Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1879 — ARTISTIC COOKING. [ARTICLE]

ARTISTIC COOKING.

[From the Phiadelphi* Time*.] At Association Miss Dods appeared as usual among her pots and pans and gas stoves, dressed in black alpaca, and white pinafore and white cuffs. She prepared and cooked several dishes, explaining the processes as she worked, talking very slowly, giving ample time for her listeners to make full notes; while some of her dishes were cooking she took up another, goiug.back and finishing the first when the proper time came. In this way she utilized all the time and prevented unpleasant waits. One of her dishes was beef olives, requiring one pound of steak from the round, a little pepper and salt, one-half ounce clarified fat, one-half pint cold water, one desert-spoonful Worcester sauce, one desert-spoonful mushroom catchup, one-half ounce flour "one desertspoonful chopped parsley, three tablespoonfuls bread-crumbs and one egg. While preparing this she said: I first melt in a small saucepan the clarified fat, and then put in a small basin three table-spoonfuls of bread-crumbs, pepper and salt. I next chop the parsley very fine and mix it with the bread crumbs, pepper and salt it in the basin; then I drop into this an egg and mix it well in with the ingredients in the basin. I cut the steak into small, long pieces. Into each of these pieces I roll a little of the stuffing and tie around them a piece of string. When the fat in the pan is very hot I brown the roll of meat on all sides. When they are browned I pour away the fat. A steak or olive browns better with the lid of the pan off. When the olives are done I remove the strings and pour over the sauce, which I will show you how I make: In a small basin I put a half-ounce of flour, and make smooth with a very little cold water. When it is quite smooth I add the catchup, the Worcester sauce, and a few drops of browning, the latter to give it a nice color. I then add the rest of the halfpint of water and mix well. The olives have now browned nicely. I pour oft the fat and pour on the gravy, cold, I stir this on the fire until it boils, and then let it cook slowly for an hour and a half. In using mushroom catchup be careful not to use too much salt.

mock-tubtle soup. For mock-turtle soup I require one calf’s head, five ounces of flour, five quarts of cold water, one teaspoonful of mixed spice, two onions, one gill of sherry, plenty of pepper and salt, five ounces of butter, one table-spoonful of mushroom catchup or Worcestershire sauce, two raw eggs and one sliced lemon. Soak the head in plenty of water for one hour. Then put it on the fire in five quarts of cold water. When it boils, skim it very carefully, and then let it boil until the tongue will come out and the meat will slip from the bones. Take out the tongue and the meat from the cheeks, put the rest back, and, adding the onions, let it boil four hours. Add a table-spoonful of mixed spice, strain and let it get cold, and then remove from the top of the stock all the fat. Melt in a large, clean saucepan five ounces of butter, stir in five ounces of flour, and add the stock, into which you have already thrown the tongue and meat from the cheeks, cut into small squares. Then take the rest of the meat from the other parts of the head and add to it two raw eggs, plenty of pepper and salt, mix well together and roll the mixture in small balls, using a little dry flour for the purpose. Place the balls on a slightly greased plate, and stand them in the oven three minutes to make them firm. Then put in a tureen a very-thinly-sliced lemon, one gill of sherry, one table-spoonful of catchup or Worcestershire sauce, and the small balls, and over these pour the soup after it has boiled ten minutes, having added a few drops of browning to the soup at the last minute. The soup should stand in the tureen five minutes before it is served, so that the center of the small balls may be thoroughly heated. CHICKEN SALAD (MAYONCAISE SAUCE). To make Mayoncaise sauce I require the yelks of two eggs, one gill of salad oil and a little pepper and salt. First see that your bowl and spoon are quite dry. Drop into the bowl the yelks of two eggs, and add, drop by drop, a gill of salad oil, beating the eggs all the time. When the yelks and oil are thoroughly mixed and perfectly smooth, add a teaspoonful of vinegar, a little at a time, and a little pepper and salt. To make chicken salad, bcil the fowl until it is tender, remove all the bone and skin, and cut the meat into rough pieces, not too small. Sprinkle over all a little pepper and salt. Take one-third of a head of celery, cut it into very thin slices and mix it well with the chicken, and sprinkle over it half a table-spoonful of vinegar. Then place it on a plate and pour over it the Mayoncaise sauce. Then sprinkle over it a table-spoonful of capers. Arrange around this the very delicate leaves of a head of lettuce, and arrange around the plate, inside of the lettuce and on the salad, a few gerkins. Garnish the center with the green tips of the celery. RICE CROQUETTES. I require for rice croquettes one-half pound of Carolina rice, two eggs, two ounces of sugar, one quart of milk, one teaspoonful essence of vanilla, and two or three table-spoonfuls of bread crumb. First put the rice and milk together and boil twenty minutes; then turn the rice into a large basin or bowl, add the yelks of two eggs, one ounce of sugar and a teaspoonful of essence of vanilla. Beat this well together and put aside for one hour to get cold; at the end of an hour, to finish the croquettes, first flour the board slightly and roll the mixture into small balls, taking about a table-spoonful at a time. Don’t let the flour get inside the croquettes, as it will make them break in cooking; then beat up well the whites of the two eggs and roll well in this the croquettes, seeing that they are thoroughly covered. Roll in the bread crumbs, shaking all except enough to cover them, and fry for two minutes in clarified fat.