The Aunts' Cook Book

Sift flour with salt. Beat eggs with two cups of milk and add to flour, beating constantly. When batter is smooth add half the butter and rest of milk, beat well. Add rest of butter. Let stand one hour before using and then beat thoroughly again. Fry in pan or cook on soap-stone griddle. Auntie's Waffles 2 tablespoonsful of flour 1 teaspoonful of lard 2 tablespoonsful of hominy 3^ pint of milk 1 egg A little salt 1 teaspoonful of butter Beat up very lightly. Aunt Robbie's White War Bread (Quick Method) ^ cup luke warm water 1 big kitchen tbsp. butter 2 cakes Fleischmann's yeast f J^ wheat 1 qt. luke warm potato water 3 quarts sifted flour-j J^ rice 2 big kitchen tbsp. sugar \y^ potato 1 big kitchen tbsp. lard 1 small tbsp. salt Dissolve yeast and sugar in luke warm water, add softened (not melted) lard and butter, and J^ of the flour. Beat until smooth. Then add second quart sifted flour and also third quart, in which you put salt, and sift it into mixture. Knead in bowl until smooth and elastic, (about two or three minutes), using inside of hands as little as possible (use the fist instead as much as possible.) 16 Bread and Buns Place in greased bowl, cover and set aside in a moderately warm place free from draught until light — from 1½ hours to 3 hours. Mould into loaves. Place in well-greased bread pans, filling them half full. Then slice each loaf three times through on top. Cover and let rise until double in bulk. Bake 45 to 60 minutes. Note — One cake of yeast may be used with good results; but remember the quicker and stronger the fermentation the better the bread. The best bread bakers have adopted quick methods. Important — Keep out of all draught. When covered throw blanket or big towel over the covered bread pan. "A loaf of bread/' the walrus said, "Is what we chiefly need." Alice in Wonderland, Reliable Recipe for Bread Take some flour — enough for as many loaves as you wish to make. Add yeast, salt, milk, water, shortening. Any fool can mix it. Given to Aunt Elinor's Mother, Letter of acknowledgement of a visit by a gentleman with a slight impediment of speech. My thanks for all that bread and butter I really, really cannot utter. For if I did, I know I'd stutter. SOUP AND STOCK Auntie's Okra Gumbo Put into a saucepan a spoonful of pure lard and one of flour. Stir it well until it is of a light brown. Chop an onion into small pieces and throw them in. Cut up a fat capon or chicken into small pieces and put it into the saucepan with the flour and lard. Stir it all the while until the chicken is nearly done. When the whole is well browned, add a slice of ham cut up small. Throw in two or three pods of red pepper, and salt 18 Soup and Stock to your taste. Then add a quart of boiling water, and leave it on the fire for two hours and a half. During that time you take either a can of okra or the fresh okra, and chop it up a bit. Put it in a saucepan with a little water and let it simmer a quarter of an hour, stirring it all the time. Then add to it either six fresh tomatoes, or half a can of tomatoes and let it cook on a slow fire for an hour, uncovered. When your gumbo has been on the fire the two hours and a half you put it back in the sauce pan and add your okra and tomatoes and let it simmer slowly for an hour or until the okra is thoroughly cooked. Serve hot, and eat it with dry rice served in a separate dish. Grandmother Holden's Black Bean Soup The bone of a boiled ham Brown stock 2 cupfuls of black beans Brown roux Bouquet of herbs made of a sprig of parsley, a sprig of thyme, one clove. 4 peppercorns slices of hard boiled egg 1 onion J^ cupful of Sherry thin slices of lemon with- Salt and pepper out the outside rind