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

<< Therefore, out with the cold pies, out with the salads, and the chickens, and the champagne." — ^Thackeray. FOR chicken salad cut the chicken into small pieces, being careful to remove any bits of skin and gristle. Marinade with equal quantities of oil and vinegar, seasoned with salt and pepper. Set in a cool place for a couple of hours; when ready to use mix with the chicken about a third of the quantity of chopped celery, or, if it is not in season, bits of lettuce leaves, torn, not cut, apart. Then stir in about the same quantity of English walnut meats as of celery. Mix with it all a little mayonnaise, and on the top spread more of the mayonnaise. Serve in white lettuce leaves. JUNE 19TH "And we must glorify A mushroom! one of yesterday!" —Ben Jonson ("Catiline"). WASH and peel a pint of fresh mushrooms, cook gently for five minutes in enough salted boiling water to just cover them; then add a scant tablespoonful of butter, sea- son with paprika and a gill of red wine, cover and bring the stew to a boil. JUNE 2OTH "A dish of thick bread and scraped butter, a plate of hard biscuit; a teapot, and a glass milk-jug." —ANNns L Thackeray ("Out of the World"). HARD biscuit made at home are the joy of dyspeptics and are very simple to make if the cook is not afraid to use the strength of her arm. Rub a piece of butter the size of a large hickory-nut into a pint of sifted flour to which a teaspoonful of salt has been added. Mix with the beaten white of an egg and warm milk into a stiff paste. Beat this with a rolling-pin for half an hour. Then form the dough into small balls, roll out thin, and bake a very light brown. JUNE 2IST "Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be hot i' the mouth, too"— Shakespeare ("Twelfth Night")- THIS ginger shall be hot and cold, too, till poison carrying its own antidote. Make a rich custard of one quart of milk and eight eggs, whites and yolks beaten together; when the eggs are light beat in four cupfuls of sugar and one quart of cream. Scald the milk before adding to sugar and eggs; return the mixture to the fire in a double boiler; stir until the custard thickens; when cool flavor with vanilla and beat in the cream. Put in the freezer and when half frozen stir in a cupful of preserved ginger in bits and two tablespoonfuls of the ginger syrup. Cover the freezer and finish freezing. JUNE 22D "But a plain leg of mutton, my dear, I beg thee get ready at three; Have it smoking, and tender and juicy, And what better meat can there be?'' — Thackeray ("Memorials of Gormandising"). THE "plain leg of mutton" may be robbed of some of its plainness by having the bone removed and stuffing it with a mixture of grated bread crumbs, seasoned highly with salt, pepper, and any of the herbs preferred — thyme, sage, or marjoram, and a liberal allowance of melted butter, say a third of a cup. If a moist stuffing is liked, add a little hot stock, but using only butter makes it better for most people. Garnish with parsley. no JUNE 23D "Come and eat my strawberries; they are ripening fast" — ^Jane Austen ("Emma"). IF there exist any who are tired of eating or serving strawberries plain, we have the authority of Savarin and the Count de la Place for dressing them with orange juice just before they are to be eaten. JUNE 24TH ''When the ducks and green peas came, we looked at each other in dismay." — Mbs. Gaskell ("Cranford"). PEOPLE who like to combine two spring flavors which seem to have little enough in common, add to green peas while they are cooking a few leaves of fresh mint, chopped. An old recipe suggests also adding a head of lettuce and a sliced onion, but to the modem taste this seems very much like painting the lily. JUNE 25TH