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

TO make the little rout cakes famous in English literature since the eighteentii century, mix two pounds of flour, one of butter, one of sugar, one of clean, dry currants; wet into a stiff paste with two eggs, a tablespoonful each of orange-flower water, rose-water, sweet wine, and brandy; drop on floured tin plates and bake in a quick oven. DECEMBER 7TH "She wrenched from her brow a diamond and eyed it with contempt, took from her pocket a sausage and contemplated it with respect and affection." —Charles Reade ("Peg Woffington"). IF one likes the flavor of sausage, but finds it rather too "porky" as it comes from market, an easy expedient is to buy the best sausage-meat obtainable — not the links — ^and add to it as much more lean chopped beef ; make into cakes and cook thoroughly in a very hot pan, turning often not to bum. DECEMBER 8th "Maria is ready for you now in the kitchen, Mrs. Morrell, the onions have come." — Bernard Shaw ("Candida"). THE susceptibilities of the poet might endure even the small red onions of the Morell household if they were boiled tender and served with a sauce of unthickened cream, seasoned with a dash of red pepper and a little chopped parsley. DECEMBER 9TH The shepherdess who lives on salad." — Gay. « IF the shepherdess was as buxom and rosy as most of the old poets make her, she probably took care to have her salads substantial ones. This, a favorite with a physician renowned for his gastronomic wisdom, would answer her purpose: To a pint of cold, sliced potatoes add a tart apple sliced, a dozen slices of cold boiled beets, a few flakes of smoked herring, a small pickle sliced, a teaspoonful of capers, and a little chopped parsley. Mix with an ample quantity of mayonnaise dressing. DECEMBER ioth "With corn to make your needy bread, And give them life whom hunger starved half dead." — Shakespeare ("Pericles"). VERY nourishing corn bread is made with a cupful of commeal, two cupfuls of cold boiled rice, one cupful of milk, one egg, half a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar, butter the size of an egg, and a teaspoonful of baking powder. Mix commeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder together ; add the other ingredients after melting the butter and putting the rice through the colander. Bake half an hour. DECEMBER iith "And a large chestnut, the delicious meat Which Jove himself, were he a mouse, would eat." —Cowley ("Poems")- ROASTED chestnuts of the French or Italian variety are most satisfactory. Before cooking cut a slit in each nut ; put them in a saucepan with just enough boiling water to cover them, boil thirty minutes. Drain and put in a hot oven for ten minutes and serve in a folded napkin. Pass salt with them. Care must be taken not to let the chestnuts cool after boiling before putting in the oven. DECEMBER 12th PUT in the blazer of a chafing-dish half a teacupful of Bass's ale and bring it to the boiling point. Add two pounds of rich American cheese, grated, stirring constantly ; season with six teaspoonfuls of dry mustard and a shake or two of cayenne pepper. When it is smooth and creamy pour over hot toast. An egg beaten up and stirred in after the cheese has melted will prevent curdling, but if the cheese is of the right sort this will not be necessary, nor need the usual precaution of cooking the rabbit over hot water be taken. DECEMBER 13TH CORE and peel tart apples and bake in a porcelain-lined dish with half a cupful of water until they are transparent. Place them in a glass dish, fill the space left by the cores with whipped cream. Stick the apples closely with blanched almonds, and surround them with sugar and whipped cream flavored with maraschino. DECEMBER 14TH