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

them carefully on to a cloth, cover with another; scald some more, and proceed as before. Let them lie till cold, then put them in jars and pour over them scalding white wine vinegar. When cold cover the jars. SEPTEMBER 2Ist "A dish of wild fowl, that came afterward, furnished conversation for the rest of the dinner." — Addison ("Sir Roger de Coverley"). WILD fowl should be roasted without stuffing. The fishy taste that they sometimes have is removed by basting them with hot water, salted, in which an onion has been cooked. Toward the end baste them with butter only. A good sauce to serve with them is made by boiling a cupful of port wine, the same quantity of stock, a shallot and a bit of mace for ten minutes; add a tablespoonful of butter and a teaspoonful of flour, rubbed together; salt and pepper. Boil up once and serve. SEPTEMBER 22d "Where, on its bed Of the orchard's black Mould, the love-apple Lies pulpy and red." — Browning (''The Englishman in Italy"). SELECT large, smooth tomatoes (or "love-apples," as they used to be called). Cut out the core and fill the hollow space with a stuffing of minced chicken, bread crumbs, and chopped ripe olives. Spread a little butter over the top and cook half an hour in a moderately quick oven. There is no necessity of moistening the stuffing, as the juice of the tomato soon penetrates it. SEPTEMBER 23D "There are frogs cooking in it, no doubt"— Thackeray. THE hind legs of frogs are delicious, and should be fried in deep fat or fine olive oil till they are a light brown. Skin, wash, and soak in milk for twenty minutes ; lift them out of the milk, pepper and salt them and coat with flour, then fry. SEPTEMBER 24TH " Here, sweetheart, here's some green ginger for thee.** — Beaumont and Fletcher. TRADITION has it that green ginger prepared in the following manner was a favorite preserve of Martha Washington: Scrape plump, smooth ginger root and throw into cold water. Allow eight pounds of sugar to seven of ginger. Bring it to the boil and let it boil steadily half an hour. Drain, put into fresh cold water and again bring it to the boil, allowing it to cook until tender. Make a preserving syrup in the proportion of eight pounds of sugar to two quarts of water. When this is cold, pour over the ginger; after two days pour off the syrup and boil it down, pouring it over the ginger again when cold. Repeat the process, this time pouring it hot over the ginger, which will now be permeated by it and will not shrink. SEPTEMBER 2Sth "Enticing walnuts, I have known you well In youth, when pickles were a passing pain." — Taylor. CHOOSE walnuts young and tender enough to be easily pierced with a needle. Pack them in jars, covering with good cider vinegar, poured on cold. Let them stand four months ; pour off the vinegar and replace it with boiling vinegar, in which has been added to each quart an ounce of English mustard, a teaspoonful of horse-radish, a pinch of black pepper, cloves, and allspice, a teaspoonful of ginger and a tablespoonful of salt. Cover the jars closely, and do not use for three months more. They may be made without the spices, except pepper and salt. The vinegar first poured off is excellent for catsup or salads, having a good flavor. SEPTEMBER 26th The plenteous pickle shall preserve the dish.'' — Gay. CHOOSE small cucumbers, and to half a peck of them add one pint of nasturtium pods, one quart each of string beans, small green tomatoes, and small white onions. Salt over night. In the morning add two ounces each of white and black mustard seed ; two cauliflowers, boiled and cut up, half a pint of salt, half a pound of ground mustard, one gill of olive oil and four carrots, boiled tender and sliced. Cover the whole with scalding vinegar. SEPTEMBER 27TH