The bachelor and the chafing dish

“ 1 Sweet potato pone ’ is another specifically Southern dish, used as a dessert. The potatoes are peeled raw and grated on a coarse grater. Five or six potatoes will make a good-sized dishful. Add one cup of molasses, one of brown sugar, and the yolks of three eggs, two teaspoonfuls of ground ginger, one of cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of cloves, pounded orange peel, and nutmeg, a tablespoonful of butter, half a teaspoonful of baking soda mixed with the molasses, and a little salt. Mix all together, put in a pan, sprinkle sugar on top, and bake brown. “ ‘ Hoppin’ John ’ is a dish peculiar to South Carolina ; I have never seen it anywhere else. It is made of cow peas (red peas), rice, and bacon. It sounds awfully plebeian and uninviting, but it L Envoi. isn’t. Eat it once and you’ll always want a second experience. A New York clergyman residing in Charleston, S. C., declares that he would feel disloyal both to his stomach and to his adopted home if he did not have ‘ Hoppin’ John ’ at least twice a week. “ The peas are boiled until tender, a piece of bacon and a pod of red pepper being boiled with them. When done, a portion of the liquid is taken out and poured over the rice, that has been washed the same as for ordinary cooking. The pea liquor is used in the place of water. This is boiled in a double boiler for half an hour, or until thoroughly done, and salted to taste. When done, turn out rice, place bacon on the top, and serve hot. “ ‘ Pilau rice,’ or ‘ a la Creole,’ is a dish known only in South Carolina and New Orleans. The rice is boiled with the water in which a ham or chicken has been boiled, with whole allspice and whole black pepper added. It is served with the ham or chicken. “ ‘ Crab gumbo ’ is another dish fit for the gods. Fry two tablespoonfuls of flour in one of lard until the flour is browned, but not burned. Add a chopped onion, a chopped Irish potato, thyme, parsley, salt, and red pepper, and fry a few minutes. Then put in eight hard crabs that have been The Bachelor and the Chafing-dish. scalded and cleaned. Add three pints of boiling water, and boil the whole for half an hour. When ready to serve, rub a teaspoonful of powdered sassafras to a paste, with a spoonful of butter. Stir this in soup until well mixed through it, then pour in tureen and serve with rice. If okra is used instead of sassafras fillet, it should be cut up fine and fried with the lard, flour, and herbs before putting in the crabs and water. The fillet must never be put in until dinner is about to be served, as it spoils quickly by standing in the pot/’ * * sf: Dean Hole, in his book “ A Little Tour in America,” praises our food, and the variety of it, but declares that the dulness of our table-knives is an abomination. He says also that our fish do not compare to those in English waters, but what certain fish we may lack is very satisfactorily made up for by a variety of others. We may not have sole or turbot, but we have Spanish mackerel, terrapin, smelt, pompano, and Lord knows what not. Our oysters are finer and of better flavor — although Dean Hole, like Thackeray, does not care for their largeness. * * * It is said of Carlyle, a Scotchman of the old school, even after a long residence in London, that L'Envoi . *33