The Golden Age Cook Book

SPANISH ONIONS STUFFED

Take two large Spanish onions, wash and skin and tie them to prevent breaking. Put them into a saucepan over the fire, cover with boiling water, cook until they can be pierced with a broom straw – from two to three hours, according to size. When done, drain and carefully take out the centers, leaving about a quarter of an inch for the shell. Have ready a stuffing made from a quarter of a pound of mushrooms prepared as before. Put these and the centers of the onions into a chopping bowl and chop very fine. Cook them together until the moisture from the onions has almost evaporated, then add a generous heaping tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of rich cream, and three heaping tablespoonfuls of grated bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Fill the onion shells with this mixture, smooth the tops nicely, sprinkle with bread crumbs, brush with egg and a little butter. Put in the oven and brown about ten minutes, and serve with the following sauce: Rub a generous heaping tablespoonful of butter and a heaping tablespoonful of flour together. Put a small teacup of milk into a saucepan on the fire, when hot stir in the butter and flour and a quarter of a pound of mushrooms prepared as before and chopped very fine, season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the onions on a platter and pour the sauce around them, garnish with parsley and serve.

STUFFED CELERIAC WITH SPANISH SAUCE

Put over the fire in a saucepan three-quarters of a cup of rich milk and three ounces of butter, let them come to a boil, then add three ounces of dried and sifted bread crumbs and an even tablespoonful of flour. Let it cook, stirring all the time until it is a smooth paste and detaches itself from the sides of the pan, remove from the fire and set it aside to cool. When cold beat three eggs light, stir in a little at a time, beating well until the mixture is smooth and all the beaten egg used, then add a heaping teaspoonful of sugar, three heaping tablespoonfuls of walnut meats chopped fine, two tablespoonfuls of rich cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Take four large, fine celeriac roots, clean, scrub and scrape them. Cut off a slice from the top of each to make a cover, then with an apple corer remove the inside, taking care not to pierce the root, leave a shell a quarter of an inch thick. Fill each with the dressing, leaving fully half an inch at the top for it to swell. Place the cover on each, tie well the roots to prevent breaking in the cooking, stand them in a saucepan with water to reach not quite to the top of the roots, and put in all the celeriac removed from the roots, boil gently until tender – about an hour – adding boiling water from time to time as it evaporates. When they are tender take them out of the water and put them aside, keeping them hot. Strain the water they were boiled in, form what is left from the stuffing into small cylinders, boil five minutes in the strained stock, take them out and put with the roots to keep warm. Then take a generous tablespoonful of butter, an even tablespoonful of flour, brown them together in a spider, add two heaping tablespoonfuls of chopped walnuts and let them brown a little, then stir in gradually the stock the roots were boiled in and cook until it thickens. Arrange the roots in the center of the platter, the cylinders around them and pour the sauce over all. Garnish with parsley, putting a tiny sprig of celery leaves in the top of each root.

SPRING CABBAGE STEWED

Cut the cabbage very small, throw into a saucepan, cover with boiling water, when nearly done add salt. Cook until tender, drain well in a colander. Make a rich cream sauce – it must be quite thick, as the cabbage will thin it – add a saltspoonful of mace, then the cabbage, let it come to a boil and serve.

SPRING CABBAGE WITH CREAM SAUCE

Boil a young cabbage or part of one until perfectly tender, when done drain all the water from it in a colander, place in a vegetable dish and pour over it a rich cream sauce.

SPRING TURNIPS IN CREAM SAUCE

Pare and cut into dice some young turnips, cook them tender in as little water as possible, salt when nearly done. Have ready a cream sauce, nicely seasoned, and after draining the turnips put them into the sauce, let them come to the boiling point and remove immediately from the fire, turn them into the serving dish, sprinkle a little finely chopped parsley over the top and serve. A tiny grain of mace added to the sauce is an improvement, but it must be used with great care.

WHITE BREAD BALLS

Take four ounces of bread from which the crust has been removed, cut it into dice. Put half a cup of milk in a saucepan with two ounces of butter and a teaspoonful of sugar, let it come to a boil, then stir in the bread and continue stirring until it no longer cleaves to the pan, remove from the fire. When cool stir into it two eggs, one at a time, and a little salt. Cook in boiling water, as described for other balls, and serve in a cream sauce as a vegetable. (See spinach balls, page 74.)

NOODLES

Beat the yolks of two eggs with a little salt and one tablespoonful of cold water and stir in enough flour to make a very stiff dough. Roll out as thin as paper and then roll it up; let it stand for an hour, and then cut fine with a sharp knife. These will keep any length of time, and can be used in soups, as a vegetable or in a pudding.

NOODLES À LA FERRARI

Prepare the noodles as above, and cook in boiling salted-water from twenty to twenty-five minutes. Drain well. Have ready a tomato sauce, stir the noodles into it, turn into a baking dish, sprinkle well with grated Parmesan cheese and brown in a quick oven.

GNOCCHI À LA ROMAINE

Put two ounces of butter in a saucepan over the fire with two tablespoonfuls of milk. When this comes to a boil stir in four ounces of flour; then add a cup of milk, let it cook, stirring all the time until it no longer adheres to the pan, remove from the fire, let it cool and then beat in three eggs, one at a time, two heaping tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese, a saltspoonful of mace and a dash of salt. Set it away to get cold, make it into small balls. Have a large saucepan of boiling, salted water on the stove, drop the balls into it and let them boil five minutes, take them out with a skimmer and drain well. Have ready a cream sauce, put the balls in this, and when they are hot turn into a baking dish, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake until brown in a quick oven.

Salads

MAYONNAISE DRESSING

One-half teaspoonful of mustard, one-half teaspoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt and a dash of cayenne pepper; then add two raw egg yolks, beat well and stir in a teaspoonful of strong vinegar; add very carefully, drop by drop, a scant three-quarters of a cup of best olive oil, and as it thickens half a teaspoonful of vinegar. This recipe never fails, if the directions are carefully followed. The eggs and oil should be kept in the refrigerator and be ice cold. Lemon juice may be used, instead of vinegar, if preferred.

CREAM SALAD DRESSING

One-quarter of a cup of strong cider vinegar, one cup and a quarter of water, one-half cup of butter, one teaspoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful, slightly heaping, of corn starch, one teaspoonful of sugar, a dash of cayenne pepper and the yolks of four eggs. Put the vinegar and water in a saucepan and when it boils add the butter. Beat the yolks of eggs and the other ingredients together with an egg-beater, making it quite foamy and light; pour the boiling vinegar and water upon this mixture, which will partially thicken. The bowl in which it is mixed should be placed in a pan of hot water on the stove, beating it all the time with the egg-beater. Just before it reaches the boiling point remove and turn it out into a cold bowl, beating hard for a few minutes. When perfectly cold pour it into a glass jar, fasten down the top and keep in refrigerator.

FRENCH DRESSING

One tablespoonful of vinegar, three tablespoonfuls of olive oil, a saltspoonful of salt and one of white pepper, and a few drops of any good sauce. Lettuce should be well washed in very cold water, leaf by leaf, and drained in a basket, which comes for the purpose, then placed on the ice, and at serving time put into the salad bowl. Lettuce should never be cut with a knife, but torn with a fork and spoon, and it should not be allowed to stand after the dressing is poured over it.

TOMATO ICE SALAD

Put a quart can of tomatoes in a saucepan over the fire with half an onion, a slice of green pepper, if convenient, three cloves, two bay leaves, a sprig of parsley, a teaspoonful of sugar, and pepper and salt to taste. Cook until the onion is tender – about ten minutes – remove from the fire, press through a sieve fine enough to retain the seeds. When cold freeze as water-ice and mould – a melon mould is very pretty for it – pack in salt and ice in the usual way; turn it out in a nest of crisp young lettuce and serve with a mayonnaise dressing in a sauceboat.

2 TOMATO JELLY

One can of tomatoes put on to heat in a granite or porcelain-lined saucepan with a large slice of onion, one clove, two bay leaves, a teaspoonful of chopped green pepper, salt to taste and a little sugar. Soak half a box of gelatine in a little water for half an hour, and after the tomatoes have simmered fifteen minutes let them come to a boil and pour over the gelatine to dissolve it; strain through a very fine sieve into a bowl, let it get perfectly cold, and when it begins to thicken stir well and turn into an earthenware mould. It looks prettier in a round one. Set on ice. Serve the jelly on a round dish in a bed of fresh, crisp young lettuce leaves, and place a spoonful of tender, finely-cut celery in each leaf, and pour mayonnaise around it. The jelly is better made the day before it is needed.

SPAGHETTINA AND CELERY SALAD

Take some cold boiled spaghettina, chop – not too fine – and cover with a French dressing, and let it stand on the ice until serving time. Have an equal quantity of fresh, crisp celery cut fine, mix with the spaghettina, cover with a mayonnaise dressing and garnish with tender lettuce leaves.

SALAD OF FAIRY RINGS AND PUFF BALL MUSHROOMS

Have both very fresh; cook the fairy rings until tender, set aside to get cold, then put on the ice. Take an equal quantity of puff ball raw, chop fine, mix with the rings, turn into a nest of tender young lettuce, cover with a mayonnaise dressing and serve.

SALAD OF FRESH FRUIT

Peel and cut into dice enough fruit, peaches, tart plums, orange and banana to fill a cup and a cupful of crisp celery cut fine; have both ice cold; at serving time mix and cover with a cream dressing and garnish with celery tops.

3 CUCUMBER JELLY

Half a box of gelatine soaked for an hour in half a cup of cold water. Remove the seeds from a small green pepper, peel and cut into slices two large, fine, fresh cucumbers, or three small ones and a small white onion. Put in a saucepan, add a bay leaf and a bouquet of parsley, cover with boiling water and cook until tender; remove the parsley and bay leaf, add a saltspoonful of sugar, salt to taste – more than a teaspoonful will be required – and press through a fine sieve. There should be, when strained, two cups and a half. Pour it over the soaked gelatine – if it is not hot enough to dissolve the gelatine place the saucepan over the fire for a moment – then run it through the same sieve again; set aside in a bowl to cool. When perfectly cold and beginning to congeal, stir it well and pour into a pretty, round mould; set it on ice until ready to serve. Turn it out on a plate and arrange fresh, crisp, young lettuce leaves around it, into each of which put a spoonful of mayonnaise or cream dressing.

WALNUT AND CELERY SALAD

Three cupfuls of fresh, crisp celery cut fine and two cupfuls of walnuts, carefully shelled that they may be as little broken as possible. Put the walnuts in a saucepan with a small onion sliced, a bay leaf, a clove and twelve pepper corns, cover with boiling water, let them cook for ten or fifteen minutes, remove from the fire, drain and throw the nuts into cold water, remove the skins and let them get cold; then set on the ice until it is time to serve. Mix them with the celery, add mayonnaise or cream dressing, put on a dish or in a salad bowl, garnish with the tender green celery leaves and serve.

PINEAPPLE AND CELERY SALAD

Equal parts of celery and shredded pineapple. Have the celery of the very tenderest, using only the best of the heads. Select a perfectly ripe, fresh pineapple, pare it, removing the eyes carefully, and shred the fruit with a silver fork and cut into small pieces with a silver fruit knife; put the celery, cut fine, and the shredded pineapple, each by itself on the ice, that they may be very cold. When it is time to serve the salad, mix them together, put on the salad dish, cover with mayonnaise dressing, garnish with the green celery leaves and serve at once.

FRUIT SALAD

Equal quantities of grape fruit or oranges, bananas, apples and celery. Peel the grape fruit or oranges, carefully removing all the bitter white skin, cut the pulp, the bananas and apples into small dice and the celery fine as for other salads; put the orange and apple together; the latter will absorb the juice of the orange. Set all on ice; – these fruit salads must be ice cold. When it is time to serve, mix the fruit and celery together, put into a salad bowl, cover with the cream dressing into which has been stirred a third as much whipped cream as there is dressing, and add a little more salt to it in mixing. Serve in a bed of tender lettuce leaves.

POTATO SALAD

Prepare equal parts of cold boiled potatoes and fresh, crisp celery, cut in small pieces which will look attractive when mixed with the dressing; cut in dice four cold, hard boiled eggs, and mix them in lightly with the potato and celery when adding the dressing. Use mayonnaise or cream dressing with this salad, garnish with dainty celery tops and serve.

SALAD OF TOMATOES STUFFED WITH CELERY

Select nice, smooth, firm tomatoes, one for each person; blanch them in the usual way, cut a slice from the stem end and remove the core and some of the seeds; set on the ice to get cold. Prepare some celery, shredding it fine and using only the very tender part; mix it with mayonnaise dressing, stuff the tomatoes, allowing the celery to come above the top, serve each in a leaf or two of crisp lettuce and pour some mayonnaise around them. Salads should be ice cold.

CELERIAC AND LETTUCE SALAD

Boil two or three celery roots in water with a little salt until tender; drain and let them get cold. Cut them in thin slices, make a nest of crisp lettuce and put the celery slices in the center. Serve with a French dressing.

RAW JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES AND LETTUCE SALAD

Wash and peel the artichokes, cut in very thin slices and put into an earthen bowl with vinegar and water with a lump of ice in it. The vinegar will prevent them from turning dark. When ready to serve, place in the center of nice, fresh lettuce and serve with a French dressing.

SALAD À LA MACÉDOINE

Take several kinds of cold boiled vegetables in equal quantities, such as green peas, string beans, flowerettes of cauliflower, asparagus points, a small potato and a French carrot cut in small dice, and a little green pepper if liked; mix together and serve in a nest of fresh, crisp lettuce with a French dressing, or mayonnaise, if preferred.

ASPARAGUS SALAD

Select very tender asparagus, cut off all the woody part and boil until tender, set aside to get cold, and then put on ice until serving time; arrange nicely on a platter or individual plates and serve with either mayonnaise or French dressing.

CUCUMBER SALAD

Peel and cut in very thin slices, lay in a bowl, cover with water, sprinkle a little salt over them and put a lump of ice on top, let them remain until serving time, drain off the water and serve in a glass dish with a French dressing. They should be very cold and crisp. A little green pepper, chopped very fine, is an addition; also to rub the spoon used in mixing with a clove of garlic gives a piquancy to the salad.

COLD SLAW

Select a firm cabbage and shave very fine on a cutter that comes for this purpose. Use the cream dressing or French dressing with a little dry mustard added.

TOMATO SALAD

The tomatoes should be blanched in the usual way, and either sliced or cut in dice or served whole; or they may be cut in quarters, not quite separating them, and arranged in a bed of lettuce with a spoonful of mayonnaise on top of each tomato and the lettuce garnished with the same.

ENDIVE

is excellent with French dressing.

EGG SALAD

Boil three eggs hard, cut in half lengthwise, remove the yolks and mash fine. Mix together in a saucepan the third of a teaspoonful each of dry mustard, salt and white pepper, a saltspoonful of curry powder, a few drops of onion juice, a teaspoonful of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of egg well beaten, two teaspoonfuls of olive oil and a tablespoonful of rich cream. Put the ingredients together in the order in which they are named, beat well, set the bowl over the steam of the kettle and stir constantly until thick and creamy; remove and stir in the mashed egg yolks, a little at a time, and set on the ice to get very cold. To serve, fill the whites of egg, dividing the mixture among them, put each half egg on two or three leaves of tender lettuce, with mayonnaise dressing around them.

Desserts

APPLE BETTY

Two cups of tart cooking apples, chopped, a cup and a half of stale bread crumbs – bakers' bread is the best; four heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar, one generous tablespoonful of butter, and the grated rind of one lemon. Butter a pudding dish, divide the ingredients into four layers, beginning with apples and finishing with bread crumbs. Sprinkle the sugar and lemon over the apples and cut the butter into tiny lumps and scatter over the crumbs. Bake three-quarters of an hour in a moderate oven. Serve with cream or hard sauce.

APPLE CHARLOTTE

Pare, core and quarter eight or nine good cooking apples, put them into a double boiler with two tablespoonfuls of butter, half a cup of sugar, the juice and grated rind of a lemon; cook until tender. Take a plain mould that holds three pints, butter it well, line the bottom and sides with very thin slices of home-made bread. Remove the crust, dip each slice in melted butter, fit them evenly together in the mould, fill with the apples, cover with the bread, dredge it with sugar and bake three-quarters of an hour in a quick oven. Have a hot platter, lay it over the top of the charlotte, turn it over, and lift off the mould. Serve hot with or without sauce or cream.

APPLE CROQUETTES

Peel, core and quarter four good-sized cooking apples, cut in thin slices and put them in a granite ware saucepan over the fire with a small tablespoonful of butter, a heaping tablespoonful of sugar, the grated rind of half a lemon and a saltspoonful of cinnamon; cover tightly and cook until tender, taking care that it does not burn. When done add an even tablespoonful of Groult's potato flour, mixed with a very little water, then stir in one beaten egg, and remove from the fire. Turn into a deep plate to get cold, form in cylinders, dip in egg and dried bread crumbs and fry in boiling fat. Sift powdered sugar over them and serve hot, with or without cream.

APPLES STEWED WHOLE

Take some nice, tart cooking apples, pare and put them into a saucepan with the juice of two lemons and the rind of one; cover with water, cook slowly until they can be pierced with a straw, take them from the water with a draining spoon. Make a syrup, allowing half a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit, use as much of the water the apples were cooked in as will dissolve the sugar; when it comes to a boil add the apples and cook until clear. Take the apples out, core them and fill with a fruit jelly, if liked, boil down the syrup and pour over the fruit. Serve very cold with whipped or plain cream. Bartlett pears may be cooked in the same manner, serving them whole.

APPLE SOUFFLÉ

Seven tart, juicy apples, pared and cored, and cut fine. Put them over the fire in a double boiler without any water, steam until tender, then stir into them two tablespoonfuls of butter and one cup of sugar, remove from the fire, and turn it into a bowl to cool. When it is cold beat in the yolks of four eggs, whipped very light, a little grated lemon peel, and then add alternately the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, and a cup of stale bread crumbs. Beat hard for a few moments and turn into a buttered pudding dish and bake in a moderate oven about one hour. Cover it while baking until ten or fifteen minutes before it is done, so that it will not form a hard crust and become dry. Serve warm in the dish in which it is baked.

APPLE CUSTARD. – No. 1

Grate some good, tart cooking apples – enough to measure one quart. Beat a generous tablespoonful of butter and seven tablespoonfuls of sugar to a cream, add to this four egg yolks beaten light, then the apples and the grated rind of a lemon, and lastly the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth. It can be baked in puff paste or without. Serve cold.

APPLE CUSTARD. – No. 2

Pare, core and quarter half a dozen fine, large cooking apples, put them in a double boiler with the grated rind of half a large lemon, cook until tender, and press through a sieve; there must be three-quarters of a pint of the purée. Add an ounce and a half of granulated sugar and set it away to get cold. Then beat three eggs very light and stir gradually into a pint of rich milk alternately with the apple purée, add a little cinnamon, pour it into a pudding dish and bake about twenty minutes. Serve cold with a little cinnamon and sugar sifted over it.

BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS

Sift a pint of flour with a teaspoonful of baking powder and half a teaspoonful of salt. Put a quarter of a pint of butter into it and chop it fine with a knife; mix it well – do not use the hands; then add milk enough to moisten it, about a quarter of a pint. Dust a pastry board with flour, take the dough from the bowl, roll lightly into a sheet about an eighth of an inch thick, cut into squares large enough to hold an apple. Pare and core medium sized cooking apples, fill with sugar and a little cinnamon, put in the middle of the square and draw the corners up over the apples, moistening them with a little white of egg or water to make them stick. Brush over the dumplings with beaten egg and bake in a good oven. The time will depend upon the apples – about half an hour. Serve with cream.

APPLE FLOAT

Have a pint of apple purée, made from nice tart apples, sweetened to taste and flavored with the grated rind of lemon and cinnamon, or nutmeg if preferred. Set it on the ice that it may be very cold, beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth and add to the purée of apples, and serve with cream.

APPLES FRIED

Wash and wipe some tart cooking apples, cut in slices a quarter of an inch thick, core and fry them in butter until tender and brown, dredge them with sugar and serve hot.

APPLE MARMALADE

Two pounds of tart cooking apples, one pound of sugar, one pint of water, one lemon and some blanched almonds. Stir the sugar and water together and boil it until it strings from the spoon, then add the apples pared and cored and cut in small pieces, cook until very thick, flavor with the juice and grated peel of a small lemon. Turn into a wet mould, when cold set on the ice. Turn out on a glass dish, stick it thickly over with the blanched almonds, garnish with whipped cream and serve with cream.