"It is after four o'clock now; not
much time to get up a supper when our
regular supper runs till eight."
"But thty don't want this till eleven
and it is just a little cold supper nicely
set on the table, nothing elaborate. I
don't want it to cost much — what can
you give them?"
"There are plenty of things, I supnose
that can be given for such an occasion,
but one can't say in a minute. It is a
bad time of year for a cold party supper
— no oysters. Will there be any ladies ;
that is, shall we want any sweets — ice
cream?"
"Miss Ophelia will be in the party."
"That is the star actress?"
"Yes, and one or two others, and two
newspaper men, but I would not go to
the trouble of ice cream — there will only
be seventeen all together."^
"We must have some chickens."
"I m afraid we can't get any. ^ I have
not seen a chicken in this town since the
frost broke up."
"Turkeys, then"
"Harder yet. I saw one old gobbler
at the butcher's three weeks ago, but it
is a thousand chances to one against
finding one now."
"We have the best of all sorts of
butcher's meats for every meal, but you
don't want to sit your actors down to
dishes of the same meats cold that they
have had hot three times in the day
already. Cold roast fowl would be a
rarity, and then there must be a salad
and it ought to be of turkey or chicken.
Perhaps you can find canned chicken
at the stores, and if it is not very good
for salad alone it can be made better by
mixing with white veal which we can get
at the butchers. It may be that you can
find boneless roast turkey in cans, too,
and one or two will suffice. And get
some canned Baratana shrimps and let
the boy try once more for parsley."
"No use; the people in this town don't
know what parsley is, but I will tele-
phone to the stores about the other
things — do you want any lobster?'*
"I think not. Canned lobster is an
abomination. Take shrimp instead, and
lettuce and lemons."
The telephone having been employed
and yielded nothing, a boy was sent out
\yho returned in an hour with the intel-
I ligence that in all this town of 15,000 in-
habitants there was no poultry either
, fresh or canned, but one merchant sent
word that he had some nice canned crab
and with each two-pound can, eight crab
shells were furnished to bake in; that he
supplied some of the same to Mrj. Con-
gressman Wmdmill's party and they
were much pleased. So this following
was the bill-of-fare that resulted :
COOKING FOR PROFIT.
Devilled Crab in Shell.
Sardines with Brown Bread.
Garnished Pickles.
Corned Tongue.
Shrimps in Mayonaise.
French Rolls and Butter Bread, Swiss
Cheese.
"Maids of Honor" Tartlets.
Strawberries and Cream. Cake.
Coffee.
Wine, extra. Cigars, extra.
Of course there was no menu card; a
long table was set suitable^ for farewell
speech-making and those things were set
on it ; and, the waiters out of pure good
will went out in the twilight and despoiled
somebody's garden of large bunches of
lilac and snowballs for decoration.
Cost of material :
3 cans crab @ 33^ $i 00
3 cans shrimps @ 30 90
6 small cans sardmes @ 20 i 20
6 heads lettuce 15
I pint salad oil ^ ^ 50
6 Imons for dressin g and garnish 15
^ a coW corned tongue ^ 15
I bunch red radishes for garnish 5
9 eggs for salad dressing 15
6 quarts strawberries @ 15 90 ✪ Devilled Crab in Shell
Page 132 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
"It is after four o'clock now; not much time to get up a supper when our regular supper runs till eight."
"But thty don't want this till eleven and it is just a little cold supper nicely set on the table, nothing elaborate. I don't want it to cost much — what can you give them?"
"There are plenty of things, I suppose that can be given for such an occasion, but one can't say in a minute. It is a bad time of year for a cold party supper — no oysters. Will there be any ladies ; that is, shall we want any sweets — ice cream?"
"Miss Ophelia will be in the party."
"That is the star actress?"
"Yes, and one or two others, and two newspaper men, but I would not go to the trouble of ice cream — there will only be sseventeen all together.
"We must have some chickens."
"I m afraid we can't get any. ^ I have not seen a chicken in this town since the frost broke up."
"Turkeys, then"
"Harder yet. I saw one old gobbler at the butcher's three weeks ago, but it is a thousand chances to one against finding one now."
"We have the best of all sorts of butcher's meats for every meal, but you don't want to sit your actors down to dishes of the same meats cold that they have had hot three times in the day already. Cold roast fowl would be a rarity, and then there must be a salad and it ought to be of turkey or chicken. Perhaps you can find canned chicken at the stores, and if it is not very good for salad alone it can be made better by mixing with white veal which we can get at the butchers. It may be that you can find boneless roast turkey in cans, too, and one or two will suffice. And get some canned Baratana shrimps and let the boy try once more for parsley."
"No use; the people in this town don't know what parsley is, but I will telephone to the stores about the other things — do you want any lobster?'*
"I think not. Canned lobster is an abomination. Take shrimp instead, and lettuce and lemons."
The telephone having been employed and yielded nothing, a boy was sent out who returned in an hour with the intel- I ligence that in all this town of 15,000 inhabitants there was no poultry either , fresh or canned, but one merchant sent word that he had some nice canned crab and with each two-pound can, eight crab shells were furnished to bake in; that he supplied some of the same to Mrj. Congressman Wmdmill's party and they were much pleased. So this following was the bill-of-fare that resulted :
Devilled Crab in Shell.
Sardines with Brown Bread.
Garnished Pickles.
Corned Tongue.
Shrimps in Mayonaise.
French Rolls and Butter Bread, Swiss
Cheese.
"Maids of Honor" Tartlets.
Strawberries and Cream. Cake.
Coffee.
Wine, extra. Cigars, extra.
Of course there was no menu card; a
long table was set suitable for farewell
speech-making and those things were set
on it ; and, the waiters out of pure good
will went out in the twilight and despoiled
somebody's garden of large bunches of
lilac and snowballs for decoration.
Cost of material : 3 cans crab @ 33^ $i 00
3 cans shrimps @ 30 90
6 small cans sardmes @ 20 i 20
6 heads lettuce 15
I pint salad oil ^ ^ 50
6 lemons for dressing and garnish 15
1/2 a cold corned tongue ^ 15
I bunch red radishes for garnish 5
9 eggs for salad dressing 15
6 quarts strawberries @ 15 90
Records on this page
Devilled Crab in ShellShrimps in Mayonaise