Cream Almond Soup.
- Broth in which yesterday’s chickens were boiled.
- ½ lb. of almonds.
- 1 cup rich milk—half cream, if you can get it.
- 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, rubbed up with two of flour.
- Pepper and salt.
- 3 boiled eggs.
- 2 blades of mace.
Skim and heat the soup. Meanwhile, blanch (that is, scald and skin) the almonds, and pound in a mortar. Rub to a powder the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, and work up, with the butter, flour, and almonds, to a paste. When the soup boils, pepper and salt, and put in the mace. Skim clean, strain out the mace; return to the pot and stir in the paste of almonds, etc. Boil up gently, have the milk scalding hot in the tureen, and pour in the soup, mixing all up well. Serve at once.
Beefsteak.
Flatten with the broad side of a hatchet; broil over (or under) a clear fire upon a buttered gridiron—turning often. Lay upon a hot dish; salt, pepper, and butter, plentifully. Cover with a hot dish or lid, and let it stand five minutes to draw out the juices.
Chopped Potatoes.
Chop cold boiled potatoes into dice. Put some butter or nice dripping into a frying-pan; heat, and stir in the potatoes. Shake to prevent them from sticking to the pan, and when very hot, and glazed with the butter, pepper and salt, and turn into a hot colander. Shake and toss for a moment, and pour into a deep dish.
Chicken Salad.
Cut the meat from the “carcasses” of yesterday’s chickens. If you have but a little it may be worth while to give John a piquant side-dish. Add an equal quantity of shred lettuce, when you have cut your chicken into narrow strips, two inches long. Mix in a bowl; prepare a dressing according to the receipt given on Monday; pour over it, mix well and lightly; put into a salad-dish, and lay sections of two hard-boiled eggs on top, with a chain of sliced whites—left from the yolks used for the soup—around the outer edge.
Moulded Spinach.
Boil twenty minutes in hot, salted water; drain, pressing hard. Chop fine, and put into a saucepan, with a good lump of butter, a little pepper, salt and sugar. Beat and toss until nearly dry. Press hard into an oblong pan or mould. Invert this upon a hot dish. Lay slices of egg upon the top.
Soft Gingerbread.
- 1 cup of sugar.
- 1 cup of molasses.
- 1 cup of butter.
- 1 cup of sweet milk.
- 4 cups of flour.
- 4 eggs.
- 1 tablespoonful mixed ginger and mace.
- 1 small teaspoonful of soda dissolved in the milk.
Beat molasses, butter, sugar, and spice to a cream; whip in the beaten yolks, the milk, and lastly, the whites, alternately with the flour. Bake in two loaves, or in round tins or cups.
Chocolate.
- 6 tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate.
- 2 cups of boiling water and the same of milk.
Wet the chocolate in cold water; stir into the hot. Boil fifteen minutes; add the milk, and simmer ten minutes longer. Sweeten upon the fire, or as you pour it out.