Chicken Broth.
Cut an old fowl into quarters. Lay in salt and water an hour; put on in a soup-kettle with an onion, and four quarts of water. Bring very slowly to a gentle boil, and keep this up until the liquid has diminished one-third, and the meat shrinks from the bones. Take out the chicken, salt it, and set aside with a cupful of the broth, in a bowl (covered), until to-morrow. Season the rest of the broth and put back over the fire. Boil up and skim, and add nearly a teacupful of rice, previously soaked for two hours in a cup of water. Cook slowly until the rice is tender. Stir a cup of hot milk into two beaten eggs, and then into the soup. Let all come to the boil—barely—when you have added a handful of finely-minced parsley, pour out into the tureen.
Rolled Beefsteak.
Beat a large sirloin steak flat with the broad side of a hatchet. Fry a sliced onion in a little butter. Take it out with a skimmer, and put the meat into the pan. Fry quickly on both sides, soaking up all the butter and leaving a brown glaze upon the steak. Spread it upon a dish. Chop the onion, mix with bread-crumbs, minced herbs and a few chopped mushrooms, and lay this force-meat upon the steak. Roll the meat up tightly upon the dressing. Fasten with soft packthread and skewers. Put into a saucepan with a cupful of cold water. Set where it will heat very slowly, keeping on a close lid. Simmer thus two hours, turning now and then. Transfer the meat to a hot dish. Strain the gravy, add a little hot water, if needed; thicken with browned flour; stir in some minced mushrooms, a tablespoonful of catsup and another of butter. Boil about three minutes, pour over the steak, when you have removed the threads. The skewers are to be withdrawn by the carver.
Salsify Fritters.
Scrape, wash, and grate the roots into a mixture made of a beaten egg, one cup of milk, and enough flour for a very thin batter. Thicken with the grated salsify; salt and pepper, and drop, in large spoonfuls, into boiling lard or dripping. Drain in a hot colander. Eat while fresh.
Scalloped Tomatoes.
Drain off the liquor from a can of tomatoes; salt it, and put aside for another day’s soup. Strew the bottom of a bake-dish with fine crumbs; cover with tomatoes, sliced thin. Scatter over these a little minced onion and some bits of butter, with pepper, salt, and sugar. Proceed thus until the tomatoes are used up. Cover thickly with crumbs, fit a plate or tin lid over the scallop, and bake half an hour. Brown quickly upon the upper grating of the oven.
Fig Custard Pudding.
- 1 lb. best Naples figs.
- 1 quart of milk.
- Yolks of five eggs and whites of two.
- ½ package of gelatine soaked in half cup of water.
- 1 cup sweet fruit jelly, slightly warmed.
- 4 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
- Flavor to taste.
Soak the figs in warm water until quite soft. Split them; dip each piece in jelly, and line a buttered mould with them. Heat the milk, stir into the beaten eggs and sugar, return to the farina-kettle, and cook until it thickens well. Set by to cool. Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth. Melt the soaked gelatine by adding two tablespoonfuls of boiling water, and setting it within a vessel of hot water. Stir until melted, and let it cool. When it begins to congeal, whip with the Dover egg-beater, gradually, into the whisked whites, until all is white and thick. Beat into the cold custard rapidly and thoroughly, and fill the fig-lined mould. Set on ice, or in a cold place, until firm. Dip the mould in hot water to loosen the pudding when you are ready for it. It is delicious.