Potage aux Croûtons.
3 lbs. of lean beef; fried bread; 1 onion, sliced; 3 quarts of water; chopped herbs; 1 carrot, cut up; pepper, salt, and 1 great spoonful of clear catsup—walnut or mushroom; dripping.
Fry meat and vegetables ten minutes in plenty of hot dripping. Drain this off, and set by in the pan while you put meat, vegetables, and herbs on in the water, and set where they will heat slowly to a boil. Prepare the croûtons by cutting out, with the top of a pepper-box, small rounds of stale bread, and frying them in the dripping used for the beef, etc. Drain, and set these in an open oven, that they may get very dry. Boil the soup three hours. Strain; cool, skim, season; boil and skim five minutes, and put in the croûtons. Heat three minutes, but do not boil, and pour out.
Devilled Crab.
1 cup of crab-meat, picked from the shells of well-boiled crabs; 2 tablespoonfuls of fine bread-crumbs or rolled cracker; yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, chopped; juice of a lemon; ½ teaspoonful of made mustard; a little Cayenne pepper and salt; 1 cup of good drawn butter.
Mix one spoonful of the crumbs with the chopped crab-meat, yolks, seasoning, and drawn butter. Fill scallop-shells—large clam-shells will do, or small paté-pans—with the mixture; sift crumbs over the top, and heat to slight browning in a quick oven.
Corned Beef and Turnips.
Cook the beef in plenty of cold water, bringing slowly to the boil. Cook fifteen minutes to the pound after it begins to simmer. When about three-quarters done put in a dozen turnips, peeled and quartered. When you dish the beef, lay these—unmashed—about it. Serve the meat with drawn butter, having as a base the pot-liquor. Save the rest of the liquor for to-morrow’s soup.
Lima Beans.
Shell, and cook in boiling salted water about twenty-five minutes. Then drain, pour over them a little drawn butter, well peppered, and serve.
Beets.
Be careful, in cutting off the tops and washing them, not to break the skins, or they will bleed away their color in the water. Cook in boiling water one hour. Scrape; slice; salt, pepper, and butter, and pour a few spoonfuls of boiling vinegar upon them after they are dished.
Plain Boiled Pudding.
3 heaping cups of flour; 2 cups of buttermilk or “loppered” milk; 1 full teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in boiling water; ½ cupful of powdered suet; 1 teaspoonful of salt.
Stir the sour milk into the flour gradually until it is free from lumps. Put in salt and suet; lastly, beat in the soda water quickly and faithfully. Put into a buttered mould, and boil an hour and a half. Eat hot with sauce.