Twentieth century home cook book

Duchesse Potatoes. — Take eight large potatoes, boiled and mashed fine, one tablespoonful of butter, the yolks of two raw eggs, a little salt ; stir all together over the firo, then set it away to cool. When quite cold, roll it on a board with flour to keep from sticking. Make it in cake or any form you wish. Take the white of the egg, beat with a little water, dip in the potato and roll in bread or cracker crumbs. Fry in hot lard. Dried Beef Stewed. — Heat milk and water (about half of each;, and thicken with a beaten egg and a little tlour ; when boiled add the beef, sliced as thin as possible, and remove from the fire at once; if the beef is very salt it will need freshening in a little hot water before going into the gravy, but if not it Avill season it without being freshened. French Stew. — The French have a way of cooking tough meat, called "Daube," as follows: Season a thick steak with salt and pepper, and fry slowly in a little lard. Turn it often, so that both sides may be cooked alike and equally browned. When well browned, put in a good-sized porcelain-lined kettle, add a small quantity of water, half a sliced onion, some minced parsley and thyme, thicken with a spoonful of flour, cover close and leave it for an hour on the back of the stove where it may simmer slowly; after this has been done add a pound can of tomatoes, then let the "daube" cook about two hours, or until the meat is ready to fall to pieces. [illustration: mushrooms—genus agaricus] Testing and Cooking Mushrooms.— Peel off the outer skin, break out the stem, and set the cap, top down, on a hot stove. In the spot where the stem formerly stood put a little salt, and, if desired, a small bit of butter. Scatter some salt over the gills. When the butter or salt melts, the cooking is done; and as soon as it is cool enough the fungus should be eaten, carefully saving the juice. Some fungi that do not seem particularly delicious when thus cooked, will, when slowly stewed with a little butter, and flour dredged in, with salt and pepper, make most delicious stews, Agaricus campestris is the one generally raised, but all the mushrooms, cantharellus, marisiums, boletus, indeed all of the edible fungi named, will stew together, and form a dish that, alone or as an entree, cannot be surpassed in delicacy of flavor and gastronomic satisfaction. In testing new fungi, one eats a little of the cap with common salt to ascertain whether it tastes good, and whether it affects the fauces of the throat disagreeably; when a burning or stinging sensation accompanies or follows the swallowing, eat no more but take a copious dose of common salt, which generally neutralizes the poison. Some species, unpleasant or slightly injurious when raw, lose their harsh qualities in cooking; but as there are so many that are delicious, it is well to give up the doubtful kinds. IV. Pickles, Catsup and Condiments. Pickles are any vegetables, fruits or other substance preserved in vinegar. Sweet pickles are preserved with vinegar, sugar and spices. Catsups are, in some sense, liquid pickles. The juices of the vegetables and vinegar compose the catsup with the addition of spices. A condiment is something to give zest to dishes, or to add to, or bring out flavor. Leaves are useful in flavoring; those of herbs are well known; many common varieties should be better known. Peach leaves and those of the laurel contain the virtue of bitter almonds, itself a form of prussic acid, a deadly poison when concentrated, but harmless in small quantities. V. Leaves for Flavoring'.