The Myrtle Reed Cook Book

STRAWBERRY SALAD

Arrange tender, white lettuce leaves in cup shapes. Fill each cup with strawberries and put a tablespoonful of mayonnaise in each cup. Mayonnaise for this salad should have the mustard and tarragon vinegar omitted.

BANANA AND PEANUT SALAD

Slice bananas lengthwise, cover with finely ground peanuts, and serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

EGG AND ASPARAGUS SALAD

Cut boiled, fresh asparagus into bits. Mix with slices of hard-boiled egg and serve on lettuce leaves with a French dressing to which chopped pickles and capers have been added.

EGG AND CUCUMBER SALAD

Slice cucumbers and hard-boiled eggs. Alternate slices of each in a circle around a bed of watercress, and serve with French dressing.

TOMATO AND CHIVE SALAD

Peel and chill the tomatoes, and cut into halves. Sprinkle with finely chopped chives, and put a spoonful of mayonnaise on each half. Serve on lettuce.

GRAPEFRUIT AND CELERY SALAD

Mix grapefruit pulp with finely cut celery, using twice as much grapefruit as celery. Serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

CUCUMBER AND PIMOLA SALAD

Mix in equal parts, slicing both thin. Use French dressing and serve on lettuce.

EGG AND CELERY SALAD

Two heads of celery cut fine, two hard-boiled eggs, and half a cupful of English walnuts. Break the nuts into small pieces, slice the eggs and mix all together. Serve on lettuce with mayonnaise.

CABBAGE SALAD – II

Mix shredded, raw cabbage with mayonnaise, and sprinkle with celery seed.

CABBAGE SALAD – III

Cut off the small ends of green peppers, scoop out the seeds, and fill with cabbage salad prepared as above.

EGG-BALL SALAD

Separate the whites and yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Cut the whites into shreds with the scissors. Rub the yolks through a sieve and mix to a paste with mayonnaise, adding sardines, anchovies, salmon, or any preferred meat or fish which has been cooked and pounded fine. Shape the egg mixture into balls the size of marbles. Spread lettuce leaves with mayonnaise, sprinkle it with the shredded whites of the eggs, and drop the balls of yolk paste upon it.

STUFFED-EGG SALAD

Divide hard-boiled eggs in the middle, take out the yolks, cut a thin slice from the bottom of each to make them stand firm, and drop in a little mayonnaise. Mix the yolks to a paste with mayonnaise, using any preferred minced meat, fish, or vegetable for seasoning. Fill the shells, spread with mayonnaise, and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

CELERY AND APPLE SALAD

Mix equal parts of finely cut celery and shredded sour apple. Serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

TOMATO AND CELERY SALAD

Peel large, ripe tomatoes and cut into cubes. Drain in a colander until dry. Mix with half as much finely cut celery, and serve on lettuce leaves, with mayonnaise.

SHRIMP AND NUT SALAD

Break the shrimps into thirds. Use one half or one third the quantity of pecan or English walnut meats. Serve on lettuce with mayonnaise.

SMOKED HERRING SALAD

Skin and bone the herring and flake the meat. Use as much hard-boiled egg as herring, and twice as much potato dice as herring. Season with grated onion, and mix with French dressing.

HALIBUT SALAD

Steam halibut steaks until tender, arrange on a bed of lettuce and remove the skin and bone. Cover with a layer of shredded sweet pepper, hard-boiled eggs, and olives sliced thin. Serve with a French dressing which has been seasoned with grated onion.

HALIBUT SALAD – II

Prepare halibut steaks according to directions given above. Sprinkle with French dressing, cover with cucumbers sliced thin, and spread with mayonnaise.

HALIBUT SALAD – III

Prepare the fish according to directions given above, and flake it. Add half the quantity of finely cut celery. Serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

HALIBUT SALAD – IV

Prepare according to directions given for Halibut Salad – III, adding as much cucumber dice as celery.

SMELT SALAD

Boil the smelts, drain, cool, and flake the meat. Mix with cucumber dice, or finely cut celery, and serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

LOBSTER SALAD – I

Pick out the meat of a cold, boiled lobster, mix with mayonnaise, and serve on lettuce leaves.

LOBSTER SALAD – II

Prepare according to directions given for Lobster Salad – I, adding half the quantity of finely cut celery to the fish.

SHRIMP AND TOMATO SALAD

Break the shrimps into half-inch bits, and mix with twice the quantity of peeled, sliced, and drained tomatoes. Serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise. The tomatoes may be cut into quarters, instead of slicing.

CRAB AND CUCUMBER SALAD

Use equal quantities of crab meat, broken into inch pieces, and cucumber dice. Season with a little grated onion, and mix with mayonnaise.

TURKEY SALAD

Use cold roast turkey and prepare according to directions given for Chicken Salad.

EGG AND CABBAGE SALAD

Boil six eggs hard. When cold, cut in two lengthwise, and take out the yolks. Rub the yolks through a sieve, season with salt, pepper, and grated onion, and mix to a paste with mayonnaise. Mould into small balls and set aside. Shred the whites with the scissors, and add twice as much shredded cabbage. Mix with mayonnaise, arrange on a bed of lettuce leaves, and drop the egg balls on the salad.

EGG AND SARDINE SALAD

Boil three eggs hard. Cut in two lengthwise, and take out the yolks. Rub the yolks through a sieve with four sardines, season with salt and pepper, and add enough cream or oil to make a paste. Shape into balls. Shred the whites of the eggs with the scissors, and mix with twice the quantity of finely cut celery. Mix the celery and egg together with mayonnaise, arrange on lettuce leaves, and drop the balls of egg paste upon the salad.

TONGUE AND POTATO SALAD

Cut cold, cooked, pickled lamb’s tongues into dice, mix with twice the quantity of cold, boiled potatoes cut into dice, and add a little hard-boiled egg, finely chopped. Pour over a French dressing to which a tablespoonful of chopped cucumber pickle has been added.

SHREDDED LETTUCE SALAD

Use the leaf lettuce and cut crosswise into narrow ribbons, using scissors or a very sharp knife. Serve with French dressing. Sliced hard-boiled eggs may be mixed with this salad.

GERMAN CABBAGE SALAD

Fry a cupful of finely cut bacon until crisp, and drain off the fat. Add the bacon to three times the quantity of shredded, raw cabbage. Make a salad dressing of the bacon fat and vinegar, seasoning to taste. Pour hot over the cabbage and set away to cool.

IRWIN SALAD

Six medium-sized tomatoes, peeled and quartered, two or three cucumbers cut in thin slices, one Spanish onion chopped fine, three green peppers, shredded, and two large sour apples cut into dice. Rub the salad bowl with the cut side of a clove of garlic and put in the salad. Make a dressing with six tablespoonfuls of oil, three of wine vinegar, half a teaspoonful of mustard, a teaspoonful each of Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and salt. Sprinkle liberally with red pepper and set the bowl on ice until thoroughly cold.

ONE HUNDRED SANDWICH FILLINGS

1. One half pound of Roquefort cheese, one fourth as much butter, and half a teaspoonful of paprika. Mix to a paste with sherry wine. Spread on wafers or toasted rye bread.

2. Remove all the seeds from a pepper, chop fine, and simmer ten minutes in a tablespoonful of butter. Add a dash of salt, and set aside to cool.

3. Chopped dates seasoned with grated lemon-peel and clove or cinnamon.

4. Corned beef cut in thin slices and spread with mustard.

5. Tongue cut in thin slices, spread with mustard.

6. Grated horseradish spread on buttered bread.

7. Swiss cheese cut in thin slices.

8. Dutch cheese made into a paste with cream.

9. Same as above with chopped nuts added.

10. The meat of a liver sausage seasoned with chopped onion and celery.

11. Prunes chopped with half the quantity of English walnut meats, seasoned with lemon-juice and powdered sugar.

12. Equal parts of chicken and cold ham, finely minced and seasoned with curry powder.

13. Drained and boned anchovies pounded to a paste with butter.

14. Thin slices of cucumber dipped in French dressing.

15. Minced tongue and hard-boiled eggs, seasoned with mustard.

16. Thin slices of roast veal covered with chopped pickles.

17. Sardines made to a paste with lemon-juice.

18. Shrimps picked fine, seasoned with lemon-juice.

19. Cold roast turkey cut into thin slices.

20. Minced hard-boiled eggs, one sardine to every three, seasoned with lemon-juice.

21. Thin slices of cold roast chicken.

22. Watercress chopped fine and seasoned with salt and pepper.

23. Same as twenty-two, mix with chopped, hard-boiled eggs.

24. Minced hard-boiled eggs mixed with grated cheese, seasoned with mustard.

25. Cold baked beans mashed to a paste and seasoned with mustard or chopped celery.

26. Thin slices of banana dressed with oil and lemon-juice.

27. Finely cut celery mixed with mayonnaise.

28. Dutch cheese mixed with chopped olives.

29. Large figs cut in halves.

30. Equal parts of minced ham and celery mixed with mayonnaise.

31. Ham mixed with chopped pickle and celery.

32. Petals or leaves of nasturtiums.

33. Equal parts of grated Swiss cheese and chopped English walnuts.

34. Olives chopped fine and mixed with mayonnaise.

35. Peanuts mashed to a paste with mayonnaise.

36. Caviare mixed with a little lemon-juice.

37. Cold roast beef cut in thin slices.

38. Minced hard-boiled eggs mixed with mayonnaise.

39. Lobster meat mixed with mayonnaise.

40. Canned salmon mixed with hard-boiled eggs chopped fine.

41. Strawberries mashed with powdered sugar and seasoned with a little lemon-juice.

42. Figs and nuts chopped fine.

43. Nuts and raisins chopped fine.

44. Cold roast chicken and cold, cooked oysters chopped fine.

45. Cold chicken and one fourth the quantity of blanched almonds chopped fine and mixed to a paste with cream.

46. Five heaping teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar, two of cocoa, and two of boiling water. Stir over the fire until smooth. Add a few drops of vanilla and cool.

47. Minced hard-boiled eggs, grated cheese, and made mustard, mixed to a paste with olive-oil.

48. Equal parts of cold roast beef, boiled tongue, ham, and cold roast turkey. Season with chopped pickle and mix with mayonnaise.

49. One cupful of cold roast chicken, three olives, one pickle, and a tablespoonful of capers. Mince fine and mix with mayonnaise.

50. Orange marmalade.

51. Cream cheese, lettuce leaves, and French dressing.

52. Lettuce leaves and mayonnaise.

53. Salmon, capers, chopped chives, and mayonnaise.

54. Cold, cooked veal chopped fine with hard-boiled eggs. Season with tomato catsup.

55. Hard-boiled eggs cut into slices, sprinkled with salt and pepper and chopped parsley.

56. Cold roast chicken and finely cut celery mixed with mayonnaise.

57. Lettuce leaves, pimentos, and mayonnaise.

58. Cottage cheese seasoned with mustard and chopped olives, mixed with mayonnaise.

59. Minced ham, olives, and parsley.

60. Cold corned-beef and green peppers, minced.

61. Cold roast lamb, minced, seasoned with minced olives and tomato catsup.

62. Raisins and candied lemon-peel chopped and made into a paste with lemon-juice.

63. Dates chopped fine, with half the quantity of English walnuts or pecans.

64. Chinese preserved ginger chopped fine.

65. Equal parts of grated cheese and English walnuts, chopped fine, and rubbed to a paste with cream.

66. Cold, cooked sweetbreads chopped fine.

67. Cold mutton chopped fine, and seasoned with mint sauce.

68. Hard-boiled eggs and watercress finely minced and mixed with mayonnaise.

69. Pickled lambs’ tongues chopped very fine with capers.

70. Olives and pimentos finely chopped, lettuce leaves, and mayonnaise.

71. Dutch cheese and finely minced watercress.

72. Sour apples and celery, minced very fine, and mixed with mayonnaise.

73. Cucumber, grated onion, and mayonnaise.

74. Leaves of endive and French dressing.

75. Grated cheese, seasoned with salt, paprika, mustard, vinegar, and anchovy paste.

76. Same as seventy-five, with chopped olives or pickles added.

77. Cold, fried oysters chopped fine, lettuce leaves, and French dressing.

78. Equal parts of banana pulp and crushed red raspberries, mashed with sugar, and made into a paste with cream.

79. Grated cocoanut, chopped nuts, sugar, and lemon-juice.

80. Orange marmalade and English walnut meats.

81. Preserved ginger and candied orange-peel chopped fine.

82. Maraschino cherries and nut meats chopped fine.

83. Cottage cheese and jam or marmalade.

84. Cream cheese and bar le duc mixed to a paste.

85. Hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine, and seasoned with anchovy paste.

86. Chopped figs and chopped peanuts, seasoned with lemon-juice.

87. Chopped English walnuts mixed with quince-jelly.

88. Cabbage, finely chopped, and mixed with salad dressing.

89. Thinly sliced bananas spread with mayonnaise.

90. The tender tops of celery, minced fine, and mixed with mayonnaise.

91. Figs and raisins chopped together.

92. Boiled ham, sardines, and pickles, minced, seasoned with mustard, catsup, and vinegar.

93. Cottage cheese, lettuce leaves, and French dressing.

94. Cold, cooked chicken and mushrooms mixed with mayonnaise.

95. Cottage cheese and minced hard-boiled eggs, mixed with mayonnaise.

96. Cold roast beef, chopped fine, seasoned with tomato catsup, celery salt, Worcestershire, and grated onion.

97. Raisins chopped fine and worked to a paste with sherry.

98. Cream cheese and shredded green peppers.

99. Equal parts of tongue and chicken, minced fine, and mixed with mayonnaise.

100. Cold, boiled shad roe and cucumbers, finely minced, and mixed with French dressing or mayonnaise.

101. People who are not satisfied with the above fillings are at liberty to invent their own.

LUNCHEON BEVERAGES

Inasmuch as coffee usually appears both at breakfast and dinner, it is well to bar it out absolutely from the luncheon table. Too much coffee drinking is injurious, as the makers of imitation coffees assure us daily through the medium of expensive advertisements. Though nothing else is quite as good as coffee, yet there are many other beverages which will prove acceptable at luncheon.

MILK

Serve from an earthen pitcher, either hot or cold as preferred.

BUTTERMILK

Buttermilk is always served ice cold. On a hot day a glass of buttermilk, and a cracker or a bit of salted toast will often prove a sufficient luncheon.

TEA

Use the best tea. The cheap tea is dear at any price. Scald out the tea-pot, which should never be of metal, and put into it a teaspoonful of tea for each person and one for the pot. Add as many cupfuls of hot water as there are teaspoonfuls of tea. Cover and let steep for a moment, but never allow it to boil. The water for tea must be freshly boiled and taken at the first vigorous boil. When tea is boiled, tannin is extracted from the grounds, and tannin, even in the most minute quantities, has a very injurious effect upon the lining of the stomach.

VIENNA CHOCOLATE

Three heaping tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate mixed to a paste with cold water. Pour it into a double boiler with four cupfuls of milk boiling hot. Add sugar to taste, and let cook five minutes. Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth and put into the chocolate pot. Put a teaspoonful of vanilla into the chocolate after taking from the fire, and pour the hot chocolate very slowly upon the eggs, stirring constantly with a silver spoon or the wooden stick which comes for the purpose. It makes a delicious, frothy chocolate. The cocoa which comes in packages may be used instead of grated chocolate.

COCOA

Directions are given on the package the cocoa comes in. If not, buy another kind next time.

LEMONADE

Select perfect lemons and roll until soft. Extract the juice, using a glass lemon squeezer, and rejecting the seeds and pulp. Rub cut loaf sugar over the peel of the lemon to extract the oil, and add to the lemon-juice. Fill a glass pitcher one third full of broken ice, pour the lemon-juice upon the ice, and add granulated sugar and water to taste.

ICED TEA

Make tea according to directions given above, using two or three extra teaspoonfuls of tea. Fill a glass pitcher half full of broken ice, and pour the tea, scalding hot, upon the ice, being careful that the stream strikes the ice, and not the pitcher. Serve with cut loaf sugar, and slices of lemon.

PINEAPPLE CUP

Put into a bowl the juice of three lemons, two oranges, sliced and seeded, one grated pineapple, and one cupful of sugar. Let stand an hour to extract the juice, then strain through a fruit press. Add to the juice as much cold water as desired, and two slices of pineapple, shredded. Pour into glasses half full of cracked ice.

RASPBERRY CUP

Mash and strain two cupfuls of currants stripped from the stems. Mash also an equal quantity of raspberries. Mix the juices, sweeten to taste, and serve in glasses with cracked ice and cold water.

PINEAPPLE LEMONADE

One cupful of sugar, one cupful of canned pineapple, one cupful of water and the juice of two lemons. Boil the sugar and water until it threads. Put the pineapple through the fruit press and add to the syrup with the juice of the lemons. When ready to serve, add water and sugar to taste. Serve ice cold.

GRAPE JUICE

Stem ripe Concord grapes. Do not wash unless necessary. Cover with cold water and put into a saucepan over a slow fire. Boil until the grapes are in pieces, then strain through coarse cheese-cloth and sweeten to taste. Serve in glasses with plenty of cracked ice.

BLACKBERRY SHRUB

For every cupful of fruit juice take one half cupful of cider vinegar and two cupfuls of sugar. Put the fruit, sugar, and vinegar over the fire, stir until the sugar dissolves, and boil until a thick syrup. Skim if necessary, strain, and bottle. When served, allow one fourth cupful of syrup to half or three fourths of a cupful of ice water.

RASPBERRY SHRUB

Use ripe red raspberries, and prepare according to directions given for Blackberry Shrub.

RASPBERRY DASH

Fill the tumbler half full of cracked ice. Add one tablespoonful of sweetened raspberry juice and one tablespoonful of cream. Fill the glass with soda water.

MINT SANGAREE

Crush two or three sprays of mint with a lump of sugar. Put into a glass half full of cracked ice. Add four tablespoonfuls of grape juice and fill the glass to the brim with charged water. Shake thoroughly and strain into another glass.

SELTZER LEMONADE

Squeeze the juice of a lemon into a tall glass, add two inches of shaved ice, two heaping teaspoonfuls of sugar and fill the glass with seltzer or Apollinaris.

TEMPERANCE PUNCH

Upon a tablespoonful of good tea pour two quarts of boiling water. In the meantime have ready the juice and peelings of three lemons and one orange in a pitcher. When the tea has steeped for five minutes, strain through a fine strainer into the pitcher. Add a cupful of sugar and cool slowly. At serving-time put into glasses with plenty of ice.

EATING AND DINING

There is an old saying to the effect that “all may eat, but ladies and gentlemen dine.” The difference lies more in the preparation and manner of serving than in the food itself, and whether her evening meal is a banquet or a repast of the lunch-counter sort rests wholly with the housewife.

We pause long enough to pay our disrespects to that barbarous institution known in America as the Sunday Dinner. On six days in the week, the average business man eats a light luncheon or none at all. On the seventh day, at an unaccustomed hour, he eats a heavy meal, goes to sleep shortly afterward, and wonders why Monday is a “blue day.”

Our uncivilized Sundays are responsible for our Monday morning headaches and for the gloom which, in many a household, does not wear off until Tuesday morning. If Sunday were a day of fasting instead of a day of feasting, Monday might be radiant occasionally instead of riotous or revolutionary.

We make Sunday a hard day for the women of the household, especially the servants, and the imperial liver appertaining to the Head of the Establishment balks sometimes at the strain. The American Sunday Dinner is one cause of the American Servant Problem – and everybody knows what that is.

In more than one household, a twelve or one o’clock breakfast has proved both hygienic and satisfactory. Coffee and rolls are served to those who want them at eight or nine o’clock, if they come into the dining-room. At noon the family sits down to a simple breakfast – fruit, broiled chicken, creamed potatoes, hot bread and coffee, for example. The maid has few dishes to wash, is not too tired to enjoy her afternoon off, and gets away two or three hours earlier than her less fortunate sisters. Also she remains where she is hired – which has its advantages. Only a light lunch is needed in the evening which the mistress may serve, leaving the dishes to be washed in the morning.

Owing to the aforesaid American Servant Problem an increasing number of women do their own housework – not from choice, but from stern necessity. This book is intended for the woman in a small house or apartment, who is her own cook, who earnestly desires to do her duty by her family, yet be something more than a wearied and soul-sickened drudge; who has to look after her dimes and nickels, if not her pennies, and who wants more than the weekly “afternoon off” accorded to the stronger women who undertake domestic tasks.

Simplicity – and, as a general rule, economy – has been the standard by which each recipe has been judged. All are within the capabilities of the most inexperienced cook, who is willing to follow directions, and, in the case of such variable materials as flour and eggs, trust, now and then, to her own judgment.

THIRTY-FIVE CANAPÉS

I

Cover thin circles of fried or toasted bread with chopped hard-boiled eggs, lay a curled anchovy in the centre of each piece and serve either hot or cold, garnishing with minced parsley or capers.

II

Cut thin slices of bread into fancy shapes, toast, spread with butter, and lay a curled anchovy in the centre around half a pimola. Fill the spaces with the minced whites and sifted yolks of hard-boiled eggs and border with minced capers or parsley.

III

Serve pitted olives on rounds of fried bread with an anchovy curled around each olive. Fill the space to the edge with chopped olives or rings of hard-boiled eggs. Garnish with cress.

IV

Fry small rounds of bread in clarified butter, sprinkle with grated cheese, season with salt and cayenne, and put in the oven until the cheese is melted. Fillets of anchovies may be laid on these canapés and they may be served hot or cold, garnishing with minced parsley.

V

Pound anchovies to a smooth paste with butter and season with cayenne and lemon-juice. Spread on strips of toast or bread and lay strips of anchovy on each piece. Fill the spaces between with hard-boiled eggs chopped separately.

VI

Chop watercress and pickles with the yolks of hard-boiled eggs and rub to a smooth paste with butter. Spread on strips of fried or toasted bread and lay an anchovy on each one.