A Little Cook Book for a Little Girl6 whole cloves.
Wipe the meat and cut off all the bone. Put the bone in a clean kettle first, and then the meat on top, and pour in the water; cover, and let this stand on the back of the stove an hour, then draw it forward and let it cook. This will bring sc.u.m on the water in half an hour, and you must carefully pour in a cup of cold water and skim off everything which rises to the top.
Cover the kettle tightly, and cook very slowly indeed for four hours; then put in the cut up vegetables and cook one hour more, always just simmering, not boiling hard. Then it is done, and you can put in the salt, and strain the soup first through a heavy wire sieve, and then through a flannel bag, and set it away to get cold, and you will have a strong, clear, delicious stock, which you can put many things in to have variety.
Clear Vegetable Soup
Slice one carrot, turnip, and one potato, and cut them either into small, even strips, or into tiny cubes, or take a vegetable cutter and cut out fancy shapes. Simmer them about twenty minutes.
Meanwhile, take a pint of soup stock and a cup of water and heat them. Sprinkle a little salt over the vegetables and drain them; put them in the soup-tureen and pour the hot soup over.
Split Pea Soup
1 pint split peas.
1 1/2 quarts of boiling water.
1 quart of soup stock.
1 small teaspoonful of salt.
3 shakes of pepper.
Wash the peas in cold water and throw away those which float, as they are bad. Soak them overnight, and in the morning pour away the water on them and cover them with a quart of the boiling water in the rule, and cook an hour and a half. Put in the rest of the water and the stock, and press the whole through a sieve, and, after washing and wiping the kettle, put the soup back to heat, adding the salt and pepper.
Tomato Soup
1 can tomatoes, or 1 quart of fresh stewed ones.
1 pint of stock. (You can use water instead in this soup, if necessary.) 1/4 teaspoonful soda.
1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.
2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
1 teaspoonful of sugar.
1 small onion, cut up.
1 sprig of parsley.
1 bay-leaf.
1 small teaspoonful of salt.
3 shakes of pepper.
Put the tomatoes into a saucepan with the parsley, onion, bay-leaf, and stock, or water, and cook fifteen minutes, and then strain through a sieve. Wash the saucepan and put the tomatoes back in it, and put on to boil again; melt the b.u.t.ter, rub smooth with the flour, and put into the soup while it boils, and stir till it is perfectly smooth. Then add the sugar, salt, and pepper and soda, and strain into the hot tureen. Serve croutons with this soup.
Soup Made with Cooked Meats
Put all the bones, bits of meat, and vegetables which are in the refrigerator into one large kettle on the back of the fire, and simmer all day in enough boiling water to cover it all, adding more water as this cooks away. Skim carefully from time to time. If there are not many vegetables to go in, put parsley and onion in their place. At night strain through the sieve, then through the flannel, and cool.
This stock is never clear as is that made from fresh meat, but it is almost as good for thick soups, such as pea, or tomato.
Chicken or Turkey Soup
Break up the bones and cover with cold water; add a slice of onion, a bay-leaf, and a sprig of parsley, and cook all day, adding water when necessary, and skimming. Cool, take off the grease, heat again, and strain. Serve with small, even squares of chicken meat in it, or a little cooked rice and salt. Many people like a small pinch of cinnamon in turkey soup.
VEGETABLES
Mashed Potatoes
6 large potatoes.
1/2 cup hot milk.
b.u.t.ter the size of a hickory-nut.
3 teaspoonfuls salt.
3 shakes of pepper.
Peel and boil the potatoes till tender; then turn off the water and stand them on the back of the stove with a cover half over them, where they will keep hot while they get dry and floury, but do not let them burn; shake the saucepan every little while. Heat the milk with the b.u.t.ter, salt, and pepper in it; mash the potatoes well, either with the wooden potato-masher or with a wire one, and put in the milk little by little. When they are all free from lumps, put them through the potato-ricer, or pile them lightly in the tureen as they are. Do not smooth them over the top.
Sweet Potatoes
If they are large, scrub them well and bake in a hot oven for about forty minutes. If they are small, make them into--
Creamed Sweet Potatoes
Boil the potatoes, skin them, and cut them up in small slices.
Make a cup of cream sauce, mix with them, and put them in the oven for half an hour.
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
Boil six potatoes in well-salted water till they are tender; skin them, slice them thin, and put a layer of them in a b.u.t.tered baking-dish; sprinkle with brown sugar, and put on more potatoes and more sugar till the dish is full. Bake for three-quarters of an hour.
Beets
Wash the beets but do not peel them. Boil them gently for three-quarters of an hour, or till they can be pierced easily with a straw. Then skin them and slice in a hot dish, dusting each layer with a little salt, pepper, and melted b.u.t.ter. Those which are left over may have a little vinegar poured over them, to make them into pickles for luncheon.
Once Margaret made something very nice by a recipe her Pretty Aunt put in her book. It was called--
Stuffed Beets
1 can French peas.
6 medium-sized beets.
Boil the beets as before and skin them, but leave them whole.
Heat the peas after the juice has been turned off, and season them with salt and pepper. Cut off the stem end of each beet so it will stand steadily, and scoop a round place in the other end; sprinkle each beet with salt and pepper, and put a tiny bit of b.u.t.ter down in this little well, and then fill it high with the peas it will hold.
Creamed Cabbage