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

PARE the cucumbers and cut them in halves. Remove the seeds. Drop the cucumbers into cold salted water and set away in a cold place. Make a forcemeat of breast of chicken, pounded to a paste, rubbed through a sieve, and cooked for ten minutes in a cupful of cream, with half a cupful of stale bread and seasoning of salt and pepper. A little onion juice is an improvement if the flavor of onion is liked. Wipe the cucumbers dry and fill with the forcemeat, packing it as much as possible. Stew in veal stock and serve with a sauce of the thickened stock. SEPTEMBER sth "After the puddings, sweet and black, the fritters and soup, came the third course, of which the chief dish was a hot venison pasty." — ^Thackeray ("English Humourists"). TAKE the bones out of a shoulder of venison, season and beat the meat, cut it into large pieces, lay it in a stone jar, cover it with plain beef stodc, set the jar in boiling water and IS6 let the contents simmer for three or four hours; then take it from the fire and set in a cold place until the next day. When ready to use remove the fat, lay the meat in a deep dish, season well, and cover with the stock gravy. Dot freely with lumps of butter and cover the dish with a thick biscuit crust. Bake in a moderate oven three-quarters of an hour. SEPTEMBER 6th " Epicurean cooks sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite." — ^Shakespeare ("Antony and Cleopatra"). TO make chili sauce peel a peck of ripe tomatoes and half a dozen white onions. Chop fine and put over the fire to cook in their own juice half an hour. Strain through a sieve and add two cups of vinegar, a tablespoonful each of ground cinnamon, allspice, and black pepper, and a teaspoonful of cloves. Return to the fire and cook about four hours, or until it is quite thick, stirring often. When cooked sufficiently, add a tablespoonful of cayenne pepper, two teaspoonfuls of ground ginger, and two tablespoonfuls, or more, of salt. Bottle the sauce, cork and seal. SEPTEMBER 7th **Oh those melons! If he's able We're to have a feast! so nice!" — Browning ("Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister"). LAY cantaloupes or muskmelons on the ice till thoroughly chilled. Just before they are needed open them and remove the seeds. Slice in crescentshaped pieces, cut off the rind and green part, leaving only the part that is quite ripe. Heap in a salad bowl with bits of ice and add a French dressing, or a mayonnaise may be used if a rich salad be desired. SEPTEMBER 8th "Let the sky rain potatoes." — ^Shaeespeare ("Merry Wives of Windsor"). CUT into cubes one quart of cold potatoes. Put into a saucepan two scant tablespoonfuls of fl o u r rubbed into two of butter ; add one slice of onion, a little chopped parsley, a little salt and pepper, and a pint of milk. When hot pour a little at a time upon the potatoes. When the milk begins to boil move it back where it will only simmer, and let it cook five minutes. Season with a little more salt and pepper, and place in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle over the top a cupful of grated bread crumbs and a tablespoonful of butter; bake in a rather hot oven for twenty minutes and serve promptly. SEPTEMBER grn ' "The next variation which their visit afforded was produced by the entrance of servants with cold I meat, cake, and a variety of all the finest fruits in j season." — Jane Austen ("Pride and Prejudice").