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

FOR a delicate fig pudding, choose good pulled figs, soak over night in enough claret to cover them; in the morning simmer gently on the side of the range, adding enough claret to take the place of that absorbed by the figs, sweeten very slightly; let them cook till the skins are tender, set away to cool and serve covered with whipped cream sweetened and flavored with sherry. A few candied cherries on the cream add both to the flavor and appearance of this good and unusual dessert, but are not necessary. JANUARY 31ST "Simplicity talks of pies."— Willis ("Love in a Cottage"). A RICH lemon-pie sadly unfitted for a cottage income is made by creaming half a pound of butter with a pound of sugar, beating in the yolks of six eggs, the juice and grated peel of two lemons, a gill of brandy, and the whites of four eggs previously whipped stiff. Bake with a bottom crust only. When done cover with a meringue made of the whites of two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a little lemon- juice. Return to the oven until the meringue is a very light brown. Eat cold the day it is baked. FEBRUARY ist "Well saffroned was that barley soup.*' — ^Robert Browning ("Ferishtah's Fancies"). BOIL two pounds of lean veal in one quart of water, add to it one quarter of a pound of pearl barley and boil until it can be rubbed through a sieve, add a quart of warm milk or white stock, bring to the boiling point, season with salt and serve. This is a very nourishing soup or puree. FEBRUARY 2d "Now if you're ready, Oysters, dear, we can begin to feed!"— Lewis Carroll ("Through the Looking Glass")- TO prepare oysters for frying, choose small, fat ones of good flavor in place of those larger and more tasteless. Drain, wipe, and dip each one in highly seasoned crackercrumbs, then in beaten egg and again in the crumbs. Set away for an hour or more in a cold place. Fry a few at a time, in boiling lard. FEBRUARY 3D "A pair of boiled fowls, with tongue and et ceteras, were displayed at the top, and a fillet of veal at the bottom." — Charles Dickens (" Sketches by Boz ")• FOR fricasseed chicken cut two fowls into joints. Season them with salt and pepper and dip each one in flour. Put them in a saucepan and cover with boiling water. Let them cook very gently for about two hours, or until very tender. When they are done put three tablespoonfuls of butter in a frying-pan, add the same amount of flour, rub smooth, then add the water in which the chickens have been boiled, which should not amount to more than a quart. After the gravy has boiled up add a cup of rich cream and season with salt, white pepper, and a little cayenne. Just before removing from the fire add an egg well beaten. Pour over the chicken, which should be laid on toast or soda biscuits cut in half. FEBRUARY 4th ***Tom,' said Maggie, as they sat on the boughs of the elder-tree, eating their jam puffs, 'shall you run away to-morrow?' " — George Eliot ("Mill on the Floss"). PUFF-PASTE, that bugbear of the inexperienced cook, is in reality easy of accomplishment. Chop three-quarters of a cup of butter into a pint of sifted flour, having the ingredients and the chopping-bowl thoroughly chilled. Pour in half a cup of icewater and mix with the chopping-knife to a stiff paste. Turn out on a floured pastry-board and roll quickly into a thin sheet. Dredge with flour, dot with lard, fold in three thicknesses and roll out again. Repeat the process three times, then set the sheet of paste in the icebox near the ice over night. In the morning divide it into as many pieces as you wish to have pies and roll each piece to fit the pie-plate. For "Jam Puffs" fill with jam after baking. FEBRUARY sth u-^