, coffee, potatoes, beef, and mutton. These, with the fruits which come along already cooked, make up a constant bill of fare which puts strength in the limbs and, I think I may say, nobility in the heart. Now, if I can give any little hint about these cardinal elements of vitality which will hurry on yoxir own conclusions, then any excuse for having opened my mouth at all will be sufficient. Now, about bread. The old-fashioned way of making "sponge" is the best. If your mother or your grandmother can tell you how to make the bag of corn-meal stuff and then the more fleet- ing jar of wet, sour, and uncomfortable mixture, you will ] ave light bread. The compressed yeast of the grocer never yields the same results. Again, if you live in the city, the "Vienna bread " will give you a good deal for your money. The true " Vienna bake " has cracks in the roll, where the gas has escaped in heating. This bread averages better than you or any other person with a small oven can bake. It never palls on the taste. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 353 If you have but two in the family, it i» cheaper than home- made bakings of equal freshness. Butter, since the introduction of grease into its manufacture, has become a problem. You cannot be sure that you are get- ting what you pay for, except during June. In June, butter is grass-sweet, and cannot be mistaken. If your grocer have but- ter at 20, 23, and 28 cents, pay him 28 cents. When it comes June, observe whether or not the first-class butter is grass-sweet. If not, your grocer is a rascal, and you must make a change, at all hazards. If the grocer be honest, he buys honestly. His best butter will have little or no grease in it. I am inclined to think this particular grease brings on the fearful winter cholera which has made its appearance simultaneously with the inven- tion of oleomargarine. "Butter" set in a north window, ex- posed to the outside air, will often turn deathly white if there be grease in it, and by "grease" I, of course, mean the render- ing fat of the slaughter-houses. Let your grocer imderstand that you resent grease in your butter; he will then make an effort to save you from that trial. Never hesitate in paying the highest price. The grocer deals with many who want " first- class " butter at a secoud-class price. They do not wish to be told they are not buying the best. Let him know that you are not a hypocrite in this matter. Qood butter is the cheapest for all purposes, principally on account of your health. A good cup of coffee is a " square meal " in itself I can tell you just how to get it. Buy the best grades. If you choose roasted, have the grocer grind it before your eyes. Buy only one pound. Keep it in a tin canister. You need two-thirds of ft pound of Java and one-third of a pound of Mocha. Go to the tinner's with a common, large cofi"ee-pot. This ought to cost 35 cents. Have the tinner make an inside can something like a " plug hat," with a rim. On the inside of the pot, a little below the top, set out four tin shoulders to catch the rim of the inside can as it is set down into the pot. The bottom of the inside can should almost touch the bottom of the pot. This ought to cost about 60 cents more. How, this inside can should hold the 354 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK grounds and water for four cups of coffee. To make the coffee, use a " top-full " and a little more of coffee, and pour water to fill up the inside can. Then hang the can in about three inches of water in the big pot. This will cook the coffee as glue or oatmeal should be cooked. The aroma will be in the coffee, in- stead of up stairs in the parlor or bedroom. If your husband has to hurry to business in the morning, get an oil-stove with- out any "extras," two wicks, and the coffee will cook in twenty minutes. That is about all an oil-stove is good for — to hurry up a coal stove. The coffee is done when Bhe grounds have sunk. Put absolutely nothing in it save cream and sugar. This coffee will make your husband love you. It is a love-philter of the strongest nature. He will famish wheo he goes elsewhere for a meal. Your potatoes should be of the same size, peeled and cooked in cold water to start with. When the^ are fairly done, drain them excellently well, and keep the cover off them carefully. Do not let the steam strike in. Mash and mash and mash. Potatoes will stand a great lot of salt, and butter is thrown away on them, I am afraid. You can try that, however; what I am after is a dish of dry, mashed potatoes, as flaky as the snow in a blizzard. Some people's potatoes are as slushy as hop yeast. Bah ! There are housewives who never have wet mashed pota- toes, and I have given you their exact mode. If yours continue sloppy, simplify the proceeding; do not slice; be careful about the steam, and mash and mash. If you live in the city, beef is your constant trouble. It is beef, beef, beef, until you sicken at the sound and tarp Tialer still at the thing itself. Your reliance here must be on the Uord and in the butcher. It is the butcher's interest to sell you all his bad beef first, and you will find him singularly true tP his in- terests. It is a good idea to change butchers once a "lonth. Buy, however, at the centre of the city, if possible. The r«^rer the limits the poorer the meat, as a rule. Good meat cosU- but it is all eatable and digestible. I have foimd it the safest 'x^le to buy the fattest. The marbled appearance sometimes cor s AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 355 from the 8udden fattening on swill of a tough old cow. A good porterhouse steak is as long as a large platter, and is grateful to the taste, tail, fat, and all. This, broiled on a big bed of coals, turned often, and dressed with melted butter, pepper, salt, slices of lemon and bits of parsely tops, is the best eating in the world. It makes one hungry to think of it! Never frj' meat in lard. But you can neither get nor afford this big porterhouse regu- larly. Do the best you can with your own butcher. His meat is not fit to eat. Tell him so. He knows it. But it is up to the demand. That is what he is after. When you go down town you get where they have to have better meat. Never buy mut- ton far from the centre of the city, under any circumstances. Have your husband go into a shop where the sides hang. You want a young wether with three inches of fat on the outside. You want no bucks. The buck is high over the shoulders — a regular hump. No real wether ever grows high there. You don't want any ewe, either. Cut from the ribs about as many as you can eat — a hungry man can eat two or three. The butcher will clip off an inch of the fat. You will have a time of broil- ing it, for it will burn like oil. But, on the table, it is the healthiest meat in the world. It comes close to being the best tasting. The bad popular idea of mutton comes from the fact that the lean bucks all go toward the limits of the city to be sold. After a meal of gilt-edged broiled mutton, your husband will think this is quite a good world to get along in. As for yourself, you thrive best on poultry. Have it often. You are, probably, not a bad judge of a chicken. Twist the wing. See that the butcher has not already twisted it before you ! Never, my dear friend, trust your stomach with the diges- tion of pork. It is a meat unfit for female food. Use lard about as much as you use calomel. Cake is not so dyspeptic as pies. I think the butter makes the difference. Avoid frying for weeks at a time ; make your own experiments in this matter. Our fresh water fish are the very best. In little lakes they get bad in July. In cold lakes they keep good longer. Keep honey, dried peaches, and prunes on hand, to regulate your 356 MKS. OWENS COOK BOOK bowels. Some people can eat neither milk nor cheese, nor eggs (except in March). Experiment with them. I have great doubts about tomatoes being fit for anything, except flavoring for gravies. I do not like the way they " turn " a silver spoon. People with the piles must not eat tomatoes at all. For centu- ries they were considered poisonous, and I guess they are. Cider is a magnificent thing for bad livers, catarrh, and other troubles which come from or cause bad action of the bowels. You see I mix medicine with meals; it cuts down doctors' bills. It may strike you that I have laid out a costly schedule. You must, therefore, be the more economical elsewhere. I have calculated on shaving oflf a little from physic and tonic, in order to put it on the porterhouse and mutton chops. Physic and tonic come high. Think how much longer your husband will live on first-class food! Waste of such materials can have no fitting apology. JOHN McGOVEKN. RELATION OF WEIGHTS TO MEASURES. Wbeai Flour, Corn Meal, Graunlated Sugar, - Dry Brawn Sugar, - Good Firm Butter, - EggB, liaisiBB, 3 cups make - 1 pound. 314 cups make - 1 pound. 1 large coffee cup makes ^ pound. 1 large coffee cup makes 54 pound. 1% cups pressed down, 1 pound. 10 make 1 cup makes about 4 large tablespoons equal 1 wine-glass. 8 large labltepoons equal 1 gill. 2 gills are - - Vt pint. 2 pints are - ■ - 1 quart. 1 pouna. % pound. BLACKBERRY CORDIAL. Mm. Wm. y. Carroll. To one quurt of blaekuerry juice add one pcir.Kl white sugar, one tablespoon each of cloves, allspice, cinna;yion and nutmeg. Boil all together fifteen minutes, add one wineglass brandy or whisky. Bottle while hot, cork and seaL GAME. Soiips, - - - - - - J5P Winged Game, - - j6d Four-Footed Game, - ^6i Frogs and Terrapin, ^^2 PREFATORY REMARKS. For convenience, I have inserted " Green Turtle Soup " and " Frogs and Terrapin " in this chapter, and have placed the recipes alphabetically under the above headings. Of course, there is no absolute rule for cooking. I have selected, from many sources, what I consider will be best received by the generality of ladies. The best variety possible is presented in the space allotted to the subject, and I feel confident that my readers will regard as plain common sense the direc- tions here given. My correspondence, to gain all the information possible on this subject, has elicited various opin- ions from many excellent cooks. For instance, one lady says: "I find it safe, gen- erally, to parboil wild meat, with a small pinch of soda in the water." Another one writes: " Of one thing I am certain, and that is, that game should never be parboiled." Another lady says: "I think wild meat should be soaked a short time in weak saleratus water." And still another one says: "If wild ducks and prairie chickens are skinned, the necessity for par- boiling is removed, for the skin is the tough part." Very many good cooks unite in this, that, when- 358 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK ever practicable, game should be cooked without washing-. Wiping with a damp cloth is deemed sufficient. If found necessary to wash, they do it as quickly as possible, and wipe dry. Game should never remain in water a moment longer than is essential to perfect cleansing, according to their theory. A free current of air is very advantageous. A damp atmosphere is destructive to animal food. After poultry or birds are dressed, hang them up by the head, not in the sun, but in a cool place. A piece of charcoal put into each bird will guard against tainting for several days. This is especially the case in warm weather, and almost a necessity. Even if they become tainted, it said that they can be restored to sweetness by being kept in sweet milk twenty-four hours. I have never had occasion to test this. The flavor of game is heightened by keeping it several days before cooking. When venison is hung up it should be looked at and wiped off whenever it has gathered moisture. A thorough dusting with black pepper will preserve it from flies. Ginger will answer the same purpose. Bear and buffalo meats are cooked substantially the same as beef or venison. Dark meat is usually served rare; light meat, well cooked. To the Hon. MoNROE HEATH, ex-Mayor of Chi- cago, I am deeply indebted. He knows from per- sonal experience how to kill, dress, cook, and serve, in the daintiest manner, nearly everything treated of in this entire chapter, and has very kindly revised it for me. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 359 SOUPS. GAME SOUP. In the game season, a good soup may be prepared at very little expense, and by using the remnants of different dishes a very agreeable flavor will be ifnparted. Take the legs and bones, break up, and boil in some broth for. an hour, putting in all the meat from the breasts of birds left over. Boil four or five turnips and mash them fine. Then pound the meat up fine and pass through a fine sieve. Put the broth a little at a time through the sieve. Heat it all up together in the soup-kettle. Do not boil. Mix the yolks of three or four eggs with half a pint of cream. Stir into the soup and remove just as it comes to a boil, as boiling curdles it. GREEN TURTLE SOUP. Chop the entrails (some cooks do not use the en- trails), bones, and coarse parts of the turtle meat, and put into a gallon of water, with a bunch of sweet herbs, a couple of onions, pepper and salt. This must cook slowly but constantly for four hours. In the meantime simmer the fine parts of the turtle and the green fat for an hour in half a gallon of water. This must be added to the above soup after straining the latter, at the end of the four hours' boiling. Thicken slightly with browned flour, then simmer all together for another hour. If there are eggs in the turtle boil them alone in clear water for three or four hours and add to the soup before serv- ing. If not, use force-meat balls. At the last add the juice of one lemon. For the force-meat balls, take the yolks of two hard boiled eggs, rubbed fine with six tablespoons of chopped turtle meat, a table- 360 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK spoon of butter and, if you have it, a little liquor of oysters. Season with mace, a pinch of cayenne, half a teaspoon o white su<^ar. Bind together with a raw egg. Roll into small balls, dip into beaten egg, then rolled cracker, fry in butter, and drop into the soup as directed above. BROWN RABBIT SOUP. Cut at the joints, dip in flour and fry in butter until a nice brown. Add three onions, also fried brown. To two large rabbits allow fully three quarts of water. Pour it over boiling hot. Add a teaspoon of salt; skim frequently and carefully until it looks clear. Add a sprig of parsle)^, three or four carrots, and season with whole peppercorns. Boil gently for half a day. Season more highly if neces- sary. Strain, let cool, skim off the fat. Heat it afresh for serving, and send to the table with crou- tons — as described on page 8. RABBIT SOUP. Sometimes rabbits or hares will be found very tough. They can then be made into soup that is excellent. Crack the bones of two rabbits and boil with a pound of ham or salt pork, cut up small. Chop three small onions and put in, with a bunch of sweet herbs. Stew in three quarts of water slowly for three hours. Season and strain. Thick- en slightly with browned flour, wet with cold water. Add tablespoon of catsup and teaspoon of Worces- tershire or some other kind of sauce. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 361 . FOUR-FOOTED GAME. HARE— JUGGED. After casing- the hare, wipe off all loose hairs care- fully, cut at the joints and fry brown. Season well with salt, pepper, chopped parsley, mace, nutmeg, cloves, grated lemon peel, and a sprig of thyme. Put a layer of this into a bean-pot or a small-necked jar, alternately with a layer of thin slices of bacon, until all are used. Pour one cup of water over, cover closely and set in a kettle of water. Boil three hours, or longer if the hare is old and tough. Skim out when done and strain the liquor. Take one tablespoon of flour and one tablespoon of butter and mix in a saucepan over the fire, and add the strained liquor. Let boil up and pour over the hare in a deep dish. OPOSSUM. Clean like a pig — scrape, not skin it. Chop the liver fine, mix with bread crumbs, chopped onion, and parsely, with pepper and salt; bind with a beaten egg and stuff the body with it. Sew up, roast, baste with salt and water. In order to make it crisp, rub it with a rag dipped in its own grease. Serve with the gravy made of browned flour. Serve it whole on a platter, and put a baked apple in its mouth. It is very nice stuffed with apples peeled and sliced. Opossum may be made into a very palatable stew. RABBIT BOILED— LIVER SAUCE. Truss for boiling; cover with hot water and cook gently about forty-five minutes if of medium size. in another vessel, boil the liver, for ten minutes, mince very fine and put it back into the water in 362 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK which it was boiled, season with butter, pepper, and salt, and thicken with flour, and pour over the rabbit. Onion sauce is preferred by some, in which case boil some onions (three or four) in a sepa- rate vessel; chancre the water once, and when done drain and chop them. Then put them in a sauce- pan, sprinkle with one tablespoon of flour, put in butter size of an egg, with one cup of milk. Let it boil up and pour it over the rabbit RABBIT— FRIED. After skinning, cleaning, and wiping dry, fry the same as chicken. Unless known to be young and tender, it is a surer way to parboil before frying. RABBIT PIE. After cleaning, cut up like chicken and stew until tender. Then put into a deep pan with sides lined with pie paste. Thicken the gravy and add butter, pepper, and salt. Pour over and cover with crust. Bake about twenty minutes. RABBIT— ROASTED. After skinning and cleaning, lay in salt water for an hour. Parboil the heart and liver, mince them with a slice of fat salt pork, and add thyme, onion, pepper, and salt, and bread crumbs moist- ened with the water in which the giblets were boiled. Mix with a beaten egg. Stuff the rabbit with this, sew up, rub the body with butter or tie over it a few slices of fat pork. Put a cup or more of water into the drippingpan. Baste AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 363 often. An hour will generally suffice for cooking it. Dredge with flour before taking it from the oven, and pour melted butter over. When browned remove to a hot dish, and to the gravy add lemon juice, a bit of minced onion, and one tablespoon of flour made smooth with the same quantity of butter. Let boil up and serve in a gravy dish. Garnish the rabbit with slices of lemon and sprigs of green parsley. RABBIT STEW. Skin, clean, and cut in small pieces a couple of rabbits. Let stand in cold salted water for an hour. Then put on to cook, in enough cold water to cover them, and boil till tender. Season with pep- per and salt, and stir one tablespoon of butter with two tablespoons of flour made smooth into the gravy. Lemon juice is an improvement. If onions are liked, they may be boiled in a dish by themselves and added to the gravy before dishing up. Serve rabbits and gravy together on a large platter. RACCOONS— 5^^ Woodchucks. SQUIRREL PIE. Clean one pair of squirrels and cut into small pieces. Wipe off with a damp cloth. Put into a stewpan with two slices of salt pork, and water to nearly cover. Cook until half done. Season it well and thicken the gravy. Pour into a deep dish, cover with pie crust, and bake thirty min- utes. Squirrels may be fried, broiled, or stewed, like chickens or rabbits. 364 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK VENISON— ROAST. The haunch is the choicest piece for roasting. Wipe off with a damp cloth. Rub over with butter or lard. Then cover the top and sides with a thick paste of flour and water half an inch deep. Lay a coarse paper over all and put to roast with one cup of water in the dripping pan. Keep the oven well heated. Baste every fifteen or twenty minutes with butter and water. Twenty minutes before serving" remove the paste and pa- per, and dredge with flour, and baste with butter until of a light brown. Pour in one pint of water and make a thickened gravy as for roast beef or pork, adding a pinch of cloves, nutmeg, cayenne, and a few blades of mace. Strain before sending to table, and two tablespoons of currant jelly may be added if you have it. Have dishes very hot. The shoulder is also a good roasting piece, but need not be covered with the paste as in the above directions. VENISON SAUSAGE. Take equal quantities of old salt pork and bits of raw venison. Chop fine. To each pound of chopped meat add 3 teaspoons of sage, i| of salt, and I of pepper. Make into flat cakes and fry with no other fat, as that in the sausage is suffi- .cient. VENISON STEAKS. These take longer to cook than beef, but should be similarly broiled or fried. When done, place in a hot dish with a gravy made of butter the size of an Qgg for each pound of steak, mixed with a AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 365 spoon of flour, and properly seasoned with pepper and salt. Jelly may be added if desired. Before serving, cover the platter and set in a hot oven for five minutes or less. Have the plates well heated, as venison cools quickly. At table, it is nice to place a bit of jelly on each piece served. VENISON STEW. Cut the meat into small pieces. Inferior cuts will make a very good stew. Boil for a couple of hours. Season to suit the taste. Add potatoes peeled, and if large, cut in two. When done, skim out, thicken the gravy and pour over. WOODCHUCKS AND 'COONS. Mt^. E. £. Bower, Erie, Pa. In Pennsylvania, woodchucks are called ground- hogs and esteemed a great delicacy, and really a fine fat one well roasted is not to be despised. To cook either ground-hogs or 'coons, parboil for thirty minutes, to take off the wild smell; then rub well with salt and pepper, and roast in a quick oven at first, allowing the fire to cool gradually. Thirty minutes to every pound is a safe rule. Young animals need no parboiling. Where fire- places are used, people cook them on a spit over a drippingpan. — Note. — It is said that if a cup of vinegar be put on the stove while cooking onions, their smell will not be noticed. It is the common custom of cooks to give claret as one of the adjuncts in cooking wild meat. It is a mere matter of taste. It can be made very palatable without it, and I prefer not to give it. 366 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK WINGED GAME. CRANES AND HERONS. May be broiled or stewed, like chickens. They make a very fine soup. Dress and joint five or six and put into a pot with an equal weight of beef cut small; slice one onion (or more); add a slice of salt pork; water to cover. When tender add, if you have them, about a pint of oysters with their liquor. Crabs cleaned and quartered may be substituted. Let simmer till done. Then just before serving stir in one or two tablespoons of gumbo. ■ DUCKS— CANVAS BACK— ROASTED. Pluck, singe, draw, and wipe well. Do not wash; let the duck retain its own flavor as far as possible. Leave the head on to show its species. Roast without stuffing, twenty-five or thirty minutes, in a hot oven, after seasoning with pepper and salt. Baste with butter and water. A bit of cayenne and a tablespoon of currant jelly added to the gravy are an improvement. Thicken with browned flour. DUCKS— WILD— ROASTED. Prepare for roasting the same as any fowl. Par- boil for fifteen minutes with an onion in the water, and the strong fishy flavor that is sometimes so dis- agreeable in wild ducks will have disappeared. A carrot will answer the same purpose. Stuff with bread crumbs, a minced onion, season with pepper, salt, and sage, and roast until tender. Use butter plentifully in basting. A half hour will suffice for young ducks. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 367 DUCKS— WILD— STEWED. Cut the ducks into joints; pepper, salt, and flour them; fry in butter in a stewpan. Then cover with a gravy made of the giblets and some bits of lean veal if you have it, all minced and stewed in water until tender. Add a minced onion or shallot, a bunch of sweet herbs, and salt and pepper, with a bit of lemon peel. Cover closely and let them stew until tender. About thirty minutes will suffice. Skim out the ducks; skim and strain the gravy, add a cup of cream or milk and a beaten egg, thicken with browned flour, and let boil up once and pour over the ducks. The juice of a lemon may be added, or lemon may be sliced and served on the ducks. LARKS. Clean, wipe dry, brush them over with the yolk of egg, roll in bread crumbs and roast in a quick oven for ten or fifteen minutes. Baste with but- ter and keep them covered with bread crumbs while roasting. Serve the crumbs under the birds and lay slices of lemon on them. PARTRIDGE— BROILED. Pick and draw; divide through the back and breast, and wipe with a damp cloth. Season highly with pepper, salt, a bit of cayenne, and broil over a clear, bright fire. It will broil in fifteen or twenty minutes. When done, rub over with butter. Serve with lemon. PARTRIDGE PIE. After dressing, divide in halves, rub with pepper, salt, and flour, sprinkle in parsley, thyme, and mush- 368 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK rooms if you happen to have them. Put a sh'ce of ham and two pounds of veal cut up small at the bot- tom of the bakingdish. Then add the partridges and pour over them a pint of good broth or gravy. This is for about four birds. If you have no gravy, use water with a large spoon of butter. Cover with rich piepaste. Leave an opening in the center and bake about one hour. PIGEON PIE. Do not stuff pigeons, but cut them in four pieces; parboil and place in layers with egg and pork or ba- con, as directed for quail pie. Use plenty of butter to make the gravy rich. Bake same as quail pie. PIGEONS— POTTED. Pluck and clean. Take a cracker, an egg, a piece of butter or chopped suet the size of an egg, and a pinch of sage or sweet marjoram. Make into small balls and put one with a thin slice of salt pork into each bird. Lay the birds close together in a pot. Dredge well with flour. Put in a good tablespoon of butter to six birds. Cover with water. Cover the pot and stew slowly for about an hour and a half. Less time if young and very tender, and longer if old. Serve on a large platter with the gravy. Other birds may be potted the same way. PILAU OF BIRDS. Boil two or three large birds or half a dozen small ones with a pound of bacon, in water enough to cover well. Season it with salt. When tender take them out with a little of the liquor. Into the remainder put two pounds of clean washed rice. Cook until AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 369 done, keeping closely covered. Stir into it a cup of butter, and salt to taste. Put a layer of the rice in a deep dish. On this lay the birds with the bacon in the middle. Add the liquor. Then cover them all with the rice that is left. Smooth it and spread over it the beaten yolks of two eggs. Cover with a plate and bake fifteen or twenty minutes in a mod- erate oven. PLOVER. Clean and truss. Lay in a pan and season with salt and pepper. Rub over with butter and cook in a quick oven. A piece of fat bacon or salt pork laid on each one gives a good flavor. Toast some bread and put a piece under each bird before it is quite done. Baste with butter and water. Take up on a hot platter, a bird on each slice of toast, and serve together. PRAIRIE CHICKENS. Fry as directed for chickens, or broil like quail or partridge. Or cook as on page 51- QUAIL— BROILED. Clean and split down the back. Wipe carefully, season well with salt and pepper, and place on a gridiron over a clear, hot fire. Turn, and when done lay on a hot dish; butter well, and serve on buttered toast. QUAIL PIE. Clean, truss, and stuff the quail. Parboil for ten or fifteen minutes. Line the sides of a deep pan with rich piepaste. In the bottom put a couple of slices of salt pork or bacon cut into small pieces. Then some slices of hard boiled eggs, with butter 370 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK and pepper. Then the quail with a sprinkling^ of minced parsley. The juice of a lemon is an im- provement. Put bits of butter rolled in flour over the birds, then a layer of slices of egg and bits of pork. Pour in the water in which they were par- boiled, and cover with the piepaste, leaving an open- ing in the center. Bake about an hour. QUAIL— STEAMED. Steam quail until nearly done, then roast in the oven to a nice brown, basting often with melted but- ter in water. Serve on buttered toast. Very nice. REED BIRDS, RAIL BIRDS, AND SNIPE. May be cooked precisely as plovers, or they may be broiled and served with toast the same as quail or partridge. WOODCOCK. Many excellent cooks do not draw them, asserting that the trail should be left in, even by those who do not like it, and removed after it is served. They claim that the flavor of the bird is much impaired if the trail is taken out before cooking. It looks rather plausible, as they are said to live by suction,, have no crop, and a stomach only the size of a bullet. The trail, head, and neck are regarded as great deli- cacies by epicures. For my own eating, I could not cook them without drawing. TO BAKE. Divide down the back, put in a pan in the oven, salt and pepper them and baste with melted butter. Garnish with slices of lemon. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 37 1 TO BROIL. Split down the back, wipe with a damp cloth, and broil over a clear fire. Rub on butter, pepper and salt when done. Serve on a hot platter and help each person to half a bird. TO ROAST. Clean, draw, and stuff with simple bread crumbs well seasoned with pepper and salt and moistened with sweet cream or melted butter. Sew them up. Tie a small, thin slice of salt pork around the bird. Place in a drippingpan and baste with butter and water. Put slices of buttered toast under them be- fore taking up, and serve with them. GENERAL REMARKS. If hares and rabbits are young, the ears tear easily and the claws are sharp and smooth. They will keep good a week or two in cold weather. In venison the fat should be bright, clear, and thick; the cleft of the hoof close and smooth. The more fat there is, the better the quality of the meat. Ducks with plump breasts and pliable feet are best. Partridges with dark-colored bills and yellow legs are best, and if allowed to hang a few days are much finer in flavor, and more tender. Pigeons to be good will not bear being kept, as the flavor leaves them. So they must be eaten fresh. Plovers are scarcely fit for any cooking but roast- ing. They should feel hard at the vent, as that in- dicates their fatness. If very stale, the feet will be very dry, and they should be discarded. 372 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK FROGS AND TERRAPIN FROGS. Skin them as soon as possible. The hind legs are usually the only part used, although the back is good eating. Fry or broil the same as chickens — or fricassee them. TERRAPIN OR TURTLE. Plunge the turtle while yet alive into boiling water. When life is extinct, remove the outer skin and the toe nails. Then rinse well, and boil in salted water until perfectly tender. • Then take off the shells, remove the gall and sand bag carefully, and clean the terrapin thoroughly. Next cut the meat and entrails into small pieces, saving all the juice, put into a saucepan without water and season to your taste with salt, cayenne and black pepper. Add for each terrapin, butter the size of an egg made smooth with a tablespoon of flour. A few table- spoons of cream should be added last. Many per- sons add the yolks of three or four hard boiled eggs just before serving. While cooking it should be stirred very often — and must be dished up and eaten very hot. INDEX. Croutons 8 German soup balls 8 Noodles 8 To clarify soup 14 Soup stock 15 Bean soup 12 Brunoise 16 Brown fish 20 Chestnut 13 Chicken 12 Cream of spinach 19 Confederate army 13 Economical 10 Game 359 Giblet 13 Gumbo 9 Julienne 20 SOUP. 8 Louisiana Plantation. .. . I2 8 Mock turtle 14 8 Onion 1 1 Oxtail 12-17 Pea 16 Pea hull II Potato II Pottage a la Reine 17 Puree of fish 18 Puree of game 18 Rabbit 360 Rice 91 Tomato ic Turtle, green 359' Very cheap 16 White 9 Wrexham 19 FISH. Baked fish 23-28 Boiled fish 22 Boiled, Hollandaise sauce 29 Boiled Pike, Qgg sauce. . 27 Broiled fish 31 Chowder, fish 21 Chowder, clam 24 Codfish balls 24 Codfish stew 23 Croquettes, fish 29 Eels 22 Fried fish 22 Fried smelts 28 Fritters, clam 25. Frogs and Terrapin. .22-372 Halibut 27 Lobster salad 26 Mackerel, fresh 25 Mackerel, salt 25-26 Pickled fish 26 Potted fish 31 Stuffing for fish 23 Shadroe, with oysters ... 28 Turbans of fish 30 OYSTERS. Cream 35 Fricassee 32 Fried 34 New way of cooking. .. . 36 Omelet 38 Pickled 36 Pie 38 Roast, Mobile 33 Sauce, with Turkey 35 Soup 33 Steamed 34-35 Scalloped 35 Stew 34 Stew, Virginia 33 Stewed with celery 37 Stuffed .' 36 INDEX. EGGS. Baked 40 Boiled 39 Broiled ham and eggs.. 40 Chowder 41 Fried 41 Fried ham and eggs.... 40 Omelet 42-43 Omelet celestine 44 Omelet saccharine 43 Omelet souffle 43 Omelet, orange 44 Panned 41 Pickled 44 Poached 41 Proper way to cook 40 Salad, hot egg 42 Scalloped 42 Scrambled 39 To color for Easter 45 To keep 44 FOWLS. Boning, directions for. . . 52 Chicken, boned 52 Chicken fricassee $0 Chicken, fried 50 Chicken salad 54~55 Chicken smothered 50 Chicken stew 48 Chicken pate 54 Chicken pie 49 Chicken pot pie 49 Cutting up chicken 46 Duck, curry of 53 Ducks, roast 51 German relish 51 Goose, roast 5 ^ Poultry, roast 46 Prairie chicken 51 369 Pressed veal or chicken . . 54 Stuffing for ducks 51 Suggestions 45 Turkey, roast 48 Winged Game 366 Beef a la mode Beef, corned, pressed . . . Beef, cure for Beef, dried Beef heart Beef heart equal to tongue Beef pickle Beef pot roast Beef, pressed Beef roast Beefsteak broiled Beefsteak, fried Beefsteak round Beefsteak with onions.. Beef stew Beef tongue Beef, stuffed and pressed Boiled dinner Calves' liver larded Calves' liver stewed MEATS. 64 Dumplings Rhode Island 78 79 Game 361 80 Ham, cold boiled 63 yy Ham, cure for 80 66 Ham, to stuff a 62 66 Head cheese y?) 80 Kidneys, deviled 71 59 Kidneys stewed 71 62 Lamb and green peas... 61 63 Lamb, blanquette of . . . . 60 6^ Lamb, leg of, roast 65 67 Liver 7'^-72 68 Mutton boiled 61 67 Mutton chops 70 66 Mutton macaroni 61 69 Mutton roast 65 62 Mock duck 67 58 Parsnip stew 60 72 Pigs' feet 79 72 Pig roast 69 INDEX. Ill MEATS— Continued. Pork and liver 72 Spareribs 69 Pork roast 64 Pork tenderloin 70 Pork, to keep fresh 78 Pork pie, English 65 Tripe fried y/ Tripe curried 74 Tripe potted 74 Sausages 78 Sausage, Creole 73 Souse 70 Sweet breads 75 yy Veal cake /6 Veal cutlets 70 Veal loaf 76 Veal marbled y6 Veal roast 65 Veal stuffed y6 Yorkshire pudding 63 HASH. Beef patties 83 Minced mutton 85 Corned beef hash 82 Croquettes, chicken 84 Croquettes, veal 83 Fricassee of beef 85 Meat dumplings 85 Meat pies 84 Minced veal 83 Meat omelet S6 Philadelphia scrapple... 82 Ragout 86 Union hash 83 Wonders 82 SAUCES, SALADS, AND CATSUrS. Caper butter 91 Caramel S6 Catsup, cucumber 92 Catsup, currant 92 Catsup, gooseberry ..... 93 Catsup, tomato. ..... .91-92 Catsup, walnut 91 Curry powder 87 Dressing for cabbage .94-5-6 Dressing for cold slaw . . 95 Dressing, lettuce 96 Green tomato soy 94 Mustard for table use ... 88 Salad dressing, French.. 94 Salad dressing, Mayonaise 94 Salad, orange 97 Salad, potato 98 Salad, Russian 97 Salmagundi 97 Sauce, asparagus 89 Sauce, celery 88 Sauce, Chili 90 Sauce, drawn butter 88 Sauce, Dutch 88 Sauce, maitre d' hotel. , . 96 Sauce, mushroom 89 Sauce, plain white 96 Sauce, Queen of Oude . . 90 Sauce Robart 89 Sauce, Tartar 96 Spiced currants 93 Spiced peaches 93 VEGETABLES. Artichokes, Jerusalem ..112 Cabbage cream in Asparagus 114 Beans. Boston baked. . . . 108 Beans and pork, baked. . 108 Beans, Lima 107 Beets 112-113 Cabbage a la Caulifloweri 1 1 Cabbage fried no Cabbage, with sour creamn i Cabbage spiced no Carrots, spring n2 Cauliflower 109 Egg plant fried 115 IV INDEX. VEGETABLES— Continued. Egg plant stuffed .... Green corn Green corn baked . . . Green corn patties . . Green corn pudding . Green corn, to can. . . Greens Green peas Macaroni Macaroni and cheese. Onions boiled Parsnips Potato balls Potato croquettes . . . Potato pudding Potato puffs Potatoes a la cream . Potatoes baked Potatoes boiled Bread, brown, Pauline's. . Bread, brown, Pris'n Miss. Bread, brown, Vermont. Bread, election Bread, Graham Bread, Indian Bread making, easy. 120 Bread, milk yeast Bread, rye and Indian. . . Biscuit, baking powder. . Biscuit, Graham Biscuit, Kentucky Biscuit, Mobile Biscuit, raised Biscuit, soda Biscuit, sour milk Cakes, buckwheat Cakes, corn-meal Cakes, griddle Corn-meal cakes . . . 128- Crumpets Fritters, rice Gems, corn 115 Potatoes cooked dry.... 105 Potatoes Lyonnaise 106 Potatoes mashed 106 Potatoes Parisian 106 Potatoes quirled 106 Potatoes Saratoga 109 Potatoes scalloped 1 14 Rice 105- 1 1 3 Sauerkraut 1 13 Squash 116- 1 16 Succotash 1 14 String beans 102 Tomatoes baked 102 Tomatoes fried green... loi Tomatoes scalloped . . . . 102 Tomatoes stewed loi Tomatoes and rice loi Turnips 99 Vegetable oyster BUEAD. Gems, Graham 132- Hoe cake Johnnycake 131- Laplanders Muffins Muffins, corn Muffins, hominy Muffins, mush Muffins, raised I34 ' Mush Mush, oatmeal Pancakes, bread Popovers Puffs, French Rolls Rolls, corn-meal Rolls, flannel Rolls, Saratoga Rusk Toast, French Toast, milk Waffles 130- Yeast 118-119- 24 23 24 24 22 23 21 21 23 29 30 30 29 25 29 30 36 27 Z7 31 37 35 33 INDEX. FIES, DUMPLINGS, AND SHORTCAKES. Pie crust 1 39-- 140 Apple pie 144 Apple custard pie 148 Apple pot pie 153 Apple puffs 154 Apple dumplings . 153- 154 Brother Jonathan 153 Berrry pie 146 Cherry pie 150 Cocoanut pie 145 Cranberry pie 149 Cream pie 145 Custard pie 149 Currant pie 150 Dewdrop apples 155 Dried apple pie 143 Emancipation pie 148 English currant pie .... 144 Fried pies 151 Huckleberry pie 150 Lemon pie 147—148 Lemon potato pie 14/ Mince pie 140—141 Minse pie, summer .... 142 Orange pie i4!> Peach pan dowdy 155 Peach pie . , 149 Pumpkin pie 144 Raisin pie 146 Rhubarb pie 143 Squash pie 145 Shortcake, hard winter . 153 Shortcake, orange 152 Shortcake, peach 152 Shortcake, strawberry . . 151 Sweet potato pie 145 Tomato pie 142- 143 Wild grapes for pies . . . 148 CAKE. Relation of Weights to Measures ^ p^g^ 356- Baking powder 1 57 Frosting and icing . 159--160 Frosting, without eggs , 159 Glazing for cake 1 59 I, 2, 3, 4, cake 182 Almond cake 186 American Home cake . . 178 Angels' food 161 Birthday cake 180 Black cake 165 Buckeye cake 183 Cake without eggs .... 186 Chocolate cake . . . 162—163 Coffee cake 160 Corn starch cake I74 Cream cake 172 Cup cake, clove 171 Cup cake, sister Julia's . 184 Dakota cake 185 Delicate cake 181 Everyday cake 161 Feather cake 175 Fruit cake 166—167 Fruit cake, English . . . 166 Fruit cake, poverty .... 168 Fruit cake, village 169 Gold cake 173 Graham cake 187 Graham composition cake 188 Hollis cake .181 Jenny Lind cake ..... 183 Lady cake 1/2 Lemon cake 180 Love cake 165 Marble cake I74 My wedding cake 170 Plymouth cake 183 Porcupine cake 176 Poundcake, Presidential 179 Pound cake, prize 179 Pound cake, Quaker . . . 177 Pound cake, soda 178 Pound cake, white 178 Pork cake 170 VI INDEX. CA KE-- Co at in ued. Raisin cake i68 Surprise cake 176 Roll jelly cake 184 Walnut cake 182 ' Silver cake 173 Watermelon cake 176 Snowball cake 177 White cake, Cora Bell's . 164 Spice cake 171 White citron cake 186 Sponge cake 173-184 White fruit cake 164 Sponge cake, molasses . . 185 White sponge cake 185 LAYER CAKE. Almond nagout 188 Lemon jelly cake 195 Caramel cake 193 Pineapple cake 189 Chocolate cake 191 Orange cake 196 Confectioner's cake 194 Ribbon cake 193 Cream cake, Belvidere ..196 Rocky mountain cake ..191 Cream cake, cocoanut . . 190 Strawberry cake 191 Dolly Varden cake 189 Variety cake 195 Fig cake 191 White Lincoln jelly cake . 190 Gilt edge cake 194 White mountain ditto. . . 192 Ice cream cake 192 COOKIES. Christmas cookies 197 Windom cookies 198 German cookies 197 Lincoln cookies 198 Ginger cookies 200-1-2 Hunt cookies 199 Ginger jumbles 202 MacVeagh cookies 199 Ginger snaps 202 Kirkwood cookies 199 Garfield cookies 198 James cookies 199 Arthur cookies 198 Molasses cookies 200 Blaine cookies 198 Sea foam 200 DOUGHNUTS. Amalgamation 204 Lazy doughnuts 204 Andover wonders 205 Raised doughnuts 203 Doughnuts 203-204 Rissoles 205 Fried cakes 204 Spanish ruffs 205 without shortening. 205 GIXGEB CAKES. Gingerbread 206-207 Soft molasses cake 208 Ginger drops 208 Spice cakes 208 Old-fashioned gingerbr'd 206 Training-day gingerbr'd 207 Soft gingerbread 207 3IISCEL LANEO US. Chocolate comfits 211 Cream puffs 213 Cocoanut comfits 212 Drop sponge cake 209 Cream cake 210 Edinboro' cheese 214 INDEX. Vll TIISCELLANEO US—Cotitin ued. Florentines 213 Scalloped cheese 216 Fondu 215 Fritters 217 German coffee cake 210 Hermit cakes 212 Knickerbocker crullers. .211 Maccaroons 214 Molasses tea cakes 210 Seed cakes 212 Sugar kisses 215 Tea cakes 209 Thin bread and butter . .216 Vanities 211 Varieties 213 Welsh rarebit 215 Widows' cake 210 Ragamuffins 211 CUSTABDS, CCES. AND CREAMS. A chartreuse of oranges. 224 Almond blanc mange . . .225 Angel cream 222 Apple cream 223 Baked custard 228 Bavarian cream 220 Chocolate ice cream . . . .219 Charlotte Russe 225 Coffee cream 219 Cream Charlotte 223 Floating island 227 Fruit blanc mange 226 Fruit creams 221 Ice cream 218 Isinglass blanc mange. . .226 Lemon honey 228 Lemon ice 229 Oak Park cream 222 Orange cream 219 Orange ice 229 Oriental cream 220 Pineapple cream 228 Pineapple water ice 229 Royal French cream. . . .221 Souffle vanilla 226 Strawberry cream 220 Tapioca cream 223 Vanilla cream 219 Velvet cream 222 Whipped cream 223 Lemon extract 229 PUDDING SAUCES. Beehive sauce 230 Jelly sauce 232-233 Cream sauce 233 Liquid sauce 231-232 Hard sauce 231 Vinegar sauce 232 rUDDIXGS. Apple pudding 234 Boiled Indian 238 Apple fruit 234 Apple tapioca 234 Apple sago 234 Baked Indian 237 Baked suet 237 Baking-day 235 Baroness 233 Batter 235 Bird's nest 235-236 Boiled bread 239 Buckeye 239 Cabinet 239 Cassava 240 Cassel 236 Cream tapioca 241 Cocoanut 241 Cottage 241 Currey 242 Hen's nest 242 Kiss 242 via INDEX. P UDDINGS-- Continued. Minute 243 Rich tapioca 247 My favorite 243 Old English Plum 243 Orange 244 Pineapple pudding 245 Plum duff 245 Puff 246 Queen of puddings 246 Rice Handy Andy 246 Rice, without eggs 246 FAMILY BEVERAGES. Rolled pudding 247 Sago 247 Sally Lunn 248 Snow Balls 248 Snow pudding 248 Suet pudding. . .238-249-250 Thickened rice 250 Wash-day pudding 250 Blackberry wine 261 Bottled soda water 255 Breakfast cocoa 254 Cocoa shells 255 Coffee 252 Coffee for festivals 253 Corn beer 256 Cream beer 256 Cream nectar 262 Cream soda 258 Currant wine 260 Egg chocolate 254 Elderberry wine 261 Ginger pop 257 Ginger wine 262 Iced tea 254 Imperial 255 Lemon beer 258 Orange syrup 260 Pineapple syrup 260 Premium chocolate 254 Portable lemonade 259 Raspberry nectar .255 Rhubarb wine 261 Sham champagne 259 Spruce beer 257 Strawberry sherbet 259 Sugar beer 256 Tea 251 Vienna coffee 253 Home brewed beer 258 riiESEB VES AND JELLIES. Apple butter 266 Crab apple jelly 276 Apple croutes 269 Apple jelly 267 Apple jelly for layer cake278 Apple marmalade 272 Apple meringue 269 Apple preserve 265 Baked sweet apples 268 Boiled apples 268 Canned pumpkin 279 Canned small fruits 264 Canning in glass jars .... 264 Citron preserves 271 Compote of apples, baked267 Cooking apples 266 Crab apple preserves. . . .270 Cranberry preserves . . . .275 Cranberries 279 Currant jelly 277 Damson plum preserves. 276 Dried apple jelly 278 Dried apple sauce 279 Fried apples 269 Gelatine jelly 278 Grape jelly 271 Grape preserves 270 Jam 263 Jellied apples 268 Lemon butter 265 INDEX. ix PRESEBVES AND JELLIES— Contiuued. Michigan fruit jellies . . .267 Preserved melon rinds . .271 Peach marmalade 272 Quince marmalade 273 Peach preserves 275 Quince preserves 272 Pear preserves 275 Strawberry preserves . . .270 Plum butter 273 To keep grapes fresh . . .279 Plum tomato preserves. .276 Wild plum jelly 274 Preserved cherries 275 Wild plum marmalade . .274 Preserved orange peel. . .274 Wild plum preserves. . . .273 PICKLES. Cauliflower 284 Plums, grapes or peaches 290 Cherries 283 Red cabbage 284 Chow chow 287 Ripe cucumbers 289 Cucumbers 281-282 Silver skin onions 283 Green tomatoes .... 284-285 String beans 282 Higdom 285 Sweet crabapples 290 Jackson pickles 285 Sweet cucumbers. . .288-289 Mangoes 286 Sweet tomatoes 288 Mixed pickles 288 Walnuts 283 Nasturtions 283 Watermelon rinds 289 Piccalilli 286 Whole pears 290 r IX EG Alt. Apple 292 Honey 291 Clover bloom 291 Potato 292 Currant 292 CONFECTIONER Y. Butter scotch 295-296 Iced currants 298 Chocolate caramels 294 Lemon taffy 297 Chocolate cream candy. 297 Maple caramels 294 Chocolate cream drops. .298 Mock Nongat 296 Cocoanut caramels 295 Molasses candy 293 Cream candy 295 Peach paper 298 Delicious tomato figs... 297 Snow candy ...295 Fruit candy 296 PICNICS AND LUNCHES. Suggestions 299 THE LAUNDRY. A few plain truths 300 How to starch shirts. . .309 Ammonia for silk 307 How to iron a shirt 310 A recipe worth $1,000.. 301 How to fold a shirt 311 British enamel for shirts 304 How to wash blankets . .304 Comforter shams 312 Liquid bluing 303 Glue for black dresses ... 306 Oxgall soap 305 X INDEX. THE LAUNDli V— Continued. Patent washing soap . . .302 To reniove grease spots. 308 To bleach 306-309 To renovate black silk. .312 To clean laces 307 To renew black woolens. 306 To make blue a fast color 308 To wash calico 305 To preserve wash tubs . . . 309 To wash lace mitts 307 To remove iron rust . . . .307 To wash linen suits 308 To remove mildew 306 Towels — colored borders 305 SICK IIOOM AND NURSERY. Blackberry cordial 356 Nursing bottles ....314-322 Burns 317 On the care of the ear . .319 Care of babies 322 Piles 320 Cough syrup 320 Poison antidote 321 Croup 315 Rheumatism 315 Cuts or bruises 313 Sleeplessness 319 Earache 314 Small-pox — scarlet fever. 3 18 Female weakness 319 Stimulating sponge bath 325 Hydrophobia 315 Sure cure for soft corns . 325 Lime water and milk . . .318 Toothache 316 Lemonade, &gg 318 To cure frozen feet 317 Milk for babies 321 To remove moles 313 Mothers, save yourselves 323 To thread a needle easily 314 Mustard poultice 321 To use hops in sickness. 319 Neuralgia 316 Warts 321 Nosebleed 321 Whooping-cough cure . . 320 DIET FO It THE S (CK. Arrow-root jelly 326 Rennet whey 328 Baked milk 318 Rice jelly 326 Beef tea 327 Sago jelly 326 Beaten egg 327 Tamarind water 327 Chicken jelly 325 Tapioca jelly 326 Flaxseed lemonade 327 Mrs. Garfield's beef extr't328 Indian meal gruel 326 USEFUL HINTS. A cement for rubber. . . .332 Marking ink 335 Articles for housekeepipg342 Paint for kitchen floor ..339 A home-made carpet . . .339 Paste that keeps a year .332 Camphor ice 338 Polished floors 339 Cologne water 341 Scent powder 338 Court plaster 341 Silver polish 334 Fire kindlers 341 To beautify teeth 3^8 Improved mutton tallow 340 To clean hair brushes. . .331 Indelible ink 334 To clean paint brushes ..331 Invisible ink 335 To clean white fur 331 INDEX. XI USEFUL Hiy To clean willow furniture33i To cut rubber easily . . To get rid of ants .... To get rid of moths. . . To gild a horse-shoe. . To keep hair in crimp To keep lemons fresh . To keep up windows. . To mend broken china To preserve shoe soles To preserve stair carpets 340 To prevent incrustation .334 To prevent rusting of tin 333 To purify water 329 :)3o 335 335 337 341 340 .328 TS—Conthined. To remove glass stoppers333 To remove old putty. . . .340 To remove ink stains. . .330 To revive flowers 342 To stop a bleeding tooth 341 To stop burning chimney 336 To stop frothing of cream336 To stop honey candying . 333 To soften chapped hands337 To take grease from paper330 Vermin exterminator. . .335 Vermin in child's head.. 336 Waterproof blacking. . . .333 Waxed floors 339 DYES. Anatto 345 Black 345 Cochineal red 342 Composition 345 Green 344 Madder red 344 Orange 345 Orange for cotton 343 Purple 343 Red 346 Seal brown for woolens . . 346 Yellow for cotton 343 BILLS OF FARE. Entire for one week .347-8-9 Dinners another week . .350 Breakfasts another week . 350 A CHILD'S PAHTY. Bill of fare 351 Pyramid paste 351 Hints 351 Whistles 351 AN OLD CITIZEN TO A YOUNG WIFE A chapter of valuable suggestions 352 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. The relation of weights to measures 356 Xll INDEX. GAME. SOUP. Game soup 359 Brown rabbit soup 360 Green turtle soup 359 Rabbit soup 360 FOUR-FOOTED GAME. Hare, jugged 361 Opossum 361 Rabbit, broiled 361 Rabbit, fried 362 Rabbit pie 362 Rabbit, roasted 362 Rabbit stew 363 Raccoons 363 Squirrel pie 363 Venison, roast 364 Venison sausage 364 Venison steaks 364 Venison stew 365 Woodchucks 365 WINGED GAME. Cranes 366 Herons 366 Ducks, roasted 366 Ducks, stewed 367 Larks 367 Partridge, broiled 367 Partridge pie 367 Pigeon pie 368 Pigeons, potted 368 368 369 Pilau of birds , Plover Prairie chickens 369 Quail, broiled 369 Quail pie 369 Quail, steamed 370 Reed birds, rail birds and snipe 370 Woodcock 370-371 Frogs FROGS AND TERRAPIN. , 372 Terrapin or turtle 372