Books and My Food: With Literary Quotations and Original Recipes for Every ..

''She sent him for a pie she professed to have fallen in love with at the comer of the street." — Charles Reade ("Peg Wofl&ngton"). ONE of the several kinds of cake known as "Washington pie" is made by creaming together half a cupful of butter and two cupfuls of sugar, adding the beaten yolks of four eggs and a cupful of water, beating well together and stirring in three cupfuls of flour in which has been mixed two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. At the last flavor. with the grated rind of a lemon and a little nutmeg and fold in the whites of the eggs. Bake in layers. Put together with a filling made of the yolk of an egg beaten up with a cupful of sugar, the grated peel and juice of a lemon, and three tart apples, grated. Cook in a double boiler till scalding hot, stirring constantly. When cold put between the layers of cake. It is excellent eaten fresh. FEBRUARY 23RD [illustration: Give him three ratafias soaked in a dessertspoonful of cream. — George Eliot ("Mill on the Floss").] RATAFIA is a cordial made by blanching two ounces of peach and apricot kernels, bruising them and putting them in a bottle with a pint of brandy. Set it aside for a month, then remove the kernels and add a cup of cold water in which has been dissolved half a pound of sugar, strain through a cloth and seal. George Eliot's little ratafias are no doubt named for the custom of dipping macaroons or other small cakes in this liqueur and serving them with custard. FEBRUARY 24TH [illustration: By the way, we had half-a-dozen sardines while the dinner was getting ready, eating them with delicious bread and butter. — Thackeray ("Memorials of Gormandising").] A PARTICULARLY delicious method of preparing sardines is to rub half a dozen of them to a paste with the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs. Season with lemon-juice. Place on squares of delicately toasted white bread, garnishing with watercress, which is the best of green salads to eat with sardines. FEBRUARY 25TH "So long as there's pickled pork in the kitchen, they'll look in." — Charles Reade ("Propria Quae Maribus"). FOR the occasions when an old-fashioned breakfast of fried mush is in demand, with its traditional accompaniment of fried pork, cut the slices of fat pork very thin; pour hot water over them, drain, plunge in icewater for a couple of minutes and fry in a hot pan till crisp; or they may be rolled in egg and crumbs and fried in deep fat. FEBRUARY 26th [illustration: It was a memorable feast. I had soup, fish, meat and pastry, and, for the first time in my life, a glass of wine. — George Meredith ("Harry Richmond").] TO convert the commonplace codfish or halibut steak into a rather distinguished dish, the New Orleans method is to fry the steaks in oil, or part butter and part lard; before they are quite done take them out and add to the gravy in the pan two tablespoonfuls of flour, one of Worcestershire sauce, some ground cloves, nutmeg, half an onion, minced, and a little thyme. Strain into it also half a pint of stewed tomatoes; stir well, and when thoroughly blended put in the fish and cook all together for three or four minutes and serve immediately. FEBRUARY 27TH [illustration: If you will but speak the word, I will make you a good Syllabub. — Walton ("Complete Angler").] THE famous syllabub of Walton's native Staffordshire was a lusty English product as different from our airy nothings as were his simple rods and lines from the modern equipment of fancy rods and magnificent flies. It was made by putting into a bowl a pint of cider and a glass of brandy, a little nutmeg and sugar, and then pouring into it from some height a pint of warm milk. FEBRUARY 28th "Give him a sugax-plum if he is good." — Charlotte Bronte ("Shirley")*