The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book

Pettijohns. To one quart of boiling water add eight ounces of Pettijohns. Cook ten minutes. Salt. Serve cream separate.

Fried ham. Thin slices of raw ham fried in butter. If fried too much ham will get hard.

Fried eggs. Use strictly fresh eggs and fry in hot butter. Salt and pepper.

Ham and eggs. Put ham in frying pan and fry one side. Turn, and crack eggs on top and fry.

Chicken broth. Put to boil in cold water two fat soup hens. Skim well, add one-half onion, a little celery, salt to taste, and cook for three hours, when fowls should be soft. Strain the bouillon and serve in cups. The cooked fowls may be used for sandwiches, chicken salad, chicken à la King, etc.

Boiled fowl. See chicken broth above.

Sliced oranges. Peel and slice the oranges and put on compote dish. Serve powdered sugar separate.

Force and cream. Serve raw with powdered sugar and cream separate.

Poached eggs. Break the eggs in boiling water, to which may be added a soupspoonful of vinegar if desired. Add plenty of salt to the water to take away the vinegar taste. Serve on toast and garnish with parsley in branches.

Canapé Hambourgeoise. Place on toast one sliced gherkin with a slice of smoked salmon on top, and a little anchovy sauce in center. Garnish around edge with chopped boiled egg, parsley and lemon.

Boiled honeycomb tripe. Cut honeycomb tripe in round pieces, five inches in diameter. Put in vessel with one onion, carrot, bay leaf, clove, a little celery and thyme and whole black peppers. Cover with water, salt and boil until done.

Broiled honeycomb tripe. Take boiled tripe, roll in olive oil, then in fresh bread crumbs, and broil. Serve with lemon and parsley garnishing, and maître d'hôtel sauce on top.

Maître d'hôtel sauce. One-quarter pound of fresh butter, juice of one lemon, and chopped parsley. Mix well. This sauce is not to be used hot.

Lyonnaise potatoes. Slice an onion, fry in butter, and mix with sauté potatoes.

Field salad. Wash and clean the salad well. Serve with French dressing and chopped parsley.

Purée of lentils (soup). Put in pot one pound of well-washed lentils and one quart of stock. Skim when it comes to a boil, and salt. Put in sauté pan an onion, carrot, bay leaf, clove, some parsley, celery, leek, whole black pepper, a ham bone or small piece of pigskin, and a piece of butter, and allow to simmer. Add to the lentils, and boil. When done strain through sieve and serve with small dices of bread fried in butter.

Fillet of sole, au vin blanc. Remove the skin from the fillets of sole. Put in buttered pan, add salt and a little Cayenne pepper, one-half glass of white wine, and one-half glass of stock. Cover with buttered manilla paper and put in oven to boil. When done put on platter and cover with sauce "au vin blanc." (See below.)

Bananas and cream. Peel and slice the bananas. Serve cream and powdered sugar separate.

Buckwheat cakes. One-quarter pound of buckwheat flour, one-quarter pound of white flour, one tablespoonful of baking powder, one ounce of sugar, one ounce of molasses, one egg and just enough milk to make a thin dough. Mix well and cook on hot iron plate rubbed with a piece of raw lard. Serve with strained honey or syrup, separate.

Fresh figs in cream. Peel and slice the figs, and cool on ice before serving. Powdered sugar and cream separate.

Milk toast. Put in soup tureen the toast, in small pieces, and cover with boiling milk.

Smoked salmon. Slice the salmon very thin, serve on lettuce leaves, with quartered lemon and parsley in branches on the side.

Broiled veal sweetbreads. Soak the sweetbreads in cold water for two hours. Parboil and cool in cold water, and dry with a napkin. Split, salt and pepper, dip in oil and broil. Serve with maître d'hôtel sauce.

New peas, plain. Boil peas in salt water. When done allow to cool. Then put in saucepan with a piece of fresh butter, a little salt and a pinch of sugar, and allow to simmer for a few seconds.

Lake trout, boiled. In three quarts of water boil an onion, carrot, bay leaf, clove, some whole black pepper, salt, parsley and one glass of vinegar. Pour over fish and boil slowly for fifteen minutes. Serve on napkin garnished with lemon, parsley in branches and small round boiled potatoes.

Sauce Génoise. Take a raw salmon head, (a trout head will do), and cut in small pieces. Put in sauté pan with a piece of butter, a sliced onion, carrot, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, and some whole black pepper, and simmer for fifteen minutes. Then add one glass of claret, reduce; add one quart of brown gravy, cook for ten minutes and strain. Before serving stir in well the juice of one lemon and a piece of fresh butter. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Hollandaise potatoes. Shape potatoes in the form of a small egg. Boil in salt water, drain off and evaporate well. Serve on napkin.

Boiled salt mackerel. Soak the mackerel in water over night. Boil in plenty of water and serve on napkin with lemon and parsley.

Canapé of anchovies. Lay split anchovies on thin buttered toast with chopped eggs around the edges. Serve on napkin, with lemon and parsley in branches.

Omelette du Czar. Pour horseradish sauce in cream, around the edge of a plain omelet.

Spring lamb Irish stew. Take four pounds of neck, shoulder and breast of lamb and cut in pieces two inches square. Put in vessel with cold water and salt, and bring to a boil. Drain off and cool the meat, put back in vessel in sufficient water to cover, with a bouquet garni, one dozen small onions, one dozen small carrots, (large carrots may be cut to size of onions), two dozen raw potatoes cut in small oval shapes, and salt. Put on fire and cook till soft, remove bouquet garni, mix one cup of flour with cold water and strain into the boiling stew, stirring at the same time. Boil for five minutes. Before serving add chopped parsley and a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce, if desired.

Cream of Celery Soup. Use celery instead of cauliflower, and prepare the same as cream of cauliflower.

Barracouda sauté, aux fines herbes. Put seasoned fish, well rolled in flour, in pan in hot butter. When done lay fish on platter, and brown a fresh piece of butter in pan. Add the juice of one lemon, and pour over the fish. Serve with chopped parsley, chervil and chives.

Larded Tenderloin of Beef. Trim the tenderloin. Lard with fresh or salt pork cut in two inch strips, one-quarter of an inch square. Lay on in rows three-quarters of an inch apart, starting from the thick end of the tenderloin and continuing its entire length. Put in pan with a sliced onion, sliced carrot, bay leaf, clove, parsley in branches, and some butter on top of the meat. Put in oven and baste continuously for about thirty-five minutes. Remove the grease from the pan, add one cup of stock or water, reduce, salt, pepper and strain. Madeira sauce may be served with same if desired.

Sliced tomatoes, French dressing. Peeled tomatoes garnished with leaves of lettuce, and French dressing over same.

Vanilla custard pie. Six eggs, one quart of milk, one-half pound of sugar, and half of a vanilla bean. Mix the eggs with the sugar, add the milk, and strain. Line a large pie dish with thin pie dough. Fill with the custard and bake in moderate oven until set.

Tea biscuits. Three pounds of flour, one-half pound of butter, one quart of milk, three ounces of baking powder, three ounces of sugar, and a little salt. Sift the sugar, salt and baking powder with the flour; add the butter and milk, and make a dough on the table about one-half inch thick. Cut with a round cutter about the size of a dollar, place in a buttered pan, moisten the top with milk, and bake in a hot oven for about fifteen minutes.

Boiled beef with vegetables. The meat should be juicy, well-flavored and tender. The brisket, cross rib and rump are the best portions. The wide ribs at the end of a rib roast are also very good. Tie the beef with a string and put into boiling water; clear from scum, add salt, and garnish with carrots, onions, turnips, celery, leeks and Savoy cabbage. The cabbage may be tied with a string to prevent disintegration. A good way is to put all the vegetables into a net as they can thus be withdrawn at once. Allow the meat to simmer gently on the side of the range, but do not let it come to a boil. When done cut in slices, not too thin, and garnish with the vegetables neatly arranged around the beef. Serve separately, either cream horseradish sauce, piquante, tomato, or bouillon horseradish sauce. A little of its own broth should be poured over the meat before serving.

Horseradish sauce in cream. Cream sauce with fresh-grated horseradish and salt and pepper.

Horseradish sauce with bouillon. Put two fresh-grated horseradish roots in sauté pan with four ounces of butter. Cover and put in oven for five minutes. Add two grated rolls and return to oven for two minutes more. Then add bouillon enough to form the sauce. The bread will swell and give the necessary body. Add a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper.

Cold horseradish sauce, English style. To two fresh-grated horseradish roots add salt, a teaspoonful of English mustard, a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, and a spoonful of vinegar, mixed well. Then add one pint of stiff-whipped cream.

Bouillon. Broth from boiled beef, strained.

Lyon sausage. An imported sausage. Slice thin and garnish with chopped meat jelly and parsley in branches.

Pompano sauté, meunière. Prepare the same as sand dabs, meunière. Sprinkle with chopped salted almonds over top.

Broiled veal chops. Salt and pepper the chops and dip in olive oil. Broil over slow charcoal broiler. Serve with maître d'hôtel sauce and watercress.

St. Francis potatoes. Peel three cold baked potatoes, chop very fine, put in sauté pan with one-half pint of cream, three ounces of butter, salt and pepper. Simmer for five minutes.

Brazilian salad. Proportions should be one-half Lima beans, one-quarter raw celery, and one-quarter raw green peppers, cut in the form of matches. Pour French dressing over all and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Oysters on half shell. Serve on cracked ice with one-half lemon or lime.

Shirred eggs, plain. Put eggs on buttered shirred egg dish and cook slowly. Salt and pepper.

Potato and leek soup. Simmer in butter one chopped onion and four stalks of leeks cut in small dices. When golden yellow add one tablespoonful of flour, mix, add one pound of potatoes cut in dices one-quarter inch square, one quart of stock or bouillon, and a bouquet garni. Boil until potatoes are done. Season with salt, pepper, a little grated nutmeg and chopped parsley.

Bouquet garni. Tie in a bundle a small piece of celery, of leek, and of parsley in branches, with a bay leaf, two cloves, a sprig of thyme, and, if desired, a clove of garlic, in the center. This is used for flavoring stews, soups, fish, etc.

Broiled halibut, maître d'hôtel. Cut halibut in slices one inch thick. Salt and pepper, dip in olive oil and broil. Serve with maître d'hôtel sauce, quartered lemon and parsley.

Homemade beef stew. Three pounds of rump, hip, or flank beef, cut into squares two inches thick. Season the meat and simmer in sauce pot with two chopped onions and three ounces of butter. When brown add two tablespoonsful of flour and simmer again. Then add hot water enough to cover the meat, and a bouquet garni. Cook for one hour and then add one pound of potatoes cut in squares one inch thick, and leave on fire until potatoes are soft. Take out the bouquet, add one cup of purée of tomatoes and boil for five minutes. Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Consommé with sago. Bring one quart of consommé to a boil and then let one-third of a pound of sago run slowly into it. Cook for ten minutes.

Écrevisses en buisson. To three quarts of boiling water add one sliced onion, one carrot, a bouquet garni, one glassful of vinegar, and salt. Boil for five minutes. Then put in three dozen écrevisses, or crayfish, and boil for ten minutes. Serve on napkin with parsley and lemon, or serve in its broth if desired. For most écrevisses dishes the sauce is made "en buisson" first and then prepared in fancy fashion following.

Leg of veal, au jus. Put leg of veal in pan and treat same as roast veal. Baste often.

Browned mashed potatoes. Put in buttered egg dish some mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, place a little butter on top, and bake in oven.

Peas and carrots in cream. Put in pot one pint of boiled peas, one pint of boiled French carrots, one cup of thick cream, salt and a pinch of sugar. Boil for a few minutes and thicken with a half cup of cream sauce.

Force and cream. Serve raw force on a compote dish, with cream and powdered sugar separate.

Cream of potato soup. Simmer a little sliced onion, leeks, celery, one bay leaf, a clove and a piece of pig skin, or a raw ham bone, in butter. Then add one cup of flour and simmer again. Pour in two quarts of boiling milk and two pounds of sliced raw potatoes and boil until the potatoes are soft. Season with salt and a little Cayenne pepper, and strain through a fine sieve. Before serving add the yolk of one egg mixed with a cup of thick cream, and stir in gradually three ounces of sweet butter.

Radishes. Wash well. The red skin of the turnip-shaped species may be cut back, beginning at the bottom point and extending toward the top, in the form of open leaves, to make them look like open roses, if desired. Serve on cracked ice.

Broiled tenderloin steak. Salt and pepper the steak and dip in olive oil before broiling. Garnish with watercress and serve with maître d'hôtel sauce.

Bordelaise sauce. Simmer four shallots, chopped very fine, in two ounces of butter. When thoroughly warmed through add one-half glass of Bordeaux claret and reduce until nearly dry. Then add one pint of brown gravy and boil for five minutes. Then add one-quarter of a pound of sliced parboiled beef marrow, and a little chopped garlic, if that flavor is desired. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, and before serving stir in slowly two ounces of fresh butter. Serve poured over meats, or separate.

Gendarme potatoes. Peel some small potatoes and cut lengthwise in eight or more pieces. Put in roasting pan with salt, pepper and a piece of butter, and roast in oven for seven minutes. Add a sliced onion, mix well, and again roast, turning often.

Chicken sandwich. Slice boiled or left over roast chicken, very thin. Cut the bread thin and spread with sweet butter. Place the chicken between slices of the bread with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Trim, and cut in shape desired.

Purée of tomato soup, with rice. Add one-half cup of boiled rice to each portion of purée of tomato soup.

Orange juice. Strain the juice of peeled oranges through a napkin, and serve in glass surrounded with fine ice.

Eggs au beurre noir. Use soft-fried or shirred eggs. Put a piece of butter in hot frying pan and when nearly black and smoking add a dash of vinegar, and pour over the eggs. Drop a few capers and chopped parsley on top, and salt and pepper.

Hamburg steak. To one and one-half pounds of trimmed beef, add four ounces of beef marrow, and pass through meat chopper, medium fine. Simmer some chopped onions in butter until nice and brown. Mix the meat and onions with salt, pepper, one raw egg, some chopped parsley, and a dinner roll soaked in water and chopped fine. Form the meat in round steaks one-half inch thick, roll in bread crumbs, and fry in pan in butter for about ten minutes. Remove the steaks carefully. Add a spoonful of flour to gravy in pan, simmer a little, and then add one-half cup of stock or water, pepper and salt, and strain before serving.

Lorraine potatoes. Simmer one chopped onion and one-quarter pound of salt pork cut in small dices, in one ounce of butter, for five minutes. Then add three pounds of potatoes cut in pieces one inch square, one pint of stock or bouillon, salt and pepper, and a bouquet garni. Cook until soft and sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Thousand Island dressing, for salads. Two soupspoonfuls of mayonnaise, one soupspoonful of Chili sauce, one soupspoonful of French dressing, one teaspoonful of chopped pimentos, one-half teaspoonful of chopped olives, salt and pepper, all well mixed. Use a very cold salad bowl.

Cream of chicken. Place a soup hen in a soup kettle with three quarts of water, a leek, carrot, a little parsley and celery, six pepper berries, and two cups of rice. Boil until fowl is soft. Remove and cut away the white meat from the breast and set aside. Chop the remainder of the meat very fine, return to the kettle, and then strain the entire contents through a sieve. To the strained broth add one quart of milk, and strain again. Then add one-half pint of cream and the yolk of one egg, mixed; also a piece of sweet butter the size of an egg. Then add the breast of the fowl cut in small squares.

Shredded wheat biscuits. Put the biscuit in a deep dish. A little boiling water poured over it will enable you to economize on cream.

Philadelphia pepper pot. Simmer in kettle four large onions chopped fine, one piece of celery, two leeks, one green pepper cut in very small squares, and one-quarter pound of butter. When done add two soupspoonsful of flour, and simmer again; add two quarts of stock, two pounds of tripe and one pound of potatoes cut in small squares, a bouquet garni and salt. Cook for two hours. Before serving remove the bouquet garni, add a tablespoonful of fresh-ground pepper, a little chopped parsley and some flour dumplings. Let the flour dumpling dough run through an ordinary sieve into boiling water and boil for just a minute.

Flour dumplings. One cup of flour, two eggs, three-fourths of a cup of milk, salt, and a little nutmeg. Mix well. Pass through colander with holes of about one-third inch in diameter, into boiling salt water. Boil for about three minutes, drain off water, put on platter and pour some brown butter over them.

Brown butter sauce. Put good-sized piece of sweet butter into frying pan and allow to brown. May be served poured over the dish, or in separate sauce bowl.

Hulled corn. May be obtained in cans. Follow directions on same. To hull corn is quite a complicated process, requiring the use of lye, etc.

Canvas-back duck. Same directions as for teal duck. Roast for about eighteen minutes.

Celery mayonnaise. Cut raw celery in strips like matches and wash well, then put in napkin on cracked ice, so it will become crisp. Serve with well-seasoned mayonnaise sauce, either on top or separate, as desired.

Pound cake. One-half pound of butter, one-half pound of sugar, one-half pound of flour, five eggs, a little rum and a teaspoonful of baking powder. Beat the butter with sugar until white, add the eggs one by one, while beating briskly. Mix the flour and the baking powder in together, and last of all add the rum. Put in mould and bake in oven for one hour.

Fruit cake. To the pound cake batter add one-half pound of chopped mixed glacé fruits, and one-half pound of raisins.

Postum cereal. A prepared breakfast food obtainable from all grocers. Follow directions on package.

Oyster soup, family style. Boil two dozen oysters with their juice. In a separate vessel boil one quart of milk and one pint of cream. Put both together and add two ounces of sweet butter, and salt and pepper. Before serving stir in some fine cut chives and one-half cup of broken crackers.

Au gratin potatoes. Fill a shallow buttered dish with hashed in cream potatoes. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, put a little butter on top, and bake in oven until brown.

Cauliflower, Polonaise. Put on a platter some fresh-boiled cauliflower and sprinkle with two finely chopped boiled eggs, salt and pepper and some chopped parsley. In a pan on range put three ounces of sweet butter. When warm add two tablespoonsful of fresh bread crumbs and allow to become well browned. Pour over cauliflower when very hot.

Fried chicken, country style. Put the dressed chicken in salt water and leave for about one hour. Then wash and dry between towels, season with pepper and a small amount of salt, and dredge well with flour. Place in frying pan about three tablespoonsful of lard and two or three slices of fat breakfast bacon. When bacon is brown remove, and strain the lard, being careful that it is not burned. Have the lard very hot and fry the chicken. When brown, and well done, remove the chicken and strain the lard again through a hair sieve, then return lard to range, and stir in thoroughly one tablespoonful of flour, being careful to have no lumps. Immediately before serving stir into the sauce one pint of cream, and let boil for one minute. Dress with the bacon and parsley in branches.

Canapé Regalia. Regalia is a special fish paste obtainable in cans. To one small can add two ounces of butter, mix well, and spread on fresh toast. Garnish with chopped eggs, serve on napkin with lemon in quarters and parsley in branches.

Pickled oysters. Parboil one carrot and one celery root cut in strips, and one onion sliced fine. Pour off water and finish cooking in one glassful each of white wine, and white wine vinegar, with a spoonful of pepper berries tied in cheese cloth. When done remove the peppers, add three dozen oysters and bring to a boil. Serve cold with parsley.

Broiled bluefish. Split the bluefish, remove the bones, season with salt and pepper, dip in oil and broil. Serve maître d'hôtel sauce on top, and quartered lemons and parsley.

Boiled sheepshead, Hollandaise sauce. Same as boiled salmon, Hollandaise.

Maryland corn bread. Beat two eggs until very light, and stir in one pint of sweet milk. Then sift one-half pint of coarse corn meal, add a teaspoonful of yeast powder, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a tablespoonful of melted lard or butter. Stir this into the milk and eggs. Mixture must be a thin batter. Bake in small bread pan or muffin rings.

Chicken, Diva. Prepare the chicken as for roast and stuff with rice stuffing. Put chicken in kettle and cover with stock or water. When done prepare a suprême sauce with the stock, pour over the chicken, and sprinkle with chopped Virginia ham. Carve at table.

Rice stuffing. Simmer a small chopped onion in butter, add one cup of washed rice, three cups of stock or bouillon, season, and cook in oven for twenty minutes. Then add two truffles cut in small squares. This stuffing is used for poultry, game, peppers, tomatoes, etc.

Suprême sauce. Melt three ounces of butter, add two ounces of flour, and simmer, but do not allow to brown. Add one and one-half pint of chicken stock, reduce for ten minutes, thicken with the yolk of one egg, a cup of cream and a small piece of sweet butter. Season with salt and a little Cayenne pepper. This sauce may be used with many entrée dishes.