Brown Bread Brawls.
Break one pint of dri/ brown bread and half a cup of stale
white bread into inch pieces. Put a tablespoonful of butter
in a large fiying-pan, and when it is melted, but not brown,
add the bread and cover with one pint or more of milk.
Let it simmer, stirring occasionally to keep it from stick-
ing, until the bread is soft and the milk absorbed. Salt
to taste.
Brown Bread Brewis✪ Brown Bread Brewis, No. 2.
Mix the same proportion of bread with one fourth of a
cup of butter in a double boiler ; add milk to cover, and cook
over hot water without stirring until the bread has absorbed
all the milk. If the bread be very drj^, more mWk will be
needed.
Toast.
Bread is toasted, or dried and browned, before the fire
to extract the moisture and make it more palatable and
digestible. If the slices be cut thick and carelesslj^ ex-
posed to a blazing fire, the outside is blackened and
made into charcoal before the heat can reach the inside ;
the moisture is only heated, not evaporated, making the
inside doughy or clamm}", and when spread with butter,
which cannot penetrate the charcoal, but floats on the sur-
face in the form of oil, it forms one of the most indigestible
compounds. The correct way is to have the bread stale,
and cut into thin, uniform slices about one quarter of an
inch thick. The fire should be clear, red (not blazing)
coals. The crusts maj^ be removed or not according to
your taste, or the purpose for which the toast is intended.
If you require only one or two slices, a toasting-fork will
;8
The Boston Cook Book,
answer ; but if a larger quantity be needed, tliere is nothing
better than a double broiler with wires about a third of an
inch apart. Place the slices evenly on one side of the
broiler, being careful not to put in more than can be
equally exposed to the fire ; close the broiler and hold it
firmly, that the slices may not slip ; move it gently over the
fire for one or two minutes ; then turn it over, that all the
moisture may be drawn out ; hold it nearer to the coals,
and color it a delicate golden-brown. Serve at once in a
toast rack or piled lightly, that it may not lose its crisp-
ness. Butter before serving, or send it dry to the table.
Bread properly dried and toasted is changed from the
nature of dough, which alwa^'s has a tendency to sour on
the stomach, into pure wheat farina. It is not so scorched
as to turn the butter into oil, but absorbs the butter ; and
butter and farina, being easily separated, are quickly acted
upon b}' the gastric fluid. Many persons prefer toast that
is soft inside, but it should never be served to sick people
in that manner. It is better to have it dry, and then mois-
tened with milk or water, than to have it doughy. If the
bread be freshly baked and 3'ou must make toast, dr}^ the
slices in a warm oven before toasting. Always toast over
the coals, or in the oven. If toasted over a hot stove, the
crumbs fall through and burn, giving it a scorched and
smoky flavor.
1 large tablespoonful butter.
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Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
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Brown Bread Brawls.
Break one pint of dri/ brown bread and half a cup of stale
white bread into inch pieces. Put a tablespoonful of butter
in a large fiying-pan, and when it is melted, but not brown,
add the bread and cover with one pint or more of milk.
Let it simmer, stirring occasionally to keep it from stick-
ing, until the bread is soft and the milk absorbed. Salt
to taste.
Brown Bread Brewis, No. 2.
Mix the same proportion of bread with one fourth of a
cup of butter in a double boiler ; add milk to cover, and cook
over hot water without stirring until the bread has absorbed
all the milk. If the bread be very drj^, more mWk will be
needed.
Toast.
Bread is toasted, or dried and browned, before the fire
to extract the moisture and make it more palatable and
digestible. If the slices be cut thick and carelesslj^ ex-
posed to a blazing fire, the outside is blackened and
made into charcoal before the heat can reach the inside ;
the moisture is only heated, not evaporated, making the
inside doughy or clamm}", and when spread with butter,
which cannot penetrate the charcoal, but floats on the sur-
face in the form of oil, it forms one of the most indigestible
compounds. The correct way is to have the bread stale,
and cut into thin, uniform slices about one quarter of an
inch thick. The fire should be clear, red (not blazing)
coals. The crusts maj^ be removed or not according to
your taste, or the purpose for which the toast is intended.
If you require only one or two slices, a toasting-fork will
;8
The Boston Cook Book,
answer ; but if a larger quantity be needed, tliere is nothing
better than a double broiler with wires about a third of an
inch apart. Place the slices evenly on one side of the
broiler, being careful not to put in more than can be
equally exposed to the fire ; close the broiler and hold it
firmly, that the slices may not slip ; move it gently over the
fire for one or two minutes ; then turn it over, that all the
moisture may be drawn out ; hold it nearer to the coals,
and color it a delicate golden-brown. Serve at once in a
toast rack or piled lightly, that it may not lose its crisp-
ness. Butter before serving, or send it dry to the table.
Bread properly dried and toasted is changed from the
nature of dough, which alwa^'s has a tendency to sour on
the stomach, into pure wheat farina. It is not so scorched
as to turn the butter into oil, but absorbs the butter ; and
butter and farina, being easily separated, are quickly acted
upon b}' the gastric fluid. Many persons prefer toast that
is soft inside, but it should never be served to sick people
in that manner. It is better to have it dry, and then mois-
tened with milk or water, than to have it doughy. If the
bread be freshly baked and 3'ou must make toast, dr}^ the
slices in a warm oven before toasting. Always toast over
the coals, or in the oven. If toasted over a hot stove, the
crumbs fall through and burn, giving it a scorched and
smoky flavor.
1 large tablespoonful butter.