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

TO melt butter without having it oil, needs only a little care. Mix one teaspoonful of flour with a quarter of a pound of good butter. Put it into a small saucepan with two or three tablespoonfuls of hot water, shaking it all the time. Milk used instead of water makes a whiter sauce and is a little richer. JULY 20TH "A clear soup, a bit of fish, a couple of little entrées and a nice little roast. That's my kind of a dinner." — ^Thackeray (** Diary of C. James de la Pluche, Esq."). A DELICIOUS entree for a dinner is made from calf's liver boiled until tender, cut into bits, and rather highly seasoned with salt, paprika, a little Worcestershire sauce, and just a hint of mushroom catsup. Mix the seasoning thoroughly through the liver, heat it, and when ready to serve moisten with a little sherry or good Madeira. This may be served in paper shells, ramakins, or puff paste shells. JULY 2IST "Cowcumbers are cold in the third degree.** — SWUT. USE only fresh cucumbers which have had no chance to wilt in the sun. Pare off not only the green outside but most of the tough white about the seeds. Slice thin and allow to stand in iced water for a half hour before eating. Serve with cracked ice in the dish, passing French dressing with the cucumbers. Some people like a little shredded chives with the cucumbers, and the appearance of the dish is thereby improved. JULY 22D <c< She praised the cook this time, declared the fricassee was excellent, and that there were no eels anywhere like those of the Castlewood moats." — ^Thackeray ("Virginians"). SKIN and clean the eel, removing all the fat; cut in short lengths, leave in olive oil and vinegar for half an hour, salt and pepper; roll in egg and cracker dust, and fry in deep fat. JULY 23D "A little Stilton cheese brought up the rear with a nice salad. This made way for a foolish trifling dessert of muscatel grapes, guava jelly, and divers kickshaws diluted with agreeable wines." — Charles Reade ("It Is Never Too Late To Mend"). A "CALEDONIAN trifle" may sound foolish, but it tastes good. Its ingredients are : Eight eggs, a quart of milk, a teacupful of sugar, a teaspoonful of almond extract, a saltspoonful of salt, and half a tumbler of raspberry jam. Reserve the whites of three eggs and the raspberry jam and make a boiled custard of the other ingredients. Beat the whites of three eggs into a stiflf froth for the top of the custard and dot with the jam. JULY 24TH "Uninebriate liquors, pressed from cooling fruits, sweetened with honey, and deliciously iced." — Bulwer ("My Novel"). FOR a fine fruit punch, mix one cupful of lemon juice, two cupfuls of fruit juice, strawberry, raspberry, or cherry (or a combination of the three), with one cupful of grated pineapple, two quarts of water, one cupful of sugar, and three-quarters of a cupful of strained honey. Serve ice-cold. A cupful of sugar may be substituted for the honey. JULY 2STH "A nice tongue, not too green nor too salt, and a small saddle of six-tooth mutton, home-bred, home-fed." — Charles Reade ("It Is Never Too Late To Mend"). TONGUE should be soaked several hours before cooking— over night is usually best. Place it in a kettle with cold water, letting it come slowly to the boiling point and simmer for three or four hours, until it is very tender. Test by piercing with a fork. Let it cool in the liquor in which it was boiled ; skin carefully, beginning at the tip. JULY afira ^PV^S g*^^**^ SSHKE. ^E^. ■QHSS * • a SBQ Du