Scald the milk ; put the butter in a granite saucepan ; when melted, add the dr^' cornstarch ; when well mixed, add one third of the milk. Let it boil, and stir constantly till it is a smooth paste ; add the remainder of the milk gradually, stirring well ; then add the salt. Put the toast in a hot deep dish ; pour the thickened milk between each slice and over the whole. Keep the dish over hot water until ready to serve. If liked very soft, the sUces may be Milk Toast. 1 pint milk, scalded. 1 tablespoonful cornstarch. 1^ teaspoonf ul salt. 6 slices dry toast✪ Milk Toast. The Boston Cook Book, 79 first dipped in hot salted water, or in the hot milk before it is thickened. Cream Toast. Cream toast may be made in the same way, using a scant tahlespoonful of hutter^ and cream instead of milk, or b}^ thickening the boiling cream with 07ie tahlespoonful of cornstarch wet in a little cold milk or water ; then salt to taste✪ Cream Toast, and boil eight or ten minutes. Water Toast. Have a shallow pan with one quart of boiling water and a teaspoonful of salt. Dip each slice of dry toast✪ Water Toast quickly in the water, then pile on a hot platter. Spread evenly with butter and serve very hot. Do not let them soak an instant in the water. Toast for Garnishing. For poached eggs, cut the bread into rounds with a large cake-cutter before toasting. For small birds or as- paragus, remove the crusts and cut into oblong pieces. For minces and fricassees, cut into small squares or dia- monds. For a border, cut, after toasting, into inch and a half squares, and then into halves diagonally, making tri- angles ; or cut into long pointed triangles. 8o The Boston Cook Book, SODA BISCUIT, MUFFINS, GEMS, ETC. The soda now used in cooking is the bicarbonate of soda, — an alkali made from the ashes of marine plants, or, more recently, from sea salt. Crude soda is known as sal- soda^ or soda-saleratus ; when refined and cleared of its im- purities, it is carbonate and bicarbonate of soda, the latter having twice as much carbonic acid gas as the carbonate. Potash is another fixed alkali made from wood ashes. Pearlash is purified potash. Saleratus is prepared from pearlash by exposing it to carbonic acid gas. Pure, strong alkalies are powerful corrosive poisons, eating the coats of the stomach perhaps quicker than any other poisonous agent. This caustic or burning propert}^ is somewhat weakened by the carbonic acid united with them, and is therefore less in bicarbonate of soda than in the potash compounds. The latter are now seldom used. Alkalies when properl}^ combined with acids lose this poi- sonous property ; the carbonic acid gas is liberated, and the compound formed b}^ this union is called a neutral salt, being neither acid nor alkaline. When not properly com- bined, if the acid be stronger than the alkali, the salt is acid ; and if the alkali be in excess, the salt is alkaline and still poisonous.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Scald the milk ; put the butter in a granite saucepan ; when melted, add the dry cornstarch ; when well mixed, add one third of the milk. Let it boil, and stir constantly till it is a smooth paste ; add the remainder of the milk gradually, stirring well ; then add the salt. Put the toast in a hot deep dish ; pour the thickened milk between each slice and over the whole. Keep the dish over hot water until ready to serve. If liked very soft, the sUces may be Milk Toast. 1 pint milk, scalded. 1 tablespoonful cornstarch. 1^ teaspoonf ul salt. 6 slices dry toast. The Boston Cook Book, first dipped in hot salted water, or in the hot milk before it is thickened. Cream Toast. Cream toast may be made in the same way, using a scant tablespoonful of butter, and cream instead of milk, or by thickening the boiling cream with one tablespoonful of cornstarch wet in a little cold milk or water ; then salt to taste, and boil eight or ten minutes. Water Toast. Have a shallow pan with one quart of boiling water and a teaspoonful of salt. Dip each slice of dry toast quickly in the water, then pile on a hot platter. Spread evenly with butter and serve very hot. Do not let them soak an instant in the water. Toast for Garnishing. For poached eggs, cut the bread into rounds with a large cake-cutter before toasting. For small birds or asparagus, remove the crusts and cut into oblong pieces. For minces and fricassees, cut into small squares or diamonds. For a border, cut, after toasting, into inch and a half squares, and then into halves diagonally, making triangles ; or cut into long pointed triangles. 8o The Boston Cook Book, SODA BISCUIT, MUFFINS, GEMS, ETC. The soda now used in cooking is the bicarbonate of soda, — an alkali made from the ashes of marine plants, or, more recently, from sea salt. Crude soda is known as salsoda^ or soda-saleratus ; when refined and cleared of its impurities, it is carbonate and bicarbonate of soda, the latter having twice as much carbonic acid gas as the carbonate. Potash is another fixed alkali made from wood ashes. Pearlash is purified potash. Saleratus is prepared from pearlash by exposing it to carbonic acid gas. Pure, strong alkalies are powerful corrosive poisons, eating the coats of the stomach perhaps quicker than any other poisonous agent. This caustic or burning propert}^ is somewhat weakened by the carbonic acid united with them, and is therefore less in bicarbonate of soda than in the potash compounds. The latter are now seldom used. Alkalies when properl}^ combined with acids lose this poisonous property ; the carbonic acid gas is liberated, and the compound formed b}^ this union is called a neutral salt, being neither acid nor alkaline. When not properly combined, if the acid be stronger than the alkali, the salt is acid ; and if the alkali be in excess, the salt is alkaline and still poisonous.

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Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book