Part 39

The oven should be of moderate heat; not so hot as for pastry, but by no means slack. If the loaves are small, they may be done in fifty minutes, but an hour is the usual time. Sometimes a little longer may be necessary, so much depends on the temperature of the oven and the size of the loaves. Only experience can teach the learner. Tap the loaf all round, and if the sound is sharp and clear, the loaf is done; but if it be dull and thick, put it back for a few minutes.

If the bread smells sour, when baking, the oven is not hot enough; it should have a sweet wholesome smell.

When the loaves are out of the oven, they should remain in a warm airy kitchen for five or six hours, till they are quite cool, before being put into the bread pan.

=Unfermented Brown Bread.=--One cupful of rye meal, two cupfuls of corn meal, one cupful of white flour, half a teacupful of molasses, or sugar, and a teaspoonful of salt. Stir all these thoroughly together, and mix with about half a pint of sour milk; in which a level teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda has been dissolved. Stir the batter as stiff as it can be worked with a spoon, and bake in a well-greased pan. Sweet milk and baking powder may be used instead of buttermilk and soda. (Commoner.)

=Vegetable au Gratin.=--Cook separately in salted water, shredded cabbage, green peas, asparagus, etc. Drain, season to taste, and arrange in alternate layers in a buttered baking dish, season each layer with bits of butter and grated cheese. Cover with buttered crumbs, and bake for about an hour.

=Vegetable Curry= (1).--Mix one cupful each, of cooked carrots and turnips cut into dice, half a can of peas, one cupful of cooked Lima or kidney beans, reheat in brown sauce, season with minced onion, curry powder, a pinch of sugar and a little vinegar. Add a cupful and a half of cooked potatoes, cut into dice, simmer for twenty minutes and serve in a border of boiled rice.

(2) Chop an onion finely, and peel and slice a sour apple. Cook for two minutes in butter, then add a pint each of carrot, turnips, celery cut finely, a heaped tablespoonful of curry powder, and a sauce made of two tablespoonfuls of flour, cooked in butter; mix with a pint of milk, and cook until thick. Simmer for an hour and serve in a border of rice.

=Vegetable Galantine.=--Slice finely two carrots, one small turnip, one medium-sized onion, and stew in just sufficient stock until tender. Then add half a pint of cooked green peas, two ounces of fine bread-crumbs, some pepper and salt, a pinch of cayenne, and a little ketchup or Gaffer sauce. Mix three ounces of semolina with a little milk, and when cooked add this, and mix well and press on to a dish in a shape, leaving a hole in the centre. Leave it to cool, then improve the shape, brush over with a glaze made from a teaspoonful of liquid aspic jelly, add two teaspoonfuls of Gaffer sauce to darken it. Garnish with cold aspic, or the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, rubbed through a sieve, and the white chopped up with some parsley. Serve with lettuce and salad dressing.--Sidney Beard’s Guide Book, “Order of the Golden Age.”

=Vegetable Hash.=--Chop coarsely, cold cooked cabbage, parsnips and potatoes, and fry in butter, then moisten with hot water, and cook covered for five or ten minutes. Add salt and pepper.

=Very Light Buns.=--Take a quarter of a peck of the finest flour, rub lightly into it three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter till it is like grated bread, a little more than half a pound of sugar, half a nutmeg grated, a small quantity of ground ginger, three yolks of eggs, and the whites beaten separately. Add to the eggs half a pint of thick ale yeast, a little brandy, or red wine. Make a hole in the flour, pour in the yeast and eggs, and as much warm milk as will make it into a light dough. Set it before the fire to rise for half an hour. Grease some patty-pans, fill with the mixture; brush over the top of each wig with beaten egg. Put them into a quick oven for about thirty minutes.

=Walnut Croquettes.=--Take one pound of cold mashed potatoes, three-quarters of a pound of cold carrots, half a pound of cold mashed haricots, half a pound of ground walnuts, some chopped parsley, one egg, pepper and salt if liked. Mix potatoes, haricots, and carrots well; add one or two tablespoonfuls of water or good vegetable stock. Then add ground nuts and parsley. Bind with egg, form into croquettes, and fry in nutter (the mixture holds together pretty well without the egg). This recipe is very good for using up any cold vegetables in order to make a savoury breakfast or dinner the following day.--Nu-Era Recipes.

CHEESE DISHES.

=Cheese and Oatmeal.=--Two cupfuls of oatmeal, one cupful of grated cheese, one tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of salt, and pepper. Cook the oatmeal as usual; shortly before serving stir in the butter, and add the cheese, and stir until the cheese is melted and thoroughly blended with the cereal. The cheese should be mild in flavour and soft in texture. The proportion of cheese used may be increased if a more pronounced flavour is desired.

=Cheese Balls.=--One and a half cupfuls of grated cheese, one tablespoonful of flour, the whites of three eggs, salt, and pepper, and cracker dust. Beat the whites of the eggs and the other ingredients. Make into balls and roll in cracker dust. If the amount of flour is doubled the mixture may be dropped from a spoon, and fried without being rolled in crumbs.

=Cheese Croquettes.=--Three tablespoonfuls of butter, half a cupful of flour, two cupfuls of milk, the yolks of two eggs, one cupful of grated cheese, and salt and pepper. Make some white sauce, using the flour, butter and milk; add the unbeaten yolks, and stir until well mixed, then add the grated cheese. As soon as the cheese melts remove from the fire, fold in pieces of cheese, and add seasoning. Spread in a shallow pan and cool. Cut into squares or strips, cover with an egg and crumb mixture, and fry in deep butter.

=Gnocchi Alla Romana.=--Mix in a saucepan five eggs with three tablespoonfuls of flour, the rind of a lemon and two ounces of Parmesan cheese; and by degrees one pint of milk. Season with salt, and place the saucepan on the fire. Mix until the paste is cooked, then spread the paste on a dish which has been rubbed with butter. Let it cool, and then cut it into small squares. Boil them up in a French fireproof dish; spread a little butter and grated Parmesan cheese between each layer. Place in the oven for ten minutes and serve in the same dish.--Mrs. ROSS, Leaves from a Tuscan Kitchen.

=Another Gnocchi.=--Melt a quarter of a cupful of butter, add a quarter of a cupful each of flour and corn-starch, a pinch of salt, two cupfuls of boiling milk. Cook until smooth and thick. Take from the fire. Add the yolks of two eggs and half a cupful of grated cheese. Pour into a buttered shallow pan. Cool, cut in strips, roll in grated cheese, and brown in the oven.

CAKES AND PUDDINGS WITHOUT EGGS.

=Apple Fruit Cake.=--Take one cupful of sugar, half a cup of shortening, half a cup of raisins and dates, half a teaspoonful of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoonful of cloves, half a nutmeg, one and three quarter cups of flour, one cup of apple sauce, with one tablespoonful of nutter. Stir in the sauce the last thing and bake.

=Another Cake.=--Take one cupful of sugar, one cupful of milk, two cupfuls of flour, five tablespoonfuls of nutter or butter, one heaped teaspoonful of baking powder; sift into the flour, and one tablespoonful of boiling water. Flavour to taste with sultanas, caraway seeds or currants, and bake about three-quarters of an hour.

=Baked Bananas.=--Peel and quarter four bananas, and put into a buttered baking dish with eight tablespoonfuls of water, four tablespoonfuls of sugar, four teaspoonfuls each of melted butter and lemon juice, and a sprinkling of salt. Bake slowly for half an hour or less, basting frequently. The lemon juice may be omitted.

Another Recipe.--Remove half the peel from each banana, cover and bake half an hour, open side up. Remove the rest of the skin and serve with melted butter, to which a little hot cream may be added, or serve in the skins.

=Escalloped Bananas.=--Peel and slice the bananas, and put into a buttered baking dish in layers. Season each layer with salt, pepper, butter, and a little nutmeg. Cover with buttered crumbs, moisten with cream and bake, covered for half an hour, then uncover and brown.

=Chestnut Cream Sandwiches.=--Peel, boil, drain, and mash some large French chestnuts; rub them through a sieve and mix thoroughly with sweet cream, and a touch of salt or sugar, as is liked, and spread the paste on thin slices of fresh white bread, freed from crust and cut in round disks; then cover with another round. Use a biscuit cutter for shaping after the slices are cut.

=Curd Cheese.=--Take two pints of new milk, curdle it either by slow heat, or by rennet, lemon juice, fig juice, or bruised nettles. Turn the curd into a cheesecloth or butter muslin (coarse canvas will do) previously scalded, tie loosely and hang up to drain. After three or four hours tie again tighter. In twelve hours it is fit to eat, but if preferred it can be pressed and turned every day till as firm as ordinary cheese.--Mrs. C. W. EARLE’S Recipe.

=Curried Corn= (Green).--(1) Open a tin of green corn, and drain off the liquid, and stand aside. Fry two large onions cut in rings in a pan with two ounces of butter. When nicely browned, add a dessertspoonful of curry powder and a pinch of salt. Fry, stirring all the time, for five minutes; then sprinkle in a dessertspoonful of flour, and fry for another five minutes. Great care must be taken not to burn the contents of the pan; add the corn, coarsely chopped, and the juice of a large lemon, and cook for ten minutes longer. Serve with boiled rice, heaped around the dish, or separately, as liked.

=Dood Park (Indian).=--Rice, milk, sultanas, blanched almonds, cinnamon. Cook the rice in a saucepan with the milk to the consistency of thin porridge, add the sultanas (previously soaked for some hours) and almonds (chopped finely) and pieces of cinnamon ten minutes before serving.

=Doughnuts without Eggs.=--Take one and a quarter cups of sugar, one cup of sour milk, one teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, two teaspoonfuls of melted butter, a quarter of a teaspoonful of ginger, nutmeg to taste, and flour to make as soft as can be handled. Don’t make them too stiff; fry in boiling nutter in a frying basket, and dip each one in a basin of boiling water which you can keep boiling on a stove conveniently near. Prepare to dip it quickly just as soon as it is lifted from the hot nutter. It will not scale, and will keep moist much longer.