add the butter and set over the fire. When the butter is melted stir in the wet corn starch. Boil and stir until it thickens. Have the egg beaten light in a bowl and pour the hot mixture upon it. Beat well, and mix with the minced chicken. Let it get per- fectly cold and make into croquettes as di- rected for beef croquettes. 80 COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. But roll these in a well-beaten egg, then in fine cracker-crumbs instead of flour, and fry, a few at a time, in a mixture half-butter, half-lard enough to cover them well. Drain off every drop of fat from each croquette as you take it up, and keep hot until all are done. Serve hot and at once. 9 DINNEB DISHES. T AM amused and yet made thoughtful by •^ the fact that so many young housekeepers write to me of their pleasure in cake-making and their desire to learn how to compound what are usually known as *' fancy-dishes," some sending excellent receipts for loaf-cake, cookies and doughnuts, while few express the least interest in soups, meats and vegetables. The drift of the dear creatures' thoughts re- minds me of a rhymed — "If I had ! ** which I read years ago, setting forth how a little boy would have if he could, a house built of pastry, floored with taffy, ceiled with sugar- plums, and roofed with frosted gingerbread. 81 82 COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. In engaging a cook one does not ask, first of all, "Can you get up handsome desserts?" but, "Do you uhderstand bread-making and baking, and the management of meats, soups, and other branches of plain cookery?" The same "plain cookery" is the pivot on which the family health and comfort rest and turn. If you would qualify yourselves to be- come thorough housewives, it is as essential that you should master the principles of this, as that a musician should be able to read the notes on the staff. Some people do play tolerably by ear, but they are never ranked as students, much less as professors of music. "Fancy" cookery is to the real thing what embroidery is to the art of the seamstress. She who has learned how to use her needle deftly upon "seam, gusset and band," will find the acquisition of ornamental stitches an easy matter. Skill in Kensington and satin stitch is of little value in fitting one to do "fine," which is also useful sewing. A DINNER DISHES. 83 I am sorry to add that my observation goes to prove that more American housekeep- ers can make delicate and rich cake than excellent soups. Soup Stock. Two pounds coarse lean beef, chopped almost as fine as sausage-meat. One pound of lean veal — also chopped. Two pounds of bones (beef, veal, or mut- ton) cracked in several places. Half an onion chopped. Two or three stalks of celery, when you can get it. Five quarts of cold water. Meat and bones should be raw, but if you have bones left from underdone beef or mut- ton, yoU may crack and add them. Put all the ingredients (no salt or pepper) in a large clean pot, cover it closely and set at one side of the range where it will not get really hot under two hours. This gives the water time 84 COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. to draw out the juices of the meat. Then remove to a warmer place, stir up well from the bottom, and cook slowly five hours longer. It should never boil hard, but ''bubble- bubble" softly and steadily all the while. Fast boiling toughens the fibres and keeps in the juice of the meat which should form the body of the soup. When the time is up, lift the pot from the fire, throw in a heaping table- spoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of pepper✪ Soup Stock, and pour out into your "stock-pot." This should be a stout stone crock or jar, with a cover, and be used for nothing else. See that it is free from grease, dust and all smell, scald out with hot water and soda, then with clean boiling water just before pour- ing in the soup, or the hot liquid may crack it.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

add the butter and set over the fire. When the butter is melted stir in the wet corn starch. Boil and stir until it thickens. Have the egg beaten light in a bowl and pour the hot mixture upon it. Beat well, and mix with the minced chicken. Let it get perfectly cold and make into croquettes as directed for beef croquettes. But roll these in a well-beaten egg, then in fine cracker-crumbs instead of flour, and fry, a few at a time, in a mixture half-butter, half-lard enough to cover them well. Drain off every drop of fat from each croquette as you take it up, and keep hot until all are done. Serve hot and at once. T AM amused and yet made thoughtful by •^ the fact that so many young housekeepers write to me of their pleasure in cake-making and their desire to learn how to compound what are usually known as *' fancy-dishes," some sending excellent receipts for loaf-cake, cookies and doughnuts, while few express the least interest in soups, meats and vegetables. The drift of the dear creatures' thoughts reminds me of a rhymed — "If I had ! ** which I read years ago, setting forth how a little boy would have if he could, a house built of pastry, floored with taffy, ceiled with sugarplums, and roofed with frosted gingerbread. In engaging a cook one does not ask, first of all, "Can you get up handsome desserts?" but, "Do you understand bread-making and baking, and the management of meats, soups, and other branches of plain cookery?" The same "plain cookery" is the pivot on which the family health and comfort rest and turn. If you would qualify yourselves to become thorough housewives, it is as essential that you should master the principles of this, as that a musician should be able to read the notes on the staff. Some people do play tolerably by ear, but they are never ranked as students, much less as professors of music. "Fancy" cookery is to the real thing what embroidery is to the art of the seamstress. She who has learned how to use her needle deftly upon "seam, gusset and band," will find the acquisition of ornamental stitches an easy matter. Skill in Kensington and satin stitch is of little value in fitting one to do "fine," which is also useful sewing. A I am sorry to add that my observation goes to prove that more American housekeepers can make delicate and rich cake than excellent soups. Soup Stock. Two pounds coarse lean beef, chopped almost as fine as sausage-meat. One pound of lean veal — also chopped. Two pounds of bones (beef, veal, or mutton) cracked in several places. Half an onion chopped. Two or three stalks of celery, when you can get it. Five quarts of cold water. Meat and bones should be raw, but if you have bones left from underdone beef or mutton, yoU may crack and add them. Put all the ingredients (no salt or pepper) in a large clean pot, cover it closely and set at one side of the range where it will not get really hot under two hours. This gives the water time to draw out the juices of the meat. Then remove to a warmer place, stir up well from the bottom, and cook slowly five hours longer. It should never boil hard, but ''bubblebubble" softly and steadily all the while. Fast boiling toughens the fibres and keeps in the juice of the meat which should form the body of the soup. When the time is up, lift the pot from the fire, throw in a heaping tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of pepper, and pour out into your "stock-pot." This should be a stout stone crock or jar, with a cover, and be used for nothing else. See that it is free from grease, dust and all smell, scald out with hot water and soda, then with clean boiling water just before pouring in the soup, or the hot liquid may crack it.

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Soup Stock

Cookery for beginners