SEPTEMBER.
Vermicelli Soup.
Take the fat from the top of your soup-stock; dip out rather more than half. Add a little seasoning to that which remains, and return to the ice. Should the weather be very warm it will be wise to heat all together, and then divide, returning the smaller portion to the ice. Warm the stock designed for to-day with the remains of yesterday’s tomato sauce; and when it begins to boil, strain through thin, coarse muslin. Put back over the fire, and take off all the scum that rises in ten minutes’ boil. Then put in a scant cupful of vermicelli, which has been broken up small, boiled five minutes in very hot water, and drained. Simmer five minutes, and pour out.
Roast Beef and Browned Potatoes.
Have all gristly parts of the beef cut away, and such bones removed as will injure the shape, or embarrass the carver. Put the beef into a dripping-pan, throw a cupful of boiling water over it, and roast ten minutes per pound, basting very often and copiously. Just before taking it up, dredge with flour and baste once with butter. After dishing the meat, pour the top from the gravy; add a little boiling water; put it into a saucepan, and thicken with browned flour. Pepper, and serve after a brief boil.
Browned Potatoes.
Boil, and strip off the skins of large, fair potatoes. Half an hour before you take up the meat pour off the fat from the gravy; lay your potatoes in the dripping-pan, and cook brown, basting frequently. Lay about the meat when dished.
Fried Egg-plant.
Slice half an inch thick, and lay in salt water one hour, with a heavy plate on top to keep under the water. Pare each slice. Make a batter of two eggs, a cup of milk, a little salt, and flour for thin batter. Wipe the egg-plant perfectly dry; dip each slice in the batter, and fry in hot dripping. Drain well, and serve on a heated flat dish.
Boiled Green Corn.
Strip off all but the thin husk next the corn. Turn this down, and pick off the silk from the grains. Replace the husk, tie a thread about it to keep it smooth, and cook the corn from thirty to forty minutes, according to size and age. Pull off the husk; break the stalk close to the ear, and serve, wrapped in a napkin.
Raw Tomatoes.
Pare and slice; put into a salad dish, and dress as follows: Rub one teaspoonful of sugar, and half as much each of pepper, salt, and French or other made mustard, smooth with two tablespoonfuls of salad-oil. Beat in, a little at a time, five tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and half a teaspoonful extract of celery. Pour over the tomatoes, and set on ice until wanted.
Narcissus Blanc-Mange.
1 quart of milk; 1 package Cooper’s gelatine, soaked in 2 cups of cold water; yolks of 4 eggs, beaten light; 2 cups white sugar; 1 large cup of sweet cream, whipped with a little powdered sugar, and flavored with vanilla; rose-water for the blanc-mange.
Heat the milk to scalding. Stir in the sugar and gelatine, and when these are dissolved, beat in the yolks, and cook two minutes. Turn out into a shallow dish to cool. When it begins to form, put, a few spoonfuls at a time, into a bowl, and whip vigorously, flavoring with rose-water. When it is a yellow sponge, put into a wet mould, with a cylinder in the centre. Do this on Saturday. On Sunday turn into a dish, and fill the hole in the middle with whipped cream, just churned. Lay more whipped cream about the base. Like all other preparations of gelatine, this should be kept upon ice until you are ready to use it.
Iced Coffee and Sliced Cake.
Make the coffee at breakfast-time. It should be very strong. While hot add one-fourth as much boiling milk. When cool put on ice, and serve with more ice in the tumblers. Send around a basket of cake with it.