Milk should also be used a great deal more than it is by grown persons, not only as a drink but in the daily cookery. In some homes milk in some form is a part of every menu and the meals are more delicious, attractive and nourishing than the ordinary milkless diet, and are also less expensive, as the milk takes the place of part of the meat. Dr. Graham Tusk of Cornell University, who represented the United States on the Interallied Council of Alimentation, says:
“No family of five should spend any money for meat until three quarts of milk have been purchased, and this should be done even though the price of milk should go to twenty cents a quart. Absolutely nothing in the food line will keep children so healthy as their daily supply of milk.”
In cooking with milk it is well to remember:
1. That, although milk is a liquid, it contains a large amount of solid food and of exceedingly nourishing, palatable and easily digestible food, much more than many vegetables or fruits. While milk has 13% of solid matter, water-melon has only 2%, turnips 4%, beets 12%, etc. When substituting milk for water, you add nourishment to the food and it is well to keep in mind the ingredients,—the amount of protein, fat, etc., added in the form of milk, which may take the place of other similar ingredients in the combination.
2. That if milk is even but slightly sour, or if some other acid is added to it,—in the form of fruit, for instance,—it is apt to curdle by scalding or boiling.
The limits of a single chapter do not allow many recipes to be given, but a few are furnished under each of the several kinds of milk dishes, and a clever domestic science pupil or the ordinary good housekeeper and cook can easily add to these recipes indefinitely, by following out the simple suggestions offered.
All measurements are level.
Cream Soups.—So-called cream soups may be made with or without the addition of meat stock. For example:
Reserve tips of asparagus. Add stalks to cold stock, boil fifteen minutes, rub through sieve, thicken with butter and flour cooked together, add milk, tips, salt and pepper. If fresh asparagus is used, cut one bunch in small pieces, boil in as little water as will cover, remove tough bits of stalk, add two cups stock and proceed as above.
Boil celery in broth till tender. Rub through sieve, add milk, bring to the boiling point and add egg yolks beaten and diluted with cream.
Wash the spinach and cook thirty minutes in boiling water to which ⅛ teaspoon soda has been added. Drain and chop fine. Add stock and butter and flour cooked together, milk and seasoning.
Cauliflower, mushrooms, lettuce, string beans, onions and other vegetables may be used for soups in the same way. In all of these recipes milk may be substituted for the stock. The soups will be more nourishing, many like them better, and they are more easily prepared.
If canned vegetables are used they may be added to the thickened milk, which should be made in the proportions of one quart of milk to two tablespoons butter or substitute and two tablespoons flour. One can of beans, peas, asparagus, or corn, may be added to three pints of thickened milk.
If fresh vegetables are used, they should be boiled in as little water as possible and this water added with the vegetables to the hot, thickened milk. The addition of one-half to one cup of cream to these soups improves their taste but is not necessary. If the cream is whipped and added just before serving, the appearance is also much improved. The vegetables may be pressed through a sieve or not, as preferred. If the soup is to be served in cups it is better to do this or chop the vegetables very fine, but if the soup is to be served in soup plates it looks attractive and is more substantial if the vegetables are cut in inch pieces and left in the soup.
All cooks are familiar with cornlet soup, tomato bisque, and oyster and clam stews, the foundation of which is also milk. Plenty of good recipes for them can be found in any standard cook book.
Cereal Cream Soups.—There is another class of soups used much in Europe but, unfortunately, little known here. They are very nourishing, easy of preparation, and delicious.
A few recipes will suffice to introduce the housewife to this class of soups and she can then easily add to the varieties herself. Her family will enjoy the new dishes for their good taste and their novelty. Croutons, crackers, zwieback, or toast may be served with any of them. They should always be prepared in a double boiler.
Heat the milk in a double boiler, add the rice and cook two hours. Add sugar and butter. Sprinkle cinnamon on each plate of soup when serving.
Heat the milk in a double boiler, add sago and cook one-half hour. Care must be taken to stir the mixture often when the sago is first added or it will lump. Add butter and egg yolk beaten with sugar.
Add oat flakes to water and boil one-half hour. Add milk and boil one-half hour, add sugar and butter.
Scald milk and add cereal slowly. Cook one hour and add butter and sugar and a sprinkling of nutmeg.
Chowders are also a very acceptable way of serving milk. For rich chowders the proportions used are: Two cups of milk or of milk and water, 1 cup of potatoes cut into small pieces and 1 pound of fish. For flavoring add an onion fried in two tablespoons of fat tried out from salt pork. While these proportions make a rich dish, it is possible to reduce the amount of fish greatly, to leave it out entirely, to use small portions of left-over fish or some salt codfish which has been freshened, or to substitute corn for it. Such dishes are palatable and of reasonably high nutritive value, providing the greater part of the liquid used is milk.
Similar, but less rich and thick, is:
Soak the fish in lukewarm water until it is soft and the salt removed. Cook the potatoes in water until tender, drain them, add the milk and codfish, and bring to the boiling point; add the butter and salt to taste.
In place of the codfish, fresh fish, clams, oysters, or a little chipped beef may be used. Or the fish may be omitted and the soup made savory and palatable by adding a few drops of onion juice, or cheese or a vegetable cut into small pieces and cooked thoroughly.
Most cereals are better cooked in milk than in water and those not familiar with this method have no idea of the many good dishes which they can thus easily provide for their families. Cereals so prepared make an especially good wholesome breakfast or supper for school children and the writer has never seen an adult, who, on a cold night, did not enjoy a dish of rice, or corn meal, boiled in milk and served with cream and sugar for supper. Milk cereals must always be cooked in a double boiler and the milk must be hot when the cereal is added.
| Rice | 1 cup to 3 cups milk, boil 2 hours |
| Cornmeal | 1 cup to 4 cups milk, boil 1 to 2 hours |
| Fine Hominy | 1 cup to 4 cups milk, boil 1 hour |
| Cream of Wheat | 1 cup to 4 cups milk, boil 1 hour |
| Farina | 1 cup to 4 cups milk, boil 1 hour |
Cream of Wheat or Farina Pudding is also delicious. It is prepared in the same way, but ¾ cup of cereal only is added to 1 quart hot milk. Just before serving, a teaspoonful of vanilla is added, and two beaten eggs are folded in. It is eaten with cream, or milk, and sugar, or with maple syrup.
Dishes prepared principally of milk, with the addition of either eggs, cheese, meat, or vegetables are particularly adapted for luncheon or supper use. Here again a few standard recipes are given which can be varied to make any desired number of good, wholesome and delicious dishes.
Creamed Dishes.—The same sauce may be used to cream cold chicken, lamb, veal, chipped beef, and cold boiled or baked fish, canned salmon, lobster or shrimps, according to the following recipe:
Melt butter and add the flour and milk. Bring to the boiling point and add diced chicken. Season with salt and pepper.
Many grate a small onion into the sauce before adding the chicken. The writer does not favor indiscriminate use of onion as it tends to make all dishes taste alike. It seems better to use sometimes a little celery or celery salt, sometimes an onion, and again frequently no flavor but the chicken or meat or fish. One’s cooking is thus more distinctive and varied.
If the creamed mixture is turned into a baking dish, covered with buttered bread or cracker crumbs and browned in the oven, the result is even more pleasing.
Such a sauce flavored with cheese makes a good and very nutritious gravy to pour over cauliflower and cabbage or to serve with boiled rice or hominy or poured over toast.
In creaming vegetables the proportion is usually 1 cup of sauce to 2 cups of vegetables. Potatoes, asparagus, cauliflower, boiled onions, beans, and carrots, beets or peas are all delicious served in this way.
Cream asparagus. Arrange in a baking dish, alternate layers of the asparagus and slices of hard boiled eggs. Cover with buttered crumbs and bake till crumbs are a delicate brown.
Souffles.—Souffles are always delightful, and while many consider them difficult to make they are really very simple and if made correctly are always to be depended upon. They should, however, be eaten at once when baked.
Salmon, chicken, lamb, veal, ham and cheese, and also many vegetables such as asparagus, cauliflower and peas may be prepared in this way. Elaborate recipes are often given, but the following is entirely sufficient and always satisfactory:
To the meat or vegetables add white sauce (2 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons flour to 1 cup milk) and beaten yolks. Cool and add whites beaten stiff. Bake 30 minutes in moderate oven. This makes a dish large enough to serve four or five persons.
A similar dish, Cheese Fondu, is also good, and can stand longer than a souffle before serving.
Bake in a hot oven for twenty minutes.
Variations of this dish are made by substituting one cup minced ham for one cup of the cheese, or by using two cups of ham and omitting the cheese altogether.
A very good way to serve milk toast is to toast bread thoroughly and to pour hot milk over it at the time of serving. In serving milk toast in this way all the dishes should be kept very hot. A heavy earthenware pitcher may be used for serving the hot milk, as it retains heat for a long time.
Eggs are much better poached in milk than in water. If served on toast the hot milk may be poured on the egg if a soft toast is desired. If not, dip the eggs out of the milk with a perforated spoon and lay on the toast in the usual way, adding salt and butter.
Meat is wholesome and relished by most persons, yet it is not essential to a well-balanced meal, and there are many housekeepers who, for one reason or another, are interested in lessening the amount of meat which they provide or to substitute some other foods for it.
Cheese naturally suggests itself as a substitute for meat, since it is rich in the same kinds of nutrients which meat supplies, is a staple food with which everyone is familiar, and is one which can be used in a great variety of ways. In substituting cheese for meat, pains should be taken to serve dishes which are relished by members of the family. A number of recipes for dishes which are made with cheese follow:
Scald milk, onion, mace and pepper pod. Melt butter in saucepan, blend flour with melted butter. Strain milk and seasonings and add gradually to flour mixture, stirring all the time. Return to double boiler to cook. When creamy, add the cheese, salt and pepper, stirring until cheese is melted. Then pour over well-beaten egg yolks, stirring all the time. Whip until frothing and serve.
Arrange creamed potatoes and grated cheese in alternate layers. Cover with buttered crumbs and bake till crumbs are brown.
Split hot baked potatoes lengthwise and remove contents without injuring skin of potato. Put potato through ricer or mash, add salt and pepper to taste and enough hot milk to make of proper consistency. Beat until light, refill the skin, piling up lightly. Sprinkle thickly with grated cheese and reheat in oven until cheese is melted and a delicate brown.
Break macaroni into one-inch pieces. Cook in boiling water until tender. (If macaroni is put in a wire basket in kettle, it will not stick to the kettle.) Drain and run cold water through it.
Make sauce:
Add cheese and macaroni. Cover with crumbs and bake until crumbs are brown.
Add rice to boiling water. When tender drain, cover bottom of buttered baking dish, sprinkle with grated cheese and a little paprika. Add alternate layers of rice and cheese until dish is full. Add milk nearly to fill dish. Cover with crumbs and bake until milk is absorbed and crumbs are brown.
Mix milk, bread crumbs, cheese, melted butter and salt. Add yolks of eggs beaten until lemon colored. Cut and fold in whites of eggs beaten until stiff. Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and mix well; add scalded milk gradually and seasonings; cook two minutes. Remove pan to back of stove and add cheese and well-beaten yolks of eggs. Set pan where mixture will cool. When cold, add the whites of eggs beaten until stiff and dry. Turn into a buttered baking dish and bake twenty minutes in a slow oven. Serve the moment it comes from the oven.
Scald milk in double boiler and add bread crumbs to it. Then add grated cheese, melted butter and seasonings. Cook in double boiler until cheese is melted; add the slightly-beaten egg gradually. Cook five minutes and serve on dry toast.
Beat yolks of eggs thoroughly; add salt, pepper and hot water. Beat whites till stiff and dry; add cheese and fold into first mixture. Melt butter in pan, turn in mixture and cook slowly. When well raised and a delicate brown underneath, place pan in hot oven to cook top. Fold and turn on hot platter.
Make as above, omitting cheese. Make two cups of hot, white sauce; add 1 cup grated cheese, melt and pour around the omelette.
Break the eggs into a buttered baking dish and cook in hot oven until they begin to turn white around the edges. Then cover eggs with the white sauce and over this put the mixture of crumbs, cheese and seasonings. Brown in very hot oven, so eggs will not be overcooked by time cheese is brown. If preferred, or for variety, the cheese may be added to the white sauce and only the seasoned crumbs put on the top.
Mash beans or put them through a meat grinder. Add the cheese and sufficient bread crumbs to make the mixture stiff enough to be formed into a roll. Place in buttered baking pan and bake in moderate oven. Baste frequently with one-half cup hot water, in which one tablespoon butter is melted. Serve the roast with tomato sauce. If desired, a few drops of onion juice or a little finely chopped onion may be added to flavor this dish.
Remove the heart from a small cabbage, cut or chop the remainder into half inch pieces, boil in salted water exactly twenty minutes and drain. For one pint of this cooked cabbage make a sauce of:
When thoroughly blended add the cabbage; cover with buttered crumbs and bake twenty minutes. The result is a good dish for supper or luncheon and it is well named.
Stuff canned pimentos with cream cheese, cut into slices, place on lettuce leaves and serve with mayonnaise dressing.
Select celery stalks with deep grooves in them; wash and dry on clean towel. Mix a small cream cheese with a bit of salt, and ¼ cup finely chopped nuts (pecans are best). Fill grooves in celery stalk with the cheese mixture and chill. When ready to serve cut stalks into small pieces with sharp knife. Serve on lettuce leaves with French dressing.
For a pleasant addition to fruit salad, fill tender celery stalks with roquefort cheese, and lay one or two on each plate of salad.
Remove top and seeds from a sweet green pepper. Scald it with boiling water, letting it stand in water about ten minutes. Mix soft cream cheese with chopped nuts, or with tiny cubes of cooked beets and fill pepper with this mixture; chill well, cut in thin slices with sharp knife and serve on bed of head lettuce with French dressing.
Apples can also be used (with cheese and nuts) by removing core without breaking the apple.
All that has been said of cheese as a valuable food and as a substitute for meat, applies equally to cottage cheese and it is so easily prepared, inexpensive and generally relished that it should be used much more freely than it is.
The following recipes are only a few of the many that might be given, but the careful cook should evolve other combinations equally attractive.
Unit, 1 gallon. For lesser amounts, measurements to be divided accordingly.
Take 1 gallon of sweet skim milk; add ¾ cup of clean, sour milk and stir as it is put in. Raise the temperature in hot water to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, using a dairy thermometer. Remove from heat and place where it is to remain until set. Add ⅛ of a junket tablet thoroughly dissolved in a tablespoon of cold water; stir while adding. Cover with cloth and leave for 12 to 16 hours in even temperature, about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. At end of this period there should be a slight whey on the top and when poured out the curd should cleave sharply. Drain through cotton cloth, not cheese-cloth. When whey has been drained out, work in 1 or 2 teaspoons of salt to the cheese, according to taste; 1½ to 2 pounds of cheese should be obtained from a gallon of milk.
For table use it is advisable to work in 1 or 2 tablespoons of cream to the pound. For use in cooking, this is not necessary.
One may also make cottage cheese of freshly soured milk by simply heating it in a double boiler till whey forms, letting it stand an hour and then turning it into a cheese-cloth bag to drain. To the dry curd formed add sweet or sour cream and salt to taste. When made in this way care must be taken that the milk is freshly soured—if it is old it will have a bitter taste and the cheese will not be good.
Thin slices of rye, brown or white bread, buttered, with fillings of cottage cheese in combination with jelly, marmalade, pimentoes, lettuce or mayonnaise are all good.
Toast slices of bread, cut diamond shape and spread with butter and cottage cheese or cottage cheese alone and put together with any one of the following combinations:
Tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise dressing.
Thin slices of ham spread with mustard and lettuce.
Sliced, tart apple, chopped nuts and drops of French dressing.
Sliced orange and mayonnaise.
Sliced Spanish onion, a hot fried egg sprinkled with Worcestershire sauce.
Thin slices of tomato, bacon, chicken, lettuce and mayonnaise dressing.
Mix in order given. A chopped hard boiled egg improves it.
A similar salad dressing, although containing no cottage cheese, may be given here also.
Mix in order given.
Either of these is particularly good with green vegetables.
For a fruit salad the eggs should be omitted and double the amount of sugar used.
Lettuce, sliced cucumber or green, sweet peppers, cottage cheese formed in small balls or slices, mayonnaise or French dressing.
Mix the ingredients in the order given. Bake the pie in one crust. Cool it slightly and cover it with meringue made by adding 2 tablespoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon of vanilla to the beaten white of 2 eggs and brown it in a slow oven.
Serve on individual plates ½ cup cottage cheese to which has been added 2 tablespoonfuls whipped cream (sweet or sour). Over this pour ½ cup currant jam.
Pass saltines or other dry, unsweetened crackers.
Dissolve yeast in water, melt butter, combine all ingredients except flour. Add 3 cups flour gradually, beating vigorously. Let rise till light; cut down and knead in 2½ cups flour. Cover and allow to rise until three times original bulk. Roll ½ inch thick. Cut, spread half with butter and fold over. Put in buttered tins to rise, placing 1 inch apart. Bake when light in a hot oven 15 to 20 minutes.
Beat eggs thoroughly. Add gradually, while beating, the milk and flour, to which salt has been added. Add butter and beat two minutes with Dover egg beater. Put a half teaspoon of butter in hissing hot iron gem pans. Fill half with batter and bake thirty minutes in a hot oven. Serve immediately.
Mix and sift all the dry ingredients. Add molasses to the milk and combine this gradually with the dry materials. Add the nuts. Half fill baking powder cans, with oiled cover, and let stand one-half hour. Bake three-quarters of an hour in moderate oven.
Sift dry ingredients together, cut in butter with knife, add milk to make a stiff dough. Roll out thin and bake in hot oven. Serve with honey or maple syrup.
Sift flour and spices, salt and soda together. Mix other ingredients in the order given and combine mixtures. Bake in moderate oven 30 minutes.
Beat egg thoroughly, add sour milk, flour and salt. Dissolve soda in ½ tablespoon cold water. Add to mixture. Beat thoroughly. Cook on oiled, hot waffle iron and serve hot with maple syrup.
Mix and sift dry ingredients, add milk, beaten yolks, butter and egg whites beaten stiff.
Mix in order given.
Mix in order given.
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Mix the sour milk and molasses. Stir in dry ingredients, beating thoroughly. Turn into well buttered pound baking powder cans. Cover tightly and steam three hours. Take from can and slice, ½ cup raisins or nuts can be added to the dough mixture, if desired.
For desserts the number of custards, creams and puddings made with milk is legion, and they are so well known and can be so easily varied that only a few stock recipes need be given.
Beat eggs slightly, add sugar and salt; stir constantly while adding gradually hot milk. Cook in double boiler, continue stirring until mixture thickens and a coating is formed on the spoon; strain immediately, chill and flavor. If cooked too long the custard will curdle. Should this happen, by using a Dover egg beater it may be restored to a smooth consistency, but custard will not be as thick. Eggs should be beaten slightly for custard that it may be of smooth, thick consistency. To prevent scum from forming, cover with a perforated tin or sprinkle with granulated sugar when cooling.